Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have a question about our services or speech and occupational therapy in general? You might find the answer in our FAQ below! If you cannot find what you’re after feel free to contact us via the form on this page or Contact Us. We are here to help!
2 hour parking is available surrounding our office, with access available from Woodriff St, Tindale Street and Castlereagh St. Parking is also available in the Judges car park, 33 Woodriff Street, Penrith.
Referrals are not necessary for speech and occupational therapy services. You are able to call us direct to organise an appointment.
When wanting to start your journey with NSPOT, you can contact our lovely Client Care Team by phone, contact form or email. They will help you with all of your enquiries, and will do their best to find a therapist and appointment time that best suits you and your child’s needs. They will send you important paperwork that needs to be returned prior to the assessment. This paperwork is able to be filled and returned electronically. A text reminder message will be sent before your appointment.
When you first come to our clinic, you will be greeted by our lovely Client Care Team who will advise your therapist of your arrival. Your therapist will come and take you to her office. The first few moments are all about making sure that your child is happy and relaxed, so that they can participate in the assessment without any problems.
The therapist will then spend some time going through the Case History questionnaire that you completed prior to the assessment so that she can get a clear picture of your concerns and your child’s needs. Following this she will start the assessment. Toys are used as reinforcers to help motivate your child and keep the assessment fun!
At the end of the session, the therapist will give a summary of the results. Homework will be given so that you can get started on helping your child. The assessment report will take up to 3 weeks to be completed, but therapy sessions generally commence prior to that.
Speech therapy involves the assessment and treatment of communication disorders in both children and adults.
We don’t just work on lisps! Communication disorders can include difficulties with:
- speech sound production and clarity
- receptive language (following directions and understanding language)
- expressive language (sentences and grammar)
- stuttering
- voice disorders
- social skills
- literacy (reading, writing, spelling)
If your child is not speaking at the same level as their peers, you may want to check the developmental norms to see what is normally expected at their age.
If people frequently ask you to interpret what your child said, if your child is not producing well structured sentences or following directions correctly, it’s quite likely that they may have a speech / language disorder.
If your child is struggling with learning and / or reading and writing at school, they may have an underlying speech / language delay that is affecting the development of their academic skills.
We recommend that you book in your child for a full speech and language assessment. For preschoolers, your child’s speech, receptive and expressive language skills will be assessed. If your child is school aged, a literacy assessment will also be conducted.
If you are not sure whether your child’s skills should be assessed, give us a call. Our therapists are happy to help you with any questions on the phone.
Either in our offices, or at one of the many schools that we provide services at.
An initial assessment will be booked to determine how your child’s communication skills are developing compared to other children of their age. A standard assessment goes for one and a half hours.
We make sure that assessments are fun and engaging! We will use toys and other reinforcers to help keep your child motivated throughout the assessment.
Sometimes for various reasons children aren’t able to complete a formal assessment. At times like this, we will use an informal assessment, with some information being gained via parental report.
In a typical assessment, we will assess: speech, receptive language, expressive language, stuttering and voice production.
If the child is school aged, an assessment of their literacy skills will also be conducted. This will add thirty minutes to the assessment.
We prepare to have toys on hand to make the child comfortable and relaxed. Most kids don’t feel like they’ve had an assessment, as they’ve enjoyed having turns at games as the assessment has progressed!
Yes! We love for parents / carers to sit in on the assessment! This makes it a lot easier for us to explain and for you to understand the specific difficulties that your child is having. If your child accesses school based speech therapy, we are happy to organise a time where you are able to attend as well, as long as it works out with timetabling.
If the child’s skills don’t meet age expectations, therapy will be recommended.
Early intervention is very important, and the earlier the child starts accessing speech therapy, the sooner they will finish. Many children start therapy at or even before the age of two years these days!
Academic success at school is dependent on a child having good speech and language skills, so it’s very important that therapy commences as early as possible.
The results of the assessment will determine what goals are worked on in therapy.
Our sessions will try to cover all areas of delay, in order to help your child catch up as quickly as possible. Therapy sessions can be play based, table based, or a mix of both depending on the child.
We do understand the time constraints that parents have due to today’s busy lifestyle, so we will always try our best to give “on the fly” ideas of homework, in addition to formal homework activities.
Every child is different, and there is no way of predicting how long therapy will take. Rate of progress in therapy depends on: how delayed the child is, how often they attend therapy, their ability to learn, and how often homework is done.
If the child has a disability progress tends to be slower.
Occupational therapy aims to help children participate and engage in everyday life by addressing cognitive, physical, sensory, motor and social-emotional developmental difficulties that impact their engagement and participation in daily life.
We use a bottom-up approach as we believe that the foundation of skills need to be established before higher level skills can be developed. By developing a strong foundation generalising skills to functional age-based levels becomes much easier for the child.
Our Occupational therapists supports children and their families when they experience difficulties in the areas outlined below:
- Sensory processing and sensory defensiveness
- Sensory integration
- Gross motor skills
- Fine motor skills
- Social skills
- Play skills
- Executive functioning skills
- Self-regulation and coping strategies
- Mealtime help
- Motor planning
- Visual-motor integration
- Visual perception
- Self-care and toilet training advice
Our Occupational therapists draw upon their extensive training to provide specific, challenging therapeutic activities in the context of play with an aim to facilitate a child’s abilities and skills.
There are a wide range of reasons why a child may benefit from consulting an occupational therapist.
Does your child experience difficulties with day-to-day activities at home, school, or in other settings? Do they have experience challenges that do not affect most typically developing children? If this sounds like your child, an occupational therapist may be able to help.
Our therapists are always available to answer questions on the phone or you can give our friendly receptionists a call to ask questions or to book in an appointment.
Either at NSPOT clinic, or at one of the many schools that we provide services at.
The initial occupational therapy assessment is approximately 1.5 hours. During an assessment, the occupational therapist will examine a child’s:
- Fine and gross motor skills
- Visual motor integration
- Handwriting
- Functional skills i.e. selfcare
- Sensory development
- Social skills
Yes! We love for parents / carers to sit in on the assessment! This makes it a lot easier to understand the specific difficulties that the child is having. If your child accesses school based occupational therapy, we are happy to organise a time where you can attend as well, if it works out with timetabling.
However, there are times that parents cannot sit in, and we do understand that. In these cases, we will explain the results of the assessment when you come in.
If the child’s skills do not meet age expectations, therapy will be recommended.
Early intervention is very important, and the earlier the child starts accessing occupational therapy, the sooner they will finish.
Each child is different and unique which we love! Therapy will be client-centered and will be individualised to target each child’s needs.
Every child is different, and there is no way of predicting how long therapy will take. Rate of progress in therapy depends on: how delayed the child is, how often they attend therapy, their ability to learn, and how often homework is done.
If the child has a disability progress tends to be slower.