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Occupational therapy can help your child with:

  • Sensory regulation: we can help you understand your child's oversensitivity to movement, touch and/or sound, and/or sensory "seeking" (moving all the time/can't sit still),

  • Behavioural challenges: we look "beyond the behaviour" with you to understand what's causing frequent meltdowns, dysregulation, biting, hitting, fear of doing things or going places (including school "refusal")

  • Mental health challenges: we incorporate neurodiversity affirming and evidence based tools and curriculums such as The Safe and Sound Protocol and The Galaxy Guide to Running my Rocket to help reduce anxiety, improve emotional regulation, address sleep challenges, improve self-confidence, and improve self-esteem

  • Gross motor skills: we can provide skilled assessment and clinic based therapy to improve coordination, organization of your child's body in space and general gross motor skills like balance, kicking and throwing

  • "Dyspraxia" (Otherwise known as Developmental Coordination Disorder - DCD): we can provide skilled assessment and report to help diagnose or rule out Dyspraxia

  • Fine motor development: in clinic we can provide specific therapy to assist your child's development of grasp and manipulation of objects, finger dexterity, and/or scissor skills

  • Self-care skills: as part of our support for you we can provide strategies to help your child's independence with the self-care skills of as dressing, bathing, hygiene, toileting, and/or sleep 

  • Organisation: as part of our support we can provide you with strategies to help improve your child's ability to transition between activities/places, stick to routines, and improve their attention 

We can see your 2 - 10 year old aged child at the occupational therapy rooms at Te Ara Sophia.

Located at 275 Fifield Terrace, Opawa, the rooms at Te Ara Sophia are purposefully designed with a range of therapeutic equipment to assist with movement and sensory therapy goals.  

FILL OUT OUR INITIAL ENQUIRY FORM

Philosophy and Approaches

At Connect Occupational Therapy we are focused on providing high quality, evidence based therapy.

Staff are committed to ongoing professional development and are registered with The Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand | Te Poari Whakaora Ngangahau O Aotearoa. 

We use a variety of treatment approaches to ensure that therapy meets each families' need.

Sensory Motor Therapy

Sensory processing refers to how each of our eight senses takes in, makes meaning of, and uses information from the environment. 

Sensory information affects everything we do in daily life. 

It can affect the way your child moves their body, plays, treats others, dresses themself, feeds themself, regulates their emotions, and more! 

Here at Connect Occupational Therapy we use skilled assessments to identify differences in sensory processing and/or movement, and then fun, play based therapy to help your child in everyday life.

Listening Therapy

Rachel is an accredited provider of Unyte iLs' Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP).

This acoustic tool for therapy assists in stress reduction and nervous system regulation.

This can help to advance therapy results and ensure the nervous system is in a place to receive and shift further.

See case studies and further information here.

Parent Coaching

Here at Connect Occupational Therapy we honour the fact that you are the expert in your child. 

We strive to empower you with information and walk alongside you in your parenting journey. 

Parents are encouraged to join in on therapy sessions to learn and develop relationship alongside their child. 

Parent coaching is a value we regard highly. Therapists at Connect Occupational Therapy are experienced at making complex information easy to understand and apply to everyday life. 

Neurodiversity Affirming

Connect Occupational Therapy works in a strengths based manner. 

This means building on qualities, tasks, and experiences that children already feel success with, in order to expand on skills. 

We accept individuals as they are.

We acknowledge that the world as it's set up for neurotypicals may feel different for neurodivergent people, and we work in a way that we hope helps neurodivergent people feel safe and honoured with us.  

Trauma Informed Practice

Trauma and it's impact on function is unique to the individual. At Connect Occupational Therapy we take a trauma informed lens to therapy. 

This means we are focused 
on the felt sense of safety ("neuroception") for individuals, and having a trusted relationship for therapy. 

Pricing

"Short" assessment: $385

  • Sensory Profile 2 or SPM-2

  • Play based assessment

  • Short report summary

Follow up consult to discuss results - charged at $140/hr

"Full" assessment: $685 - indicated for Dyspraxia diagnosis

  • Sensory Profile 2 or SPM-2

  • Play based assessment plus standardised movement/praxis assessment and visual motor assessment (1.5 - 2 hours in clinic)

  • Written report with comprehensive recommendations

  • Follow up phone call to discuss results - included in assessment price

Clinic therapy sessions or home/school visits: 

  • $105 / 45 min (recommended for preschool aged children - 35 min direct therapy + 10 min documentation allowance)

  • $140 / 60 min (recommended for school aged children - 50 min direct therapy + 10 min documentation allowance)

Travel charge for home/school visits:

  • 80 cents/km (from Halswell, Christchurch)

Prices are inclusive of GST and current as of September 2024. 

Frequently asked questions

What days are you open for sessions?

  • Our regular clinic days are  Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  

  • At this stage we cannot offer after school appointments. 

How long can we expect to be seeing you for therapy?

This depends on the therapy goals you and your child are wanting to work on with us. This will be determined after the assessment process. Usually you can expect to be seeing us anywhere from 8 weeks, to 3 terms. Therapy goals and progress are frequently revisited with you as the parent, to ensure therapy is progressing. 

Do we see you in the school holidays?

Connect Occupational Therapy only runs sessions during the school term. 

Do I stay in the therapy session with my child?

We do usually have parents in session with their child to support co-regulation and parent coaching.

Can I bring my teenager to see you?

We are currently only working with children aged 2 - 10/11 years of age. For your teenager, we recommend Socially Speaking.

Is paediatric occupational therapy an evidenced based practice?

We know that it's important for you to trust your child's therapy providers. The approaches we use are based in research, evidence, and latest best practice.  

Check out the following world-leading pediatric therapy clinics that Connect Occupational Therapy has accessed learning and mentorship from, and have a similar play-based, family-focused approach to their practice:

STAR Institute for Sensory Processing

Developmental FX Colorado

How can you support me as a parent as well?

Our parent coaching approach means you are well supported through the therapy process.

You can also access The Safe and Sound Protocol through us, which is a programme that can help widen your window of tolerance for stress and help you have greater capacity for parenting.  (Additional cost to your child's therapy). 

Funding Options:

Please enquire with us about funding as there may be options available.

  • Privately funded:
    You may choose to privately fund therapy services, in order to support you with parenting and help your child's sensory and motor development.

  • Insurance:
    If you have private health insurance, a portion of your child's assessment and therapy sessions may be covered by your health insurance provider. Please check with your insurance provider.

  • Grants:
    Individual grants for therapy services for children aged up to 18 years old are available through Variety NZ. Applications open every 4 months and are means tested.

  • Disability Allowance:
    If your child accesses the Disability Allowance, you may choose to contribute this towards therapy costs.

Occupational Therapy

Hopeless into hope.
Can't into can.
Impossible to possible.
- Valerie Pena, OTR

We look forward to seeing you and your child soon. 
ENQUIRE HERE