Therapy ASSistant

Supporting children with their therapy, education and life goals!

“Rhy is extremely knowledgeable in her understanding of AAC and literacy. She has an extensive background in editing, customising and the backing up of Proloquo2go communication systems. She has sound knowledge in how to use AAC and the importance of communication partners ‘teaching’ the child/AAC user how to use their communication system through extensive modelling….” - Elle, Speech Pathologist

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Face-to-face session location:

Sessions take place primarily in your home. We find this helps your child feel more comfortable and supports us to build strong positive relationships and plan activity ideas and strategies that can transition to day to day life for you and your family.

Sessions can be in an education setting if organised with all involved (depending on the policies and regulations of the setting)
Sessions can also involve trips to the community or your child’s out of school activities, again if organised with all involved

Non face-to-face session location:

Sessions can be run online if required or if this is a better fit for your child and family

These sessions may be run with your child, where we plan activities to target your child’s goals
- You will be sent an email with the zoom link and a list of resources to have nearby for the session - this can include print outs we send through!
These sessions may be more of a meeting with your family or team so we can all check in with each other and collaborate
- We love to collaborate with your team as we find this helps us be the best support possible for your child

Notes:

Each session your therapy assistant will write up notes both for their record to assist in planning the next session for your child and also to provide you with an overview!
Session summary notes are sent out to you, typically within 24 hours of the session completion.
- These notes can also be sent to any therapists or teachers your child sees, this is never done without your written consent (this is actually included in our service agreements)!

Session Focus:

Sessions involve working on the child's therapy, education and life goals through play and activities planned with your child’s strengths, interests and communication mode in mind.

Resources you already have within your home will be used during sessions
Additional resources for activities may be brought in or made by your therapy assistant

Communication:

We think it is important to communicate with your child's therapists and teachers to work as a cohesive team

If possible attending one or more therapy sessions with your child and family is very beneficial for therapy assistants in understanding your child’s goals and the strategies that are currently being implemented

We chat to you about what goals are important to for your child and family
- Then we compile a goal list to incorporate all the different therapy, education and family goals into our sessions
We believe the more communication between all the members of the child's team the better to ensure we are working as the best support team for your child and family.
We are always happy to answer any questions families have and have a chat about what they are thinking and feeling.
- We believe it is important to be a support for both your child and family.

Frequently asked questions

We provide therapy assistants to support children with their therapy goals.
All members of our team are employees so we manage their payroll, tax, superannuation, provide access to professional development and take care of the admin. We also cover their professional indemnity, public liability and workers compensation insurance.
We ensure all of our team members complete NDIS worker screening checks, have up to date first aid and CPR training, complete NDIS training modules and have a completed qualification or are currently studying in the area of health, education or disability.
We are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for our team so they are able to learn and grow with us.
A Therapy Assistant can support families by assisting in the implementation of therapy activities at home, in the community or at school and kinder.
Our Therapy Assistant work with a range of Allied Health Professionals such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists and psychologists to implement activities they recommend.
This can include activities such as; fine motor activities, assisting with implementing routine and visual schedules, role modelling Augmentative and Alternative Communication tools, practicing language and communication strategies and tasks, engage in literacy activities, support with strategies that assist in building self-confidence and working through anxiety/regulation activities.
It is up to the allied health professional to decide what is beneficial and appropriate to support with.
We take into account the goals you are seeking support with, your child’s interests, what is important to you, location and desired days/times to look at who in our team could be suitable.
We send you a support offer and you can read through the team members profile on our website.
If you’d like to proceed we can then pencil in the session times for you and get all the paperwork out of the way.
We then complete the initial session as a non-obligatory session to see if it feels like the right fit.
NDIS describes a Level 2 Therapy Assistant as - Provision to a participant of a therapeutic support by an allied health assistant working under the delegation and supervision of a therapist, where the therapist is satisfied that the allied health assistant is able to work independently without direct supervision at all times.Where a support is delivered by a therapy assistant, the therapy assistant must be covered by the professional indemnity insurance of the supervising therapist (or the therapist’s or therapy assistant’s employing provider).
As the Therapy Assistants employer we organise their insurance, super, tax and other obligations.
Be Heard is accountable and liable for the actions of our therapy assistants.
The Supervision and Delegation Framework for Allied Health Assistants and the Support Workforce in Disability outlines the identification model used within the therapy assistance process.
There is some liability and accountability on the Allied Health Professional. The mentioned documents explains the following:
- AHP is accountable for the client’s therapy plan
- AHP is accountable for the identification of appropriate tasks for the TA to assist with
- AHP is accountable for clear communication and documentation to support effective transference of the therapy plan and recommendations to the client, Be Heard and the TA
- AHP is accountable for setting supervision required for the TA and provide training for the tasks recommended where required
We have designed a TA plan template to allow documentation of the supervision schedule and the goals and recommendations by the AHP so it is in writing for all involved.
This includes setting out schedule of check-ins and the modes of communication to be used.