Therapy Assistance
Our Therapy Assistants work with young people and adults by giving additional support in the home or community, practicing the skills that the young person is learning with their Psychologist, Speech Therapist or Occupational Therapist.
Clinician - Therapy Assistant Partnership Program
“Therapy assistants can effectively support the work of therapists, alleviate workforce pressures and provide value for money for participants.” – NDIS, 2019
Therapy Assistants work under the direction and supervision of our Clinicians to support individuals to achieve their best in areas such as social and emotional skills development, managing emotions, using effective communication, language and interaction skills and motor coordination skills.
To ensure you are supported we have review sessions every six sessions between the Therapy Assistant and the Clinical Therapist to ensure that we are sharing ideas and meeting goals for the individual. The cost of this will be for the Clinician and Therapy Assistant to meet. This ensures that everyone is supported and has space to improve methodologies and share ideas.
Our Therapy Assistants support skill building by connecting themes learnt with a child's clinician during their sessions, with real life experiences such as catching public transport together, attending local sporting events, shopping independently, working on craft projects at home, cooking and more. By using the same language and concepts as introduced and explored with the child's clinician, we can support a young person to feel safe to transfer new skills learnt into real life challenges.
Our Therapy Assistants are covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance and governed by the APS code of ethics. They engage in ongoing training with Practice Director Connie Buckingham, in addition to the supervision and program planning they receive from the client’s clinician.
To explore the appropriateness of a Therapy Assistant for your child’s program, please ask to speak with your clinician at our practice. We can only offer Therapy Assistance to clients that are already supported by our clinicians.
Home or school based rate: $86.79 per hour plus of travel time as paid by NDIS.
At The Social Learning Studio we work with NDIS-self or NDIS-plan managed families.
How do I get started?
Once a need for a Therapy Assistant has been established together with your Social Learning Studio clinician, the clinician will reach out to our Therapy Assistants to get the ball rolling.
Once the form is completed, our administration officers will contact you to book the following:
Session 1: Introductory Meeting. This meeting includes the family, the lead clinician and the therapy assistant. This is a 50minute session to meet the Therapy Assistant, discuss the goals of therapy, and key activities to help achieve the set goals.
Session 2 : If the therapy is planned to take place at your home, we will also book a Home Suitability Session. The lead clinician and Therapy Assistant will visit your home together, to help establish whether the home is going to be conducive to effective Therapy Assistant work. For example, will there be a suitable space for the young person and Therapy assistant to work? Will an adult always be home? And are their pets that need to be managed? This is a 50minute session. If the home is not considered the best space for effective therapy, school based, community based, or practice based sessions may be suggested instead.
What happens next?
The Therapy Assistant will engage in regular sessions with the young person, and regular planning sessions with the lead clinician’s to ensure we are addressing your goals.
Regular review sessions with your Clinician and Therapy Assistant will occur every six sessions to ensure the developed program is meeting the needs of the individual and we are all working effectively together.