Studying at university has changed a great deal in the last many years. Right from the start, allied health students are encouraged to learn about each profession’s skills and expertise.
It wasn’t until I began working alongside an occupational therapist for the first time, that I really understood, not only the value of her role and expertise, but also how we could work together for the benefit of our clients.
Just one example of this is challenges with emotional regulation - an area that can really hamper a child’s ability to interact, socialise and learn within their environment. An occupational therapist engages the child in activities and strategies that strengthen their ability to self-regulate.
Once a child has their own personal ‘tool box’ of strategies that work to ‘settle’ themselves, they are able to engage in all sorts of learning experiences.
It’s so gratifying to see children develop these self-empowering skills. They are then in a personal position to benefit from speech pathology input, to develop workable language skills and ways to communicate with others, as well as to build on these skills in other learning environments.
Of course, not all speech pathology sessions are shared with our occupational therapists, but when it’s appropriate, it’s available to our clients at Kids First. It’s a perfect combination.