The children’s centres occupational therapy and speech pathology program supports early intervention for children aged birth to 3 years to minimise developmental delays. The program builds the capacity of children’s centre preschool staff to identify children at risk of developmental delay, and supports staff and parents in promoting child development.

Program staff

Program staff are:

• speech pathologists, who assist with all aspects of communication including speech, language, literacy, signs, symbols and gestures and can also assist with issues around eating and drinking
• occupational therapists, who support children’s participation in and performance of daily activities involving the strengthening of play skills, fine and gross motor skills, concentration and self-regulation skills.

Program staff build the capacity of staff, parents and carers of the centre through:

• staff consultation and training on topics such as sensory processing and strategies for assisting children with behavioural, emotional and sensory regulation, resource development, screening, assessments and programming assistance
• parenting groups, parent consultation, referrals and distribution of resources to assist children with toileting, feeding, play, speech and language skills.