Funding & FAQ

You do not need a GP referral to access Occupational Therapy services. If you are accessing services through Medicare, a care team arrangement will need to be provided before sessions can occur.

We work with children 0-16 years of age with developmental delays or disabilities. We predominantly work with children with the following diagnoses: Global Developmental Delay (GDD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Intellectual disabilities and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) presentations. We can work with you even if you are working towards a diagnosis or engaging with diagnostic assessments.

We are a predominately clinic based service located in Pakenham 3810 in our newly renovated clinic. We provide some mobile outreach services. We are able to visit homes, schools, kinders and childcare centres. We are able to travel 30 minutes from Koo Wee Rup, Victoria 3981. Acceptance of referral will be based on current areas of travel. We will also take into consideration peak traffic times and whether it is feasible to travel to your area based on NDIS travel charges. Please refer to our service map before completing a referral.

Therapy is heavily grounded in play as this is the 'work' of the child. We provide assessments and evidence based interventions to maximise independence and support participation in meaningful occupations. We support you as the parent or caregiver to understand developmental milestones and provide individualised care and support to achieve your family centred goals.

Access to paediatric Occupational Therapy can be funded in several ways. For children under 7, the National Disability Insurance Scheme provides Early Intervention supports for those with developmental delays or disabilities. Beyond 7 years of age a formal diagnosis is required. Children with chronic conditions may be eligible for Medicare subsidised sessions through a Chronic Disease Management Plan, arranged by their GP. Some families may also access OT through their private health insurance or by paying privately.

The easiest way is to contact the NDIS directly. (https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply/information-gps-and-health-professionals/applying-access-ndis-faq#:~:text=How%20can%20my%20patient%20apply,coordination%20or%20early%20childhood%20partner)

Complete a referral form through Link Health and Community. The referral needs to be completed before the child's 6th birthday to allow sufficient time to get onto the scheme. See the link below - NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention - https://www.linkhc.org.au/ndis-early-childhood-early-intervention/(https://www.linkhc.org.au/ndis-early-childhood-early-intervention/)

We are currently at capacity and have a waitlist. We are unable to provide an accurate timeframe on the wait times for therapies. The wait time for these services varies based on current clients continued eligibility to funding, current clients moving out of area or achieving all of their OT goals. We offer adhoc assessments during school holidays and quieter months such as January. Families on our waitlist will be contacted should availability arise for assessments or a short burst of therapies during the school holidays. We encourage you to uptake these offers as it helps us service you sooner. We can then place your child on a cancellation waitlist, allowing you to be seen sooner. We are always looking for ways to support you whilst waiting for more regular therapy intervention. We hope to achieve this through sharing informative posts on our social media channels, offering group programs as well as parent presentations. As our service grows and evolves we will also look to recruit staff to ensure that we can service families who are actively waiting for service. We appreciate your patience. We also ask that if you do waitlist with us and accept a place with another provider that you inform us in a timely manner so that we can keep our records accurate for planning purposes. We will be sure to update our website should our capacity change.

We do not complete any medium or high technology assistive technology (AT) trials or prescriptions. We are happy to work with families on low risk low cost assistive technology (AT) prescriptions. We do not provide functional capacity assessments for clients who are not engaging in service with us. We only provide functional capacity assessments for children and families that we currently work with on a regular basis to ensure that these assessments are accurate and well informed. We are a Paediatric practice and do not support adult referrals. Please contact your LAC for appropriate referral options.