Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy assists children to achieve their optimum level of independence, function and quality of life each day across home, school and play settings.

Occupational Therapists assist children with:-

• Early development play and learning skills,
• Fine motor, visual perceptual or attention difficulties such as handwriting, drawing and cutting,
• Sensitivity to touch, movement or noise,
• Self care skills such as feeding and dressing,
• Special needs equipment such as seating, wheelchairs, toilet chairs and rails,
• Home and school modifications and access issues.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy aims to maximise a child's ability to live an active life by promoting development of movement skills and functional abilities in children.

Physiotherapists assist children with:-

• Development of milestones including sitting, crawling and walking skills,
• Birth related conditions such as club foot and asymmetrical head shape,
• Development of skills such as running, jumping, balance and coordination in preschool and school age children,
• Specialised physical management requirements such as standing and walking frames,
• Unusual walking patterns such as in turning feet and toes,
• Aquatic physiotherapy.

Speech Pathology

Speech Pathology provides assessment, intervention and support to children with communication and/or feeding problems.

Speech Pathologists assist children (0-5 yrs)  with:-

• Language difficulties such as putting words together and interacting in a social situation,
• Speech difficulties (unclear speech),
• Stuttering,
• Voice problems (nasal, hoarse or croaky),
• Feeding difficulties (chewing, swallowing, sucking, dribbling & messy eating),
• Non-speech communications such as sign language, picture symbols, communication boards, computers and voice output devices

Psychology

St Giles offers a psychology service to provide advice, assessment and diagnosis for children from birth to five years of age, for parents and carers with concerns about their child's development and associated behaviour.

Developmental Assessment Units operate in Northern and Southern Services, featuring Psychology assessments as part of multi-disciplinary teams.  This service also liaises closely with the Tasmanian Autism State-wide Diagnostic and Assessment Service (TASDAS).

The Southern Allied Health Service also features limited Neuropsychology consultations, while the Northern Allied Health Service has an early childhood behaviour management service, supporting families whose child may have behaviour issues linked to a developmental issue or disability.

Other Allied Health Services:

Therapy Support in Schools
St Giles is contracted by the State Government to provide therapy support for school students with disabilities in Northern Tasmania (occupational and physiotherapy only).

Communities for Children Direct
St Giles receives Federal Government funding to provide specific pre-school speech pathology services to Northern Tasmania, including an outreach service.

Helping Children With Autism
St Giles is a panel provider under this Federal Government program.

A Better Start for Children with Disability
St Giles has been appointed as a panel provider under this Federal Government program.