Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre

Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre Early Intervention for children. Parent coaching
Play-based interventions in the clinic, home or school

A transdisciplinary approach - OT, Speech and Mental Health support parents/teachers who implement therapeutic strategies in natural environments.

12/06/2026

One of the most common questions we hear from families at Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre.

The honest answer is: it depends, and anyone who gives you a precise timeline without knowing your child has not assessed your child.

What we can say:

Early intervention tends to produce visible change faster than intervention with older children, because neural plasticity - the brain's capacity to adapt to experience - is highest in the early years.

Progress is not linear. Families often notice rapid change in the first few months, a plateau, then another phase of progress. This is normal and expected.

The goal is not ongoing therapy. The goal is equipping the child and the family with enough understanding and strategies that formal intervention is no longer necessary. We work toward our own redundancy.

Most families we work with see meaningful functional change within a school term. Some presentations require longer. We are transparent about expectations from the first session.

10/06/2026

One of the first things we tell families at Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre: you are not here to drop off your child and wait in the lobby.

The parent's role in paediatric OT - particularly in early intervention - is active, not passive. Here is why.

The therapeutic gains made in a 60-minute session have a limited effect if they are not reinforced and extended in the home environment. The nervous system does not change in a weekly hour. It changes through repeated experience across every context.

What we are doing in the therapy room is building understanding and strategies. The parent's job is to carry those strategies into daily life - morning routines, mealtimes, transitions, bath time, school preparation.

This is not a burden we are placing on families. It is an acknowledgment that parents are the most important therapeutic relationship in any child's life. We work with families to make the strategies realistic, specific, and integrated into what they are already doing.

08/06/2026

Something that does not get enough attention in school conversations: the relationship between sensory processing and a child's ability to learn.

A child who is sensorially dysregulated cannot learn effectively, regardless of their intellectual capacity. The nervous system that is managing a hostile sensory environment - a fluorescent light that flickers, a uniform fabric that scratches, the ambient noise of 25 children in a classroom - is not in a state to attend, process, and retain new information.

This is not a willpower problem. It is a nervous system problem.

When families tell us their child is doing fine at school but comes home completely exhausted and dysregulated, this is often what is happening. The child is spending all of their regulatory capacity coping with the sensory environment of the school day, and arriving home depleted.

Understanding this changes how we approach both the school day and the home environment. At Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre, we work with families and schools together.

05/06/2026

We are sometimes asked what makes Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre different from other paediatric OT practices.

The honest answer comes down to three things.

Specialisation. We work exclusively with children under 12 presenting with early intervention needs and neuro-divergent profiles. This is not a side service - it is the only thing we do. Kerry Wallace has spent over 25 years building expertise in this specific area.

The clinical framework. Our practice is grounded in DIR®:Floortime™ - a methodology that meets the child where they are developmentally, follows their lead, and builds the social-emotional foundations that underpin all other learning. It requires specific training and ongoing supervision to apply well.

The relationship. We work with the whole family, not just the child. The parent's role in the intervention is not peripheral - it is central. Outcomes depend on it.

If you have been wondering whether a specialist paediatric OT might help your child, we would be glad to have a conversation.

therapyspotperth.com.au

03/06/2026

When a family receives an OT assessment report for the first time, it can feel overwhelming. This is what we want families to know.

An OT report is not a verdict. It is a snapshot of how your child is functioning right now, in specific areas, on a specific day. It describes what we observed, how it compares to developmental expectations for their age, and what we recommend doing about it.

The recommendations section is where to start reading. Everything else in the report builds toward those recommendations.

If anything in the report is unclear, ask. OT reports should not require a clinical degree to understand. If the language does not make sense to you, that is a problem with the report, not with you.

At Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre, we follow up every written report with a verbal summary for the family. You should never leave an assessment process unsure of what happens next.

therapyspotperth.com.au

01/06/2026

Hello from Therapy SPOT Early Intervention Centre.

We are a specialist paediatric occupational therapy clinic in Perth, Western Australia, working exclusively with children under 12 presenting with early intervention needs and neuro-divergent profiles.

Our clinical director, Kerry Wallace, has specialised in this area for over 25 years. Her approach is grounded in DIR®:Floortime™ - a methodology that meets the child at their developmental level, follows their lead, and builds the social-emotional foundations that underpin all other development. Kerry is the author of the early intervention chapter in Occupational Therapy in Psychiatry and Mental Health, the international OT textbook.

Over the coming weeks we will be sharing information for families about early intervention, what paediatric OT actually involves, how to know when to seek an assessment, and how to talk to your GP about a referral.

If you have a child under 12 and have been wondering whether occupational therapy might help, we would be glad to talk.

therapyspotperth.com.au

We received a fantastic response to our Facebook posts last week, for which we are grateful. Further to this, WAOTA has ...
26/05/2026

We received a fantastic response to our Facebook posts last week, for which we are grateful. Further to this, WAOTA has requested an additional workshop in Perth during the October break, with specific dates yet to be determined. We appreciate your ongoing support.

Thanks to WAOTA for the opportunity to present An Introduction to DIR: Floortime in Perth, WA this weekend. It was wonde...
17/05/2026

Thanks to WAOTA for the opportunity to present An Introduction to DIR: Floortime in Perth, WA this weekend. It was wonderful to be part of a dynamic group of peers who strive to provide relationship based, parent-mediated interventions for neurodiverse children. The need to make this information available to teachers and parents was highlighted.

25/04/2026

We’re sold out! Thank you so much for the amazing interest in the Introduction to DIR:Floortime workshop happening in Perth on 15–16 May.

I’m excited to see such strong demand for this important approach to supporting children and families. I’m now planning a follow-up workshop, so watch this space for details soon.

Thank you again to everyone who secured a place — I can’t wait to share more soon.

I found this Useful Executive Functioning Worksheet with some good ideas online.
29/09/2025

I found this Useful Executive Functioning Worksheet with some good ideas online.

Address

8/55 Hampden Road
Nedlands, WA
6009

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5am
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61432139473

Website

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