Understanding what we do

What is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapists are the experts in the body structure, and how the body moves and functions. This unique understanding of the human form is what sets physiotherapists apart to observe, assess and interpret even the smallest detail of movement, positioning, and understand how it impacts overall wellbeing.

Physio’s are often generalists who address all bodily structures and the impacts of injuries, pain or work with individuals to build strength. Physio’s who work with children, particularly in the area of development and disability are; and should be, different in how they work their magic.

More Than Able physio’s are not your standard injury or strengthening consultants. Our physio’s specialize in the paediatric movement for babies, children, and adolescents; see also; movement wizard.

Our physio’s are acutely aware of, and expert-level in, recognising the difference in providing therapy for little-to-medium-sized clients (also referred to as children)

Movement, whatever that looks like for your child, is a pivotal part of unlocking their purpose in life.

It allows them to better understand how their body works and gives them access to all of the things in their world. Feeling confident and comfortable in how your body moves and being able to navigate your space is an essential part of learning and growing throughout your life, particularly in childhood.

As our little one’s brains are continuously learning and changing, developing the most functional motor patterns early is foundational in their growth throughout their lifespan

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapists are concerned with an individual’s ability to perform “occupations” with the most independence possible. Occupations refer to literally every activity, task, role, endeavor, and adventure a person can engage in throughout their day. Now, over the human lifespan, this means that OTs can be (and often are) involved in any and every aspect of their client’s lives.

Occupational therapists are the most misunderstood, and magical, of the allied health specialists. Their practice is equal parts science and creativity. We like to think of them as the jam in the multi-disciplinary sandwich. Just ask them, they’ll tell you.

More Than Able occupational therapists specialize in supporting children of all ages, from infancy and up. Childhood is the time of life where our brain and our body are constantly changing and developing.

The development of independence in self-care, forming relationships, engaging with the world around us, and figuring out how to use our bodies are all essential childhood experiences. These life elements are also chock-full of, you guessed it, occupations. Our highly experienced and passionate occupational therapists concern themselves with your child’s development, particularly when there are barriers to success and fulfillment for them and your family.

Our OTs take a developmental approach to address areas of physical ability (fine and gross motor skills), play development, sensory processing and modulation, social and emotional development, educational skills, visual motor skills, and self-help skills.

What is Speech Therapy?

Speechies are all about communication, but they will be the first to tell you that communication is more than just talking.

Though, our More Than Able speechies do like to talk… a lot. Communicating includes speaking, hearing, listening, understanding, non-verbal communication, social skills, reading, writing and using voice.

Communication can take many forms. These forms could be through signs, symbols, gestures, body language, facial expressions, or technology – all utilised to communicate our thoughts, feelings and ideas

Supporting communication development is more than just getting kids to say words – it’s about helping them to participate in interactions with others. Helping them to develop the ability to assert their own ideas, wants and of course, their needs.

Speechies help your little one to develop methods in how to send messages that express thoughts and feelings, to understand more of the world around them, and develop relationships with others.

Communication development for our kiddos also includes supporting communication partners (often parents, carers, siblings, other therapists) to learn how your little person communicates and helps you to understand the messages they are often, already sending.

Speech pathologists are experts in the anatomy and function of the head and neck, which means they have spent many many years staring at/into/around a whole lot of noggins.  Fear not, they don’t do that to be creepy, it’s because speechies are uniquely qualified to support feeding and swallowing. 

Our MTA speechies support kiddos who have difficulties with the mechanics of eating (biting, chewing, swallowing safely), medical conditions impacting their food intake, the use of alternative feeding systems (like NG tubes and PEGs), and children who have difficulty eating for other reasons (e.g. sensory, oral aversions).

You are more than able. capable. unique. talented. worthy.

FAQs

Do I need a referral?

No, you do not need a referral to see our Physio, Occupational Therapist, or Speech Therapist.

What funding is available for my child?

Please see our funding page at the link below.

Funding

What does an initial assessment include?

The first appointment is used to get to know you and your child, asses their
current abilities, and develop an understanding of their strengths and
difficulties. We can then together as a team develop goals and make a plan to
achieve those goals.

How do I book an appointment with you?

The first step is to contact More Than Able Therapy via email, phone, or
website. You will be asked to fill in an intake form. Once the intake form is
received and has been reviewed by our team, our clinical director will
contact you.

Why we should consider doing Physio, OT and SLP together?

We believe that collaboration across allied health services is the gold standard of therapy. Each of your therapists focus on different aspects of each activity, and we recognise that isolating one of these is often pointless.

Learning how to move your legs should be tied to exploring your world, which requires cognitive development and communication. This approach is most suitable for our early developers, and kids with complex needs. Additionally, having one therapy session per week instead of multiple visits is a real-time saver for families!

Do your team collaborate with other therapy providers?

The short answer is, YES! We love working with other disciplines and are as flexible as we can be in organising joint sessions with clinicians from other clinics including speech therapists, psychologists, dieticians, exercise physiologists etc.

Do we work with other OT, Physio and SLP?

This will depend entirely on your child's needs. We don’t usually believe that more therapy is better. Often having more than one provider in each discipline overloads kids with therapy, confuses the goals and focus for the family, and leads to burnout across the board for parents and kids alike.

If however, you are not from this region and your family is engaging with local therapists, you may choose to visit us for a specific therapy style like Therasuit or an intensive program. In this case, we communicate with your local therapy team and work with your family as much as possible to ensure a thorough handover and update on achievements is given.

Can my child be seen by your therapists if they do not have a diagnosed disability or delay?

Yes. We often work with families in the early stages of observation and assessment of infants and young children in order to clarify their developmental level and understand the presence of any differences or potential delays.

Our clinicians often assess and put together reports for paediatricians or neonatologists as they work with families to explore their child’s development.