KidSense blue logo representing child-focused occupational therapy, speech therapy, and functional capacity assessments

Our Team

KidSense banner highlighting functional capacity assessments and occupational therapy for NDIS participants

Our amazing team of Occupational Therapists and Speech Pathology are the heart of the exceptional service that we deliver. Delivering care across six Metro. Adelaide clinics, our team make a difference in children’s (and young adults) lives each and every day providing clinic, community, home and in education setting intervention and support.

Our developmental professionals are led by highly experienced therapists who support, mentor and supervise their teams to ensure clinical excellence for our young clients and adults. Regular Professional Development and quality control measures form part of all clinicians expectations. Our experienced clinical leaders believe in ensuring our team is not just suitably qualified but also well trained, resourced and highly organised. Only with these features in place can quality care be delivered.   

Our experienced leadership team’s guidance supports our therapists to deliver the best clinical service in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Our passionate therapists join the therapy team in a specific employment stream (eg Career Change, Return to Work, Graduate) where each stream delivers the tailored training and supervision for each therapists needs, to ensure that all clients receive the best care possible.

Our team are the heart of the caring change that we create in our clients. We know that because we care for our team, they can care more for our clients.

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Occupational Therapy

Our playful team of Occupational Therapists are trained to deliver quality services to help children and young adults  overcome challenges in:

  • Sensory Integration/Processing
  • Self Regulation of alertness and attention (incl. Emotional Regulation)
  • Fine Motor skill development (including handwriting, colouring, drawing)
  • Gross Motor skill development (running, jumping, bike riding, ball skills)
  • Self care skills (including dressing, eating, toileting)
  • Self Management (including packing bag, following timetables, money, telling time)
  • Organization for task performance and routines
  • Planning & Sequencing
  • Story Mapping for creative writing or project planning
  • Play & Interaction
  • Executive Functioning
  • Working memory (scaffolding supports)

Our team of therapists are trained and competent to administer the following specific intervention methods (amongst others):

  • Wilbarger (Therapressure brushing) otherwise known as Deep Pressure Joint Compression program to meet sensory needs
  • The Alert Program: How does your engine run? to support sensory based regulation
  • M.O.R.E. (integrating the mouth with sensory & postural functions to allow the development of effective foundations for regulation and motor development).
  • Jolly Phonics Literacy Program
  • THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading & Spelling System) literacy program
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Speech Therapy

Our team of fun loving speech therapists are trained to deliver ‘best fit’ services to help children and young adults overcome challenges in:

  • Articulation
  • Pre language skills
  • Early language development
  • Receptive language (i.e. understanding language)
  • Expressive language (i.e. using language)
  • Literacy
  • Play & Interaction
  • Social skills
  • Fluency
  • Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
  • Social Communication
  • Homework planning
  • Story narratives
  • Higher level language skills such as inferencing & problem solving
  • Public speaking

 

Our team of therapists are trained and competent to apply the following specific intervention methods (amongst others):

  • Proloquo2go (Augmentative Communication Device)
  • Key Word Sign
  • Modified Lidcombe Fluency intervention
  • PODD (Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display)
  • Jolly Phonics Literacy Program

Our Founder – Joanna

Occupational Therapist and Executive Director

As a mother of 2 with more than 30+ years clinical experience as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist, Joanna worked in the United States paediatric therapy space for 4 years before returning to Australia to establish Kid Sense Child Development in 1998. Joanna founded Kid Sense with a simple vision: to help children to ‘be the best they can be’. Experience in medical, educational (child care, preschool and school) and private practice settings have served Joanna well in managing a clinical team that deliver quality care to not just the children but also the parents and educators supporting the child and young adult. More recently, expanding our supportive offerings to emerging (and returning to practice) therapists has been her focus.


Joanna’s particular interest is in exploring the blurred boundaries between where ‘therapy’ meets ‘education’ for children and young adults of all ages. Her greatest passion is to see that children in (developmental) need receive the intervention they require to unlock their most positive future. Joanna served on the Occupational Therapy Registration Board for almost 2 years and on the SPELD (Specific Learning Difficulties Association of SA) Council for 18 months. She was named as a Finalist in the 2007 and 2008 Telstra South Australian Women’s Business Awards, and supported Kid Sense to win the 2017 and 2018 Telstra South Australian Business (category) Awards.

In every interaction we ask: 

how can we improve the child’s daily life, not what therapy can we offer?