Research review, in conjunction with our clinical observations, has identified that a frequency of weekly sessions is likely to be most impactful for the outcomes for children and young adults accessing our services. The subsequent recommendations are that therapy is best conducted weekly (in blocks), rather than irregularly in fortnightly through the year.
A higher frequency of therapy has been proven to have greater success with interventions in a range of areas, from developing speech-sounds to motor learning.
When appointments are spread out over a longer timeframe (e.g. fortnightly), the beginning of each appointment must be committed to reviewing the previous appointments information, home program practice completed & relevant events, and current skill level before then building upon this in the appointment. With weekly appointments, much less time is spent regrouping on the past weeks, and there is less demand on the child or young adult to relearn/recall information from past appointment.
Whilst research across a range of clinical areas suggests that different intensities work best for different clinical areas, generally research labels ‘high intensity’ as 2-5 times a week, and ‘low intensity’ as weekly.
This suggested level of weekly frequency during the ‘on’ appointment blocks reduces the demand in a child or young adults memory from one appointment to another, and can also help nurture the therapist/client relationship more quickly.
In addition to the greater success towards therapy goals during the ‘on’ blocks, the break time during the ‘off’ block allows for functional consolidation and generalization of skills learned ‘in therapy’ to transfer to other areas of life. Additionally, children and young adults are more likely to be motivated by, and focused on, their therapy goals in these shorter blocks, rather than an ongoing fortnightly or monthly appointments.
Holiday Intensive Therapy (high frequency appointments at 2-5 times a week) during school holidays when children are often more ‘learning-ready’ without the school/preschool demands.
Summary: We expect a (weekly) block based approach to outperform fortnightly or monthly appointments all year, in;
*Research reviewed in determining best approach comes from a range of articles reviewed and published by ‘The Informed SLP’
To view the block dates, refer to the tables beneath the FAQ’s.
Support in an ‘off’ appointment block can look like:
Please note that fortnightly all year (24) appointments and 3 blocks of weekly therapy for 8 weeks duration (24) appointments involve the same number of appointments over the course of the year, so this therapy delivery method does not change how your funding is used or allocated but may well increase the value of the appointments.
Instead Of | We Recommend |
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Weekly therapy, all year | No change |
Fortnightly therapy, all year. | 1 set of blocks (A or B) – that is 3 blocks of weekly therapy for an 8 week duration |
Two siblings, both fortnightly | Sibling 1 – Set A and Sibling 2 – Set B OR Both siblings same set, at a back to back time or different days |
One child, two disciplines | Speech Therapy in Set A, then Occupational Therapy in Set B, OR Both Speech and OT in the same set, at a back to back time |
Two siblings accessing both Speech and OT | All therapies for both children to occur in one set OR Children alternate sets (e.g. child 1 – Set A, child 2 – Set B) OR Alternate disciplines (e.g. OT for both – Set A, Speech therapy for both – Set B) |
So, put another way, parents and carers make the following choices of therapy attendance
Attendance Frequency | Discipline Attendance | Sibling Attendance |
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To schedule appointments: click here, call our friendly Client Coordinators on Ph (08) 8272-7522 or email [email protected]
Set A | Set B | Block | Begins | Ends | School Year Timing |
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A | 1 | Jan 7 | Mar 2 | Jan Hols – Mid Term #1 | |
B | 2 | Mar 3 | Apr 27 | Mid Term #1 – End Term 1/2 Holidays | |
A | 3 | Apr 28 | Jun 22 | Begin Term #2 – Late Term #2 | |
B | 4 | Jun 23 | Aug 17 | Late Term #2 – Early Term #3 | |
A | 5 | Aug 18 | Oct 12 | Early Term #3 – Start Term #4 | |
B | 6 | Oct 13 | Dec 19 | Begin Term #4 – Xmas |
For more details please see the following timetable. Click here
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Kid Sense is founded on inclusion and the belief that everyone is welcome. All diversity is celebrated, encouraged, represented and supported in our staff, our clients, and our community. You are welcome here.