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One of the services that the psychology team offers is learning assessments. A learning assessment can be a useful option to consider when children aren’t achieving their learning potential. Literacy (reading, understanding and writing) is an area that children experience difficulty with and sometimes, numeracy may also be a concern.

An assessment can help identify the barriers to learning for children.  Assessments may be helpful as they can give greater insight into why difficulties are occurring, highlight supports that children need, and help with decisions about schooling options.

Learning assessments may also help identify whether there are any attention or emotional issues that are preventing the child from making progress.

What do learning assessments involve?

To start with our psychologists will want to talk to you and find out about your child’s developmental, school, social and emotional history. This appointment is with the parent/carer (s) only as this gives you the opportunity to talk freely about your concerns.

From this, the psychologist will be able to work out which standardised tests may be helpful.  They will want to schedule 1-2 sessions with you and your child. These assessments may include a cognitive assessment (looking at learning potential) and an academic assessment (looking at literacy and/or numeracy). Other assessments may also be suggested.

When our team sees children, we work hard to put them at their ease so we can see them at their best. The first session in particular may involve rapport-building strategies.

The psychologist may want to talk to the teacher too. While school reports have a lot of useful information, our team can learn quite a bit from talking to the teacher. Sometimes we may even arrange an observation of the child in the class to find out more about how their behaviour may be impacting learning.

Sometimes they are also going to want to talk to other therapists about their assessments and therapy progress.

What happens after the learning assessment is completed?

The psychologist will meet with you to give feedback on what the assessment has revealed and their recommendations for how to move forward.  They will also provide you with a written report which you may choose to share with the school and other therapists. The aim of this session is to answer your questions and to help you as a parent/carer plan the next steps in supporting your child.

You are more than welcome to contact Reception on 9274 7062 to find out information about any of our services. For more information about our psychology services in general, please click here:

https://www.childwellbeingcentre.net.au/services/psychological-services/

ANZAC Day is an important day for many Australians, when we recognise the service of defence personnel past and present, and in particular the anniversary of the troops landing in Gallipoli.

Children may learn about ANZAC Day at school through specific lessons and remembrance ceremonies. At home, children may want to talk about ANZAC Day further, which might include aspects of war. Given all the current media reporting on global conflicts, answering their questions may be tricky. We want to tell the truth but at the same time not give them so much information that we take away their sense of safety about the world.

It is important to consider how much your child might be able to cope with both intellectually and emotionally. This is going to vary from child to child, and with children of different ages.

For young children (around 4 to 8 years), we want to encourage questions but keep the messages simple and reassuring:

• It’s a day when we remember and thank everyone that has helped to look after our country
• It’s a day when we say thank you and are grateful that we live in a such a great country
• It’s a day when we remember that we have to look after everyone that lives in our community, including our older people who helped make it so great.

In these discussions, we want to gauge how our children are managing this information, and not provoke or exacerbate any feelings of anxiety.

If they are very concerned, keep reflections to past or offshore events, and discuss how in Australia we are now safe. For tender hearts, the details of death and destruction can be postponed until it can be better managed with maturity. Remember that anxious and sensitive children can generalise their fears, and it is best to not avoid but hear them voice these concerns so that they may be addressed specifically.

Our children will continue to process these concepts as they grow older, and develop their own opinions with influences from many sources, including your values as their parents.

If you ever need assistance with any of this, you have the support from our Psychology Team. Just call our Receptionists at the Centre on 9274 7062  to make an appointment with one of our experienced psychologists.

Naomi Ward and Sharon Jones

Child Wellbeing Centre

Working with children, we know that families can have many reasons where they need to cancel their appointments with our consultants. This year, particularly with COVID restrictions, we are seeing more clients and their families having to isolate, and therefore cancel their appointments, than in past few years.

In the past, we’ve certainly tried to be flexible with our Cancellation Policy. We often haven’t applied a cancellation fee when a child has been genuinely unwell.

However, we will now be enforcing the policy for all cancellations that are within 48 hours of an appointment. Please read the information to further understand why we have to use a Cancellation Policy and enforce a Cancellation Fee.

What’s in our Cancellation Policy?

Every new client coming into the Centre is asked to read and sign the Cancellation Policy. Our Cancellation Policy asks that you let us know within 48 hours of your appointment that you are unable to attend.

For clients who are coming into the Centre on Mondays, we ask for notice by 3pm the previous Saturday if you need to cancel your appointment.

Our Cancellation Fee is the full fee that would have been charged for the session.

To help you avoid a cancellation fee, we SMS all clients with a reminder 48 hours before your appointment. This is a good time to consider if a cancellation might be necessary.

Why do we have this policy?

We have our Cancellation Policy in place for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that this time frame allows our Reception Team enough time to offer the appointment to another family.

All of our services have very long waitlists with families who are very keen for support.  When a space becomes available in a consultant’s diary, it is an opportunity to try and offer it to another family in need. Cancelling your appointment without 48 hours’ notice means that we are unlikely to be able to contact another family who might be able to make arrangements and take your cancelled appointment.

As well as being able to support our families, the Child Wellbeing Centre is also a business. We therefore rely on the income from appointments to pay our staff.

But what if the child is sick or a close contact?

In the past, we have tried to be flexible and waived Cancellation Fees when a child was sick, but this is no longer a possibility. We are currently experiencing many cancellations due to children being COVID close contacts. Unfortunately, high volume restrictions still impact this considerably.

While being in isolation means that your child can’t come into the Centre, you can still proceed in most instances with a Telehealth session. This is when our consultants talk to you and your children online. In fact, many of family’s are doing this very successfully. with great feedback from the kids.

When won’t we be charging a Cancellation Fee?

None of us want to enforce a Cancellation Fee. If we are able to fill your cancelled appointment (even if you’ve given us less than 48 hours’ notice), we won’t charge you a Cancellation Fee. This is in line with our core value of Integrity. We will do our absolute best to find another family to take up the cancelled appointment time.

However, if we do charge a Cancellation Fee (you’ll receive this advice on the day of the appointment), we ask that this is paid before you schedule or attend your next appointment with us.

Please consider going ahead with a Telehealth appointment when you cannot attend the Centre. All you need for this is access to a device (even just a phone) and the internet.

Lastly… we know Cancellation Fees may seem unfair when it’s due to illness or COVID. However we ask that you work with us so we can support all of our children, families and staff during these difficult times.

Children learn language by watching and listening to others. This is how they begin to understand others and develop the words to tell us their needs and so on.

As a baby your child listens to your voice and tries to copy you with all those lovely babbling sounds.  From 6 months onward, some of those sounds begin to sound like words (e.g. dada and baba). Then from 9 months onward, you’ll see your child start to recognise words (e.g. no, ouch, ta and bye-bye) and they will find ways to tell you what they want (e.g. raise their arms to be picked up). Use of individual words can start anywhere from 12 to 15 months. This is the exciting phase when children start to develop a vocabulary of words to let you know their needs (e.g. juice, doll and doggie). 

As a parent you play an important role in helping your child develop their early language skills!

How can parents help?

Taken from The Hanen Centre, the following are some tips to help guide your child’s language development.

1. Use many different kinds of words when talking with your child.
2.  Make a point of highlighting a variety of word types (e.g. labels and action words) when talking to your child, not just the names of things. It is important for your child to learn a variety of word types in order to talk in short sentences.
3. Emphasize action words (sleep, eat, run, push, squeeze, break), descriptive words (soft, hot, big, sticky, funny, tired), location words (up, down, in, on, under), words about belonging (my, your, his, Mommy’s), and feeling words (sad, sick, happy, angry), as well nouns or names of things (dog, book, bed, cup).
4. Repeat these words often and make them stand out when you use them by exaggerating your intonation and slowing down a bit. For example, “Mommy is very… TIRED (yawn). I must go to bed because I need to have a good sleep. Then I won’t be so tired.”
5. Talk about your  child’s natural interests (e.g. their favourite toy) with them. For example, if your child says “ball”, you can extend this with something like “yes, that’s your big, red ball!”.

Where to go for help?

Children can struggle with language development for a range of reasons. A conversation with a child health nurse, GP or early childhood teacher may be helpful in providing reassurance. They can also let you know about support services in your local area.

Consulting a speech pathologist for advice may also be helpful as they are able to let you know if there is anything to be concerned about and if there is a need for therapy.

The Centre has five speech pathologists available who work on different days of the week and at our Bayswater and Midland offices. Currently we are offering centre based sessions but in some instances we may be able to see children at school.

You can find out more about our speech pathologists here:

https://www.childwellbeingcentre.net.au/about-us/

Please call Reception on 9274 7062 for more information about our speech pathology services.

Speech Pathologists can help children in a myriad of ways:

• Language (understanding and expression)
• Speech (articulation, stuttering, motor planning/Childhood Apraxia of Speech)
• Social Skills (greeting others, conversation skills and making friends)
• Literacy (phonological awareness, reading, writing and spelling) and
• Stuttering (a condition that affects the rhythm or flow of speech) 

Within the Child Wellbeing Centre we have five speech pathologists available to work with clients.

• Leonie Stotzer work from our Midland offices and
• Palavi Parmer and Aiesha Elliott work from our Bayswater office.

With the team recently growing, we currently have capacity to take on new clients.  Please call Reception on (08) 9274 7062 to find out more about our services.

New Centre in Bayswater!

We’re delighted to be able to let everyone know that we have opened a new Child Wellbeing Centre in Bayswater.

The new Centre is located in Walter Road East, Bayswater and currently will be providing services Monday to Friday.

Just our Allied Health team will be working from these premises which means, the following services are available:

• Psychology
• Occupational Therapy and
• Speech Pathology

We will be updating our website over the next few weeks so you can find out about our new staff working from the new Centre. Please check our About Us pages for updates about our new staff:

https://www.childwellbeingcentre.net.au/about-us/

To find out more about our services, please call Reception on the usual number – 9274 706. 

A provisional psychologist is someone who has completed their tertiary psychology qualifications and is undertaking a program of supervision as they develop their psychology skills “on the job”. Typically this can involve one to two years of weekly supervision with a senior psychologist.

Supervision is where the provisional psychologist discusses the work they are doing with clients (in our case children and young people) with a senior colleague. It’s a space for them to check in that they are being helpful for the client. It’s also a space for the supervisor to make sure that client’s needs are being met by the provisional psychologist.

Who are the provisional psychologists in the Centre?

At the Child Wellbeing Centre we have  four provisional psychologists on our team. Two have completed masters level qualifications in psychology & two have extensive experience working with children in behaviour therapy roles. Our provisional psychologists are:

Katrina Burgess

Simone Healy

Penny Wong

Toni Schmitz

Each comes with their own background of  experience and interests. The one thing they all have in common is an enthusiasm and commitment to work with children. You can read a bit more about them on our website:

https://www.childwellbeingcentre.net.au/about-us/

Why might I consider a provisional psychologist for my child?

As provisional psychologists aren’t eligible to offer Medicare rebates, they charge out at a much lower rate than the registered psychologists in the Centre. They aren’t limited in the number of sessions they can provide either. When working with families, they are still doing exactly the same things a fully registered psychologist would be doing with a family. However they have a psychologist on call that they can check in with to make sure they are heading in the right direction.

They are also required to do extensive professional development each year which means they are regularly learning about different ways to help their client.

Not all clients will be referred to our provisional psychology team in the Centre. We try to make sure that clients are matched with the psychologist with the right skills mix. However you are welcome to enquire about seeing a provisional psychologist if you think this is an option for your child.

Please contact reception for more information about our provisional psychologists or any of our other services on 9274 7062.

Naomi Ward

Clinical Director

2020 is the year that is testing our collective and individual Resilience. As we watch tragic events around the country and world, it’s hard not to feel worry or sadness, and in some instances anger. This is proving to be a very tough year on us all, including our children.

What do we mean by resilience?

Resilience is our ability to cope well with the ups and downs of life. A bit like a rubber band, how well do we spring back after we’ve been stretched by a challenge. Depending on the type and number of challenges we face, our resilience might be quite low, and we don’t’ spring back easily. Low Resilience can result in feeling anxious about the next challenge, feeling down about ourselves, and perhaps not managing the next challenge as well as we would like to. When challenges pile up, like they have been doing this year, our resilience suffers and we might begin to feel overwhelmed.

There are different ideas about how resilience develops. The most common theory is that it is a mixture of personality factors, our environment (e.g. home and school), and our perceived level of support.  As a parent, now is a good time to check in with our children and gauge our children’s resilience.

How can we improve our child’s resilience?

Here are some areas to consider…

Relationships

Mental health research consistently points out that children who feel supported and have strong relationships with their parents are better able to cope. Now is the time for open discussions that provide reassurance and demonstrate care. Simply having a strong positive relationship with your child, all by itself, helps them.

Responsibility

We all need to feel that we are capable and confident. It’s also how we learn to problem solve and cope with failure. Experiences of success at home and school, coupled with your recognition and praise, can really help to improve confidence and resilience. Giving your children challenges, helping them to succeed and acknowledging their success, goes a long way in supporting their resilience, emotional well-being and sense of stability. At the same time, undue or harsh criticism can erode this too.

Self-regulation

Managing strong feelings well is a sign of healthy resilience. However, many children don’t manage strong feelings easily or naturally.  You can help by showing how you cope positively with challenge and teach your own calming strategies to your child. There are so many resources online about different ways that we can teach our children these skills.

Interested in knowing a bit more about resilience? We’ve included a link to another article that you might find helpful: https://psychcentral.com/lib/10-tips-for-raising-resilient-kids/

If you feel as though your child’s resilience or capacity to cope at the moment is low, and you need some assistance in supporting them, our experienced psychologists are ready to share their expertise.  Please call our Reception on 9274 7062 for further information.

Naomi Ward, Director and Sharon Jones, Principal Psychologist

There are a number of reasons a child may come to see a paediatric (child) occupational therapist.  The best-known reason is to help with printing and hand-writing. Occupational therapists can do so much more though!

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy is about increasing various aspects of a child’s independence and competency. This can include things like working on fine motor skills (think cutting, drawing etc). It can also include aspects of self-care, organisation, mobility and self-regulation (think managing sensory needs and calming down). For children, it’s about having the skills to do well at home and school.

Sometimes therapy will include working directly with the child to increase their skills. It can also look more like parent or teacher consultancy. At the end of the day, the occupational therapist will work with the child, parent and school to improve core skills – whoever can help!

How can Occupational Therapy help my child?

Occupational therapists usually start with an assessment to be clear about the child’s needs. This can come in many forms. In the first instance, the assessment may focus on development such as aspects of fine motor and handwriting,  gross motor and visual perception skills. The occupational therapist will be able to give you feedback on how your child is developing compared to peers and recommendations on how to address any concerns.

Functional assessments (such as those asked for by the NDIS) are where the occupational therapist looks at all aspects of a child’s independence. The goal here is to identify strengths and weaknesses and to make recommendations about the next steps. This kind of assessment can be helpful for prioritising goals and identifying needs. Typically this will be a much more comprehensive assessment.

Following on from assessments comes individual therapy. This is tailored to match the therapy goals you as a parent and the occupational therapist decide upon. Therapy is usually one on one and designed to be engaging for the child. There will usually be some homework tasks too as we aim to keep the good work up outside of sessions.

Occupational therapy at the CWBC

At the Child Wellbeing Centre our Occupational Therapists work with young children, primary and secondary students.

We’ve recently been joined by Jeannie Loi, Occupational Therapist who will be working from our Brockman Road office on Thursdays and Fridays. Jeannie has a background in working with children with disabilities on a range of issues (and she is very nice too!).

Please feel free to contact our Reception for more information about our services on 9274 7062.

Naomi Ward

Clinical Director

Experiencing stress and anxiety at various times as a parent will be familiar. All parents know that our role has its highs and lows. Whether our children are at school or home with us self-isolating, they are in our care and thoughts 24/7. It doesn’t take a pandemic for parents to feel anxiety and stress around the job of parenting. Life can throw us many curveballs along the way. First, though, let’s have a look at what we mean by parental stress and anxiety.

What is parental stress?

Parental stress is the sense of being overwhelmed, which occurs when the demands of parenting overtake our capacity to manage it all. We all have moments when we want to pull our hair out as we are driven crazy by the competing demands for our time.

Over the longer term, this consistent stress becomes a concern when it impacts negatively on our relationships with our children and reduces our capacity to support them. We may become irritable and grumpy and overly negative. Our relationships with partners may suffer as well. This situation feels awful, and we may judge ourselves badly. Worse still, our children will start to see and possibly copy our very poor coping strategies.

What is parental anxiety?

Parental anxiety is defined as excessive worrying about the current wellbeing and/or future needs of our child. Common to parents of children with a disability, it may also develop with families where a child presents with complex or challenging needs.

While all parents have moments of worry for their children, parental anxiety is a pattern of worry that is long-standing and of such an extent that it impacts on the daily functioning of the parent and/or child.

Parental anxiety can start to look like paralysis, where decisions become difficult if not avoided altogether. Parents find themselves trying to minimize any risks for their children, which is where the term helicopter parenting comes from. And again, poor coping strategies are being modelled. Additionally, the child picks up on the parent’s anxiety and may take this on themselves too.

What can you do about parental stress and anxiety?

The first step starts with recognizing that things are getting out of control and seeking help. At our Centre, we are currently seeing a spike in parental stress and anxiety. Hence, we are now opening our Parental Stress and Anxiety Clinic (PASC) to parents of children who are not currently accessing Child Wellbeing Centre services.

In PASC, we match you with a psychologist who can help you get on top of any stress and anxiety. Typically, this is about learning new ways of managing thoughts and feelings.  We also include opportunities to learn helpful parenting strategies and relaxation techniques. Sessions are currently available face to face or via online Telehealth sessions. All you need to do is let us know what will work best for you and we will make it happen.

Please contact our Reception on 9274 7062 for more information about our services and let them know that you are interested in PASC. We’re here to help!