Kerri-anne Telford
Paediatric Occupational Therapy
Welcome to Kerri-anne Telford Paediatric Occupational Therapy, where our philosophy is “Making a Difference”.
We specialise in the assessment, intervention and evaluation of children aged 0 - 18 years, helping to develop cognitive, motor, sensory and psychological skills in a fun therapeutic environment.
Our Goal
Kerri-anne’s vision was to create a therapy clinic to create a warm and welcoming environment for children and parents alike where the sole aim is the embitterment of the child and family with our motto of “Making a difference”, this is what we strive to do each and every day.
We understand that when children are engaged and motivated, learning will occur and therefore, we use the DIR Floortime model to support the therapy process.
Our Story
We operate a private service with a close working relationship with schools, parents other health professionals. We provide therapy in the clinic in our sensory gyms as well as providing therapy in the community such as at childcare, kindergarten and in schools. We are excited to be working with children and their families in the locations that work for everyone.
Our therapists draw on a range of therapeutic interventions which are client centered and address the specific needs and goals of children and their families. Central to our intervention is developmental and individual difference based approaches such as the DIR®/Floortime™ Model of intervention which is a clinical framework to support us to understand the impact of sensory processing difficulties, self regulation issues and motor development and how these difficulties impact a child’s ability to relate and communicate with others and follow the path of typical development. We look at the child's functioning across their environment and understand the child's differences and how these impact the child across their day. Central to this is the important relationship the child has with the key people in their world and how we can foster these relationships.
The practice was developed to provide personalised and quality service and invention to children and families with a range of social emotional and developmental challenges. Children of all ages and stages are welcome.
We focus on a child’s development to find the underlying cause impacting their ability to move forward and address these using a range of developmental interventions, strategies and skills-based training.
Our Beliefs
As a neurodiversity affirming practice we believe that all types of brain (neurotype) are valid, and some people have a type of brain that is different from most people. We do not view autism, ADHD and other neurodivergent brain types as disorders, but as a difference.When we work with children we always ensure that relationship and connection is the central key to all learning and that sessions are based in the child’s interest. When we work on social skills we ensure that all communication is valid and core central aspect of the social skill development is helping a child relate and connect with others.We believe that with the right supports, a child can flourish. It is every individual’s right and the world’s responsibility to learn what an individual needs to be supported to be the best version of themselves. We use identity first language, unless an individual prefers to be referred to in a different way.