Therapy that feels like play, because it is
When your child walks in, it looks like an hour of climbing, building, drawing and games. That’s the point. Play is how children learn, so play is where we work.
Behind every game there’s a plan. If your child is finding it hard to hold a pencil, we might spend a few weeks pushing playdough and hanging off monkey bars first, because grip strength starts in the shoulders. If getting dressed is a daily battle, we might start with a dress-up box. Your child gets to be a kid, and the skills are built along the way.
What we might work on together
Every child arrives with their own goals, and those goals come from you and from them rather than from a checklist. Families often come to us about:
- Fine motor skills: pencil grip, scissors, buttons, zips, cutlery
- Gross motor skills: balance, coordination, ball skills, climbing, riding a bike
- Self-care, from dressing and toileting to mealtimes and sleep routines
- Play and friendships: joining in, taking turns, playing alongside others
- Sensory processing, so the day’s movement, noise and touch feel manageable
- Big feelings, and finding what helps when they arrive
- School readiness: sitting, listening, managing a classroom day
How it works
It starts with a conversation about your child. What they love, what’s tricky, and what you’d like to be different. No jargon.
Then we get to know your child, usually through play, sometimes with a formal assessment if that would be useful for funding or for school. We set goals together, yours and your child’s and, where it helps, their teachers’, written in plain language you’d say out loud.
From there it’s regular sessions, with things to try at home that fit into your week rather than adding to it. Around the twelve-week mark we look at what’s shifted and decide together what happens next.
Where sessions happen
In the clinic, at home, at kinder or school, or out in the community. Wherever your child does their growing. Some families do a mix, and telehealth works well for parent coaching and for families further out. The areas we visit page shows how sessions run in each part of our patch.
Curious how play can be serious therapy? Our play therapy guide explains the method, and the research behind it is worth a read too.
A note on how we work
We’re neurodiversity-affirming. We’re not trying to make your child look like every other child; we’re helping them build the skills they want and need, in a way that works with how their brain and body are wired. We’ll never ask a child to stop stimming, and we’ll always describe what your child is building rather than what they “can’t” do.