Frequently Asked Questions

We do not have a formal referral process because evidence suggests this can create barriers for some people. So, you can call, email, drop in or ask your Support Coordinator to refer you. We will need some information about you and about your NDIS plan and goals so we have a couple of forms we can help you fill in or email to you or your Support Coordinator. 

Then you will meet with our Therapy Coordinator who will discuss therapy options and goals with you. Our rostering team will then work with you to make appointment times and pair you with therapists, mentors and a therapy assistant. 

Please note: After you complete the forms, the onboarding process could take 6 weeks. 

We work with infants, children, youth and young adults who have a disability and want to build their capacity to achieve functional goals.  

We had to make the very difficult decision recently to “close our books”.  This means we are not onboarding any new clients.  If you have already been receiving services, nothing will change. 

There are two exceptions to this; 

If you are already known to us.  For example, if we helped you access the NDIS or you went through us to complete your diagnosis we are able to onboard you for therapy services. 

If you have siblings already using our services.  We are able to onboard you for therapy services. 

Strength, coordination, fitness and mobility are areas where Physiotherapists may guide your team to plan and support fitness, sport and physical activities with you. 

Speech Pathologists assist people to develop the communication, eating and social skills they need to have successful relationships and to build their literacy and numeracy.  A speech plan will involve practising speech, language and communication in a variety of environments.  

The Occupational Therapists look at daily living, play, work and employment, social skills, behaviour and relationships.  The plan they build with you will include strength, coordination, organisation and ability to use your new skills everyday. 

Our Psychologists will work with you around goals related to social skills, anxiety, resilience, change, behaviour and relationships.  They will not provide counselling, but give you ideas and strategies to explore and practise with your team. 

The therapists at Realise Ability use an interdisciplinary approach to therapy.  This involves team members from different disciplines working collaboratively, with a common purpose, to set goals, make decisions and share resources and responsibilities. This means that even if there is a waitlist for one therapy, you can still get help and support because other therapists have some knowledge of many areas and can discuss goals and challenges with each other at any time.  It also means you won’t have to repeat your story to lots of therapists and your funds will go further, because your OT will be able to support your speech goals and your therapy assistant can work across all therapy areas.  

Our support workers are known as Mentors!  These amazing people can help you realise any goal, anywhere.  These supports are about everyday skills and your Mentor will make sure you do as much as you can independently and step in to support with anything else.  You tell us what you want to do and your Mentors will help to make it reality.  

Trained and qualified to help you maximise your plan, our Therapy Assistants will help you turn the goals you set with your therapists into reality.  They work closely with the therapists to help you practice your new skills and use your strategies in every day environments that are important to you.  

Face to face support to help you understand and get the most out of your NDIS plan.  We can help you understand your NDIS plan, set your goals and meet with service providers.  Where possible we will help you identify and connect with existing mainstream community resources to support your goals.  We will work with you to build a team of supports. 

Kids learn best when they can practice their skills everyday in lots of different environments.  While our team of TAs are happy to run 1:1 sessions without a parent present, they will always need to handover to you at the end of each session.   

Carers need to attend all appointments with a therapist so that they can understand the therapy approach and then use the strategies at home. Parents are also welcome to make “check in” appointments with the therapist (without their child present) to discuss the effectiveness of strategies and problem solve challenges.

Your Support Coordinator will work with you to identify which therapists can help with each of your goals.  They can discuss your NDIS budget with you, work out a budget and refer you to the therapists you need.  If you don’t have a Support Coordinator there are tools online like this one which you can use.  

No. If you have a therapist you already work with you can keep seeing them and just use the other therapists at Realise Ability. 

The NDIS consider it duplication of services if you see more than one therapist of the same discipline. So if you are already seeing a Speech Pathologist, you may not be able to see the Realise Ability Speech Pathologist as well. 

Yes. Our model has been designed so that Therapy Assistants provide regular therapy and therapists just check in. This has many benefits including cost, increased therapy sessions, therapy in functional environments, interdisciplinary therapy and helps to keep our waitlists shorter. Our Therapists have regular contact with our Therapy Assistants, they read notes, attend meetings and provide support any time a TA or a parent request it. Therapy Assistant therapy has been widely researched and is a well recognised best practise model, especially with clients with disability. 

Professionally and ethically, our Therapists will not hand over any task or therapy to a TA that is not suitable to be carried out by them. 

Therapy Coordination appointments are scheduled at the beginning of your plan to help work out who, what, when and why Therapists you want to access from us. Then, during your plan you can check in with the Therapy Coordinator at any time. These appointments are a dedicated time for us to discuss: 

· Progress and challenges  

· How your child is progressing with their therapy goals  

· How other therapy is going, or if other therapy may be required  

· Your family’s priorities  

· NDIS timeframes, reports, and budgets  

· Change in appointments 

Realise Ability is committed to providing therapy in partnership with families to produce outcomes in a child’s everyday life. Therapy Coordination meetings allow Therapists and carers the time to make sure the therapy is meeting your expectations and needs and is arranged according to your budget and current priorities.  They also provide your Therapy team the opportunity to check in with you about how you and your family are going, discuss how therapy fits within your everyday life, work with you to overcome challenges and celebrate your child’s achievements. Therapy Coordination meetings provide the opportunity to review how goals and therapy budgets link to your child’s NDIS plan and make sure you are seeing the right Therapists at Realise Ability. 

We are happy to complete therapy appointments anywhere that is important to you and your child and in any environment that will help them to achieve their goals.  Sometimes the Therapists might request a specific place like a park or the pool because they think it will help with goals. It can be good to do some appointments at home so you can see how to use your toys and to practice, and sometimes we will need equipment that we have in the clinic.  

At Realise Ability we use Therapy Assistants for a number of reasons.  Mainly because they help your budget go further, but also because Therapy Assistants can get out and about in the community and at your house to make sure the strategies you are given by Therapists are practised in lots of different environments. 

When you start with us you will meet your Therapy Assistant and have three initial sessions with each Therapist you have selected.  In these first sessions you will get to know your TA and your Therapist will work with you to design strategies for each goal. 

Therapy Assistants will work with you on your goals in lots of different places and activities and every 4 – 12 weeks (depending on your budget) you will check back in with your Therapists. 

Realise Ability works with schools in many ways to build the capacity of our community and to ensure your goals are supported by all adults in your life. We work with schools by: 

- Providing training to schools on strategies specific to your child or a general topic of interest 

- Attending meetings/case conferences to discuss your child’s progress and supports. 

If your school has expressed interest in working with your Therapists or you think it would be valuable, please ask next time you are in and we will see what we can do. 

Under NDIS best-practice recommendations, we like to engage with children in a variety of their natural environments (home, school/daycare, playgrounds etc.), as this helps us to observe and tailor strategies.  

We may be able to see you at school or daycare if your goals are specific to that place, or there are things that make it difficult for you to bring your child into the clinic or have a Therapist in your home.  

Some schools do not have the space or ability to have Therapists and Therapy Assistants work in them.  In these situations, we sometimes do observations or meetings but not therapy in the school. 

When we provide services in the community, we have additional costs in both the therapist’s time to travel and for the use of a vehicle.   

Families may choose to access support at our clinic to minimise the impact of travel fees on their NDIS budget.  The clinic is in the middle of town and we have easy access to parks, the beach, shops, the library and many other places that it is valuable to do therapy. 

If your appointment is 9am – 10am and travel to your house is 10 minutes from the clinic If you want a therapist or therapy assistant to travel to you we can do this in two ways -  

Option 1 – We can build this time into your session time. the therapist will leave the clinic at 9am and will need to be back at the clinic by 10am.  You will pay for an hour but may only be with the therapist for 40 minutes. 

Option 2 – if you want your child to receive the full appointment time the therapist will leave the clinic at 8.50am and will leave your house at 10am to return to the clinic by 10.10am.  You will be billed for 1 hour and 20 minutes and will be with the therapist for an hour. 

When we talk about a social model, it simply means that YOU are the most important person and the expert in your journey. A medical model assumes that the professional is the expert and the professional will tell you what to do and how. In a social model, you make the decisions. You tell us what is important to you and what you want to work on. We then problem solve with you to make that happen. We use your knowledge of your child and our knowledge of therapy in partnership to achieve great outcomes together.  

Like all therapy services the demand for appointments is significant. 

We are currently recruiting for another occupational therapist, physiotherapist and speech pathologist to help keep our wait times as short as possible. 

You will discuss your priorities and our wait times in your first therapy coordination meeting. Generally, you can start working with a therapy assistant almost immediately and at the moment, if you choose psychology or speech pathology as your highest priorities, they have shorter waiting times than occupational therapy and physiotherapy.   

We will try to make sure you see your first therapist within 6 weeks. 

All our therapists and therapy assistants are confident in supporting the needs of clients. Our therapists have significant experience in the area of behaviour management and are constantly upskilling to ensure we are using modern/best practises.  We use a child centred approach in everything we do and are registered to implement Behaviour Management Plans that are written by Behaviour Support Practitioners. 

If your child has Improved Relationships funding in their NDIS plan your support coordinator will be able to refer you to an NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner.