Anxiety surrounding school is on the rise on the back of long periods at home in lockdown and the frequent and unpredictable changes to schooling over the past few years.   Anxiety in kids can sometimes be difficult to notice and once identified,  it can be challenging to know how to help. Anxiety in kids can present in many ways – it can be shown through trouble focusing in class, upset stomachs, finding it difficult to raise their hand in class, increased tantrums or even feeling unable to get their uniform on in the morning. School refusal can increase especially after holida ..read more

Ever wanted to know a bit more about Music Therapy? Meet Mei McCracken, our Registered Music Therapist based at Ormond and see what she has to say about how Music Therapists help kids develop all the skills they need to thrive. Music Therapy at Sensational Kids The post All About Music Therapy appeared first on Sensational Kids ..read more

Interesting times call for interesting measures! While we are currently required to physically distance from our friends and play mates, many kids are undoubtedly craving some degree of social contact outside of the home. For older kids, online interaction with their friends may already be part of their pre-isolation life. However, parents may be wondering how to help their younger kids get together online with their play buddies. We’ve put together some of our best tips for how to get started and make an online play date a success.   Firstly, consider whether an online play date is some ..read more

We are excited to announce we are waving goodbye to our old Moonee Ponds site and saying hello to our new Kensington site on April 7th, 2020. Our Senior Speech Pathologist, Alyssa Murray has put together a social story that may help your young ones transition with ease. Sensational Kids New Building Social Story See you in Kensington! The post We are moving! appeared first on Sensational Kids ..read more

It’s never fun having to pack away toys and stop playing. Even sometimes simple things like putting our shoes on is a struggle! These difficulties with transitions can feel like they go on forever and become a routine part of every day. As parents and therapists we say to ourselves we’ll stay calm, we won’t get frustrated and we won’t raise our voice. More often than not, the clock starts ticking and we fail. So why not make transition time, music time?  Music is a fun, naturally engaging medium for kids but that’s not all. Here’s why sung transitions may be the way to go: Research has shown t ..read more

Difficulties with production, known as speech sound delays, are very common in preschool and school aged children. It can be hard to know how best to help your child while you are waiting for an appointment with a Speech Pathologist. Here are my top tips in how to support your child in everyday conversation: Build Confidence The most important thing is to maintain or increase your child’s confidence. You can do this by not talking about your child’s speech in front of them, making sure others are not imitating or teasing, and by praising your child sincerely and openly every day. It’s very n ..read more

Before anything else, we would like to welcome you to Sensational Kids! Since you are currently reading this entry, you have probably already spoken to one of our clinical administrators to book your initial appointment. Whether it is with an occupational therapist, speech therapist, music therapist or psychologist, first appointments are always about getting to know you and your child! To ensure that we all breeze through this initial meeting and for you to get the most out of it, we have listed down a few things that you need to know about your first visit. You will be filling out a child ..read more

Are you the parent of a child who is struggling at school? There are some areas like art, sports, music, technology that they do well in however other more traditionally academic subjects which involve lots of talking and discussion are far more difficult for them? You may also find that they find it difficult to follow conversations and you sometimes find it hard to understand what they are trying to explain to you. It’s possible that your child may have ‘Specific Language Impairment’. What is ‘Specific Language Impairment’? Specific language impairment or SLI, as it’s sometimes known, is whe ..read more

Sensory integration is a process that refers to how we take in, interpret and subsequently react to sensory information from our internal organs and our environment. The way we process this information can affect our learning, activities of daily living, confidence and behaviours. Our 5 External senses are sight, sound, taste, touch & smell. Our 2 internal senses are proprioceptive and vestibular: Proprioceptive sense: Our sense of body awareness and muscle stretch. Receptors in our muscles and joints tell us where our body ends and the rest of the world begins. Inputs into this system occ ..read more

Busy, naughty, distracting, misbehaving, trouble-making….just some of the phrases we hear daily about kids with movement, modulation or neuro-biological reasons leading to difficulty sitting still and concentrating. Often first picked up when the demands of kindergarten or school increase, ADHD/ ADD and Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) are very real and can have a huge impact on kids’ daily life. Here we attempt to differentiate between the presentations of ADHD/ ADD and SPD and provide some practical tips on how you can help kids through challenging times. Occupational Therapists and Psycho ..read more