Interview with Occupational Therapist & Director at Sensational Kids
Sensational Kids OT (SKOT) is a paediatric occupational therapy practice which aims to maximise each child’s potential and to support their development through a motivational framework of play.
Offering therapy and assessment for children aged 0-18 years, they specialise in therapy services to a range of neurological disorders such as; Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Dyspraxia, Developmental Delay, Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Prader Willi, Williams Syndrome, Learning Difficulties, Fragile X Syndrome, Visual & Hearing Impairments, Emotional & Behavioural Disorders and others.
Tanya Williamson
Tanya has a strong passion for working with children and has dedicated her career to further developing her knowledge and practical skills to be a leading practitioner within her field.
After completing her Masters of Health Science (Occupational Therapy) specialising in Paediatrics and Sensory Integration, Tanya has worked across a range of paediatric fields and has extensive experience in children’s issues from disability to learning difficulties.
Tanya’s speciality areas of practice include Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Delays and Dyspraxia.
Regularly delivering workshops, Tanya supports parents, teachers, health professionals and organisations to understand sensory related innovations, therapeutic listening, autism, and other speciality practice areas.
Tanya’s Therapist Thoughts
Tell us about your role and your clinic? And why do you do this work?
I am the owner of a private paediatric practice. I have previously been a sole therapist within the business and as the business has grown over the years and the our own family has grown I have taken on more of a director/support role within the business.
What do you do? What is your mission with your work?
Our clinic aims to provide children and their families with a safe and fun place where they can reach their full potential. We aim to empower each family with the skills to allow them to understand and support their child and for children to see their own potential reaching a place where they can thrive not just survive.
What’s the hardest thing about your role?
Not having the capacity to hands on treat at the moment, this the fun part of the job! Apart from that I think the hardest part is not being able to help everyone due to limited places and a shortage of therapists however this is where Theratrak comes into play and allows us to keep supporting families who might not be seeing a therapist directly or still benefit from services but don’t need to attend regular therapy to do this.
What's a key feature you love on Theratrak?
Being able to add your own activities! We have such a great resource of activities already and being able to add them to the platform to make home programs and support recommendations that actually reflect SKOT is by far the best part of this platform.
How have you implemented Theratrak into your clinic?
We first introduced it during COVID where families were looking for more regulation ideas to support them during isolation periods and home schooling.
Now we continue to use it to support families between sessions and after blocks of therapy.
What's been the impact of Theratrak in your clinic?
A great way to share ideas with families without having a huge admin component to creating home programs that is often hard to find in a therapists caseload and admin time.
What are the most common exercises you prescribe with Theratrak?
Movement and heavy work and always some respiration!
With over 400 ideas in our personalised bank we have an endless list of fun ideas for our families.
What advice would you give to a therapist considering using Theratrak at their clinic?
Do yourself a favour and use it!
Your families will love it and so will you when you see the time you save on your admin in creating programs.
Build up a bank of activities and add them over time to keep growing your ideas and options for families.
What are the three top features therapists love and why?
One therapist loves being able to support her parent coaching families with ideas to support their ideas discussed in sessions.
One therapist loves being able to quickly offer ideas to families without copious amounts of admin work.
One therapist loves the chance to provide families with quick ideas to access at home between sessions.
What advice would you give other clinic owners about considering to use Theratrak in their practice?
Theratrak’s founder Laura Simmons is an amazing innovator who wholeheartedly is behind supporting the growth of Theratrak and its implementation in businesses. Theratrak is a great support and very responsive to all your needs.
This inexpensive platform is a game-changer in offering support to families regularly without burdening your staff with more admin requirements.
What do you think about the future of healthcare?
Healthcare has great scope to grow in how we deliver therapy and how we structure this support but it needs to be embedded in good foundations of knowledge from our therapists to ensure that we are working on a model of where one size DOES NOT fit all.
