About Us

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At PlaySpace Paediatric Therapy, it is our mission to support and empower children and their families to meaningfully participate, engage and connect within their everyday environments and occupations.

We are a fun, innovative, and quality-driven service, we pride ourselves on play-based, engaging and meaningful therapy in a safe and supportive environment for children.

Our team of Occupational Therapists have

completed additional clinical training in general children’s development, fine motor development, sensory processing, neuroscience, and age-appropriate skills at each stage of a child’s life – all incorporating the true work of childhood – play!

Whether its learning to write, making new friends or supporting learning some of those tricky fine motor skills, our team have the ability to assess, analyse and plan to support your child reach their goals.

We use the most appropriate assessments to understand your child’s functional abilities, their strengths, and areas to target through intervention. Our evidence-based approach means that we only offer therapy that will be effective for your kiddo!

child therapy OT NDIS occupational therapy

Our Values

play

Play is how children connect, interact, and learn about their world

growth

Evolving, learning, progressing, and growing

connection

Facilitating and building meaningful connections with others

participation

Children thrive when they are able to actively participate in their environments

individuality

Supporting individuality, self-expression and confidence to be uniquely you

Our Team

Director & Occupational Therapist

Caitlin

Caitlin is the lead Occupational Therapist & Owner of PlaySpace Paediatric Therapy. She began PlaySpace in 2021, with the vision to create a quality-driven service for children and families of the Gold Coast region.

Caitlin has a strong passion for working with children to achieve meaningful goals, and believes that forming a fun, therapeutic and fulfilling relationship with the child is the first step towards fostering clinical success.

Caitlin has worked with children with a range of conditions and who are all unique in their interests, goals, preferences and needs. With evidence-based practice at the forefront of intervention, she has experience providing individualized therapy targeting play skills, social skills, fine motor skills, independence with self-care, daily routines & activities, emotional regulation, and sensory processing differences.

Caitlin has completed a range of additional training, including:

DIR Floortime (Developmental, Individual-differences, & Relationship-based model)
Becoming a Behavioural Detective: understanding complex behaviour
Sensory Regulation & Behaviour
Praxis in Early Intervention
Traffic Jam in my Brain
The Zones of Regulation Program
The Alert Program
Self Regulation through Neuroscience
Learn to Play
SPELD Literacy Skills Workshop

Caitlin enjoys seeing children grow, progress, and gain confidence through collaborative intervention with families, carers, and teachers.

Phoebe graduated from Southern Cross University in 2023 and has been a valued member of the PlaySpace Therapy team since her time as a Therapy Assistant, before stepping into her role as a Registered Occupational Therapist.

Phoebe has extensive experience working with children with a variety of developmental needs, including Global Developmental Delay (GDD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), and both hypotonia and hypermobility. She enjoys collaborating closely with families, educators, and support teams to help children succeed in their home, school, and community environments.

Phoebe has completed additional professional development in areas such as:

Traffic Jam in My Brain (supporting sensory and regulation needs in children with ASD)
Co-regulation workshop
We Thinkers Social Thinking Curriculum
The Alert Program and Zones of Regulation
Social skills development for neurodiverse individuals
Pathological Demand Avoidance Workshop

Phoebe supports children across a wide range of goals, including regulation, executive functioning, play and social participation, motor development, handwriting, school readiness, daily living and self-care skills. She brings a warm, neuro-affirming, and evidence-based approach to every session, and is passionate about empowering families with practical, achievable strategies.

Phoebe offers mobile therapy services across the Gold Coast and Northern NSW region.

Phoebe

Occupational Therapist

Caitlin

Caitlin is a registered Occupational Therapist with four years of clinical experience working with families and young people. Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, Caitlin graduated from Auckland University of Technology in 2019.

With a wealth of experience in family-centered therapy, Caitlin is dedicated to involving families in every step of the therapeutic journey. Her approach is deeply rooted in being person-centered, strengths-based, collaborative, and compassionate, ensuring that each child and family feels understood, supported, and empowered.

Caitlin brings a strong background, and experience in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Anxiety, Emotional Dysregulation, Social Skills, Routines, Sensory Modulation, Sensory Processing difficulties, and Trauma. Within her past roles as a child and adolescent mental health OT, she has developed her skills in trauma informed practice, and has experience working collaboratively with families through parent coaching/ education. She is also especially passionate about collaborating with schools to achieve the best outcomes, bridging support between home and school to foster each child's development.

Caitlin is passionate about building safe, playful relationships with children, tailoring therapy to align with each child’s interests, goals, and developmental needs. She utilizes evidence-based approaches to help children develop the skills they need to thrive in everyday life.

Caitlin is committed to providing compassionate, individualized care that empowers the child to develop the skills and confidence they need to thrive.

Our Services

We provide Occupational Therapy services within your child's natural environments.

Our Occupational Therapist's can assist your child within the following areas:

Sensory Processing

Therapy can target sensory processing challenges your child may be experiencing, whether your child is highly sensitive towards certain environments/ stimuli, or is seeking of sensory input, we can suggest strategies and techniques to assist.

Self-Care

Occupational Therapy can target self-care skills, such as; dressing, toileting, feeding / mealtimes, routines, grooming

Emotional Regulation

We can support children & families to develop co-regulation techniques and emotional regulation skills. We work with your child to; recognize and labelling their emotions, understand others emotions, develop self-regulation skills and co-regulation techniques

Social & Play Skills

We support children to develop their social and play skills, this may include; sharing & taking turns, developmental play skills, diversifying play, understanding social cues, developing friendships, understanding perspectives, conversational skills, conflict resolution, problem solving.

Fine Motor

We support our clients with developing their fine motor skills so they can have success with everyday tasks and fine motor demands, this may include; handwriting skills, grasp development, cutlery skills, strengthening, open/closing/manipulating everyday items

Cognition

Our OT's support your child to develop their executive functioning skills, cognitive flexibility, and participation/ engagement within their learning setting.

Assessments

Assessments are a key step in identifying the areas where your child may need specialized support. They help us gain a clear understanding of your child’s strengths, challenges, and unique needs, creating the foundation for a personalized therapy plan.

Our assessment process takes a holistic approach and may include:

Parent and Stakeholder Interviews: To gain valuable insights into your child’s background and daily experiences.
Child Observations: Understanding how your child interacts and functions in their environment.
Direct Engagement: Meeting your child, asking questions, playing, and completing structured tasks together.
School Consultations: Collaborating with teachers and staff to understand your child’s performance and challenges in the classroom.
Questionnaires: Collecting information through detailed tools completed by parents, teachers, or other stakeholders.

To support this process, we offer a range of assessments tailored to specific areas of development. Below is a table outlining the assessments available through our team:

Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) for NDIS participants ensure that they have the right level of support and funding to achieve their goals. A functional capacity assessment analyses a person’s functional performance in everyday activities in their home, school/work and community.

It aims to holistically consider and define the comprehensive needs and goals of the person; this includes any necessary support to participate in daily living activities and a summary of needs to continue participating in the community.

Time frames and fees for Functional Capacity assessments vary depending on the individual and complexity of the case.

*Please speak to our friendly team to obtain additional details on pricing for Functional Capacity Assessments.

A Sensory assessment would consist of assessing how your child copes with the ever growing load of sensory information that enters their senses on a daily basis. Occupational Therapists can assess these needs using the Sensory Processing Measure and the Sensory Profile. Both assessments, will contribute to understanding the impact of the environment on your child’s engagement in what they want or need to do and the Occupational Therapist can make recommendations based on their sensory processing needs.

*Please speak to our friendly team to obtain additional details on pricing for sensory assessments.

Here are some signs of sensory processing difficulties:

Overly sensitive or under reactive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds
Difficulty with behavioral and/or emotional regulation
Easily overwhelmed
Difficulty with transitions, rigid
Poor response to behavioral intervention
Difficulty learning how to play or get along with other children
Difficulty with everyday activities like eating, sleeping, brushing teeth or getting dressed
Problems learning to color, cut, draw or write
Difficulty transitioning from one activity or place to another
Problems learning to walk, jump, skip, ride a bike or play sports

Child development refers to the sequence of physical, language, thought and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. Child development can be actively enhanced through targeted therapeutic intervention during Occupational therapy. Common assessments used include Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, and the Peabody development of motor scales. These assessments can be used from birth to 18 years.

Time frames and fees for Developmental assessments vary depending on the individual and complexity of the case.

*Please speak to our friendly team to obtain additional details on pricing for Developmental Assessments.

Understanding your child’s motor skills is essential for identifying challenges that may impact their everyday activities and overall development. At PlaySpace Paediatric Therapy, our experienced Occupational Therapists specialize in assessing motor skills using evidence-based tools such as the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Third Edition (Movement ABC-3).

This standardized assessment helps us gain a detailed understanding of your child’s motor abilities, including fine motor coordination, manual dexterity, balance, and gross motor skills. By analyzing the results, we can identify specific areas of difficulty and uncover the factors contributing to challenges in your child’s daily occupations, such as:

School-based tasks: Writing, cutting, or using classroom tools.
Play and recreation: Running, climbing, or participating in sports.
Self-care activities: Dressing, eating, or toileting.

Our assessments provide valuable insights to guide individualized therapy plans, helping your child build the skills and confidence needed to thrive in their everyday environments.

Time frames and fees for Motor Assessments vary depending on the individual and complexity of the case.

*Please speak to our friendly team to obtain additional details on pricing for Motor Assessments.

PlaySpace Paediatric Therapy offers small group screening to select early learning and day care centers on the Gold Coast. Small group screenings consist of 1-4 children per group, and aim to provide feedback regarding the child's level of skills compared with the expected results for a child of their age. The screening also aims to identify children who may require further assessment, and provide feedback to educators and parents. It is important to note that screenings are not formal assessments, and are only a snapshot of the child's performance on the day. Results will be interpreted in conjunction with parents' perspectives, and other observation, academic or assessment information about the child to guide support and planning.

Screening Items

Children are screened for the following domains:
School Readiness
Fine Motor Skills - dexterity, coordination
Grasp, Posture, Hand Dominance
Visual Motor Skills (drawing, pre writing, scissor skills)
General Gross Motor Skills (climbing, kicking, throwing)
Social and Emotional Skills