Leor – our Allied Health support service
At Sandcastles, we work with the team at Leor to bring the best of two worlds together – high-quality, centre-based care with the flexibility and diversity of Leor’s inclusive Early Intervention services.
Who is Leor?
Leor has been part of the G8 Education family since 2021. Their team of early intervention educators, allied health professionals and therapy assistants have expertise in early childhood growth and development and experience working with children of all abilities and needs.
Leor also works closely with our educators and teachers to provide support to our families and our teams, ensuring that our educators are equipped with the best-practice strategies to help your child thrive.
To know more about Leor, visit their website here.
How can Leor help your family?
Families from partner centres can access Leor’s paediatric Allied Health services such as occupational therapy and speech pathology during their child’s regular attendance.
Leor can provide the following services to families either at their early learning centre, at their home, via telehealth or via co-located Allied Health Hubs (coming soon):
- Regular occupational therapy or speech pathology appointments
- Fine and gross motor skills assessment with a qualified Occupational Therapist
- Speech and language assessments with a qualified Speech Pathologist
- Support for therapies in between appointments with a Therapy Assistant
- School readiness assessments
For families needing multiple therapies through the week, this is a real benefit, saving time and the stress of coordinating appointments with work or other children.
Families who are concerned about their children’s development can request screening assessments to understand where their child is excelling or where more support may be required.
And as a registered NDIS provider, Leor is proud to deliver services under the Key Worker model, in line with best practice principles under the NDIS. In the Key Worker model, therapies are integrated with a child’s everyday routine and a single therapist is allocated to a family to be their main point of contact, coordinating a child’s therapy supports across a variety of goals.
How it works
Leor is currently delivering services in selected centres across the Sydney Metropolitan area, see here for the list of Sandcastles centres:
Services will become available at more locations over the coming months, so be sure to check back soon.
If your child goes to one of these centres, and you are interested in accessing therapies or have concerns about your child’s development, please call Leor directly on 1300 510 511.
What are the benefits of in-centre therapy sessions?
Receiving therapy in a familiar, everyday environment can lead to better outcomes for children, because:
- Children are relaxed and comfortable in familiar surroundings and so are more open to receiving the therapy
- Therapy is delivered in the same room they spend their day in and often using some of the same resources. This means therapists can target their therapies to a child’s everyday activities and routines and directly benefit their participation.
- Leor therapists work in partnership with your child’s Educators. There is knowledge-sharing and collaboration, which means the Educators can continue to implement the therapist’s recommendations in between therapy sessions.
- We will coordinate your child’s session time with your Educators and Centre Manager to make sure that the appointment time fits into the normal routine and rhythm of the day.
What happens in an in-centre therapy session?
Whilst the session itself will differ based on the needs of the child, there are some essential elements of each appointment:
- A session at your centre with the child will be 45-50 minutes.
- Typically, it starts with the therapist checking in with your child’s Educators about their functioning and discussing any support needs that staff may have for that child.
- At the first session, the therapist may spend some time observing the child at the centre.
- In the following sessions, the therapist will review your child’s progress on any strategies that have been implemented.
- A therapist playing puzzles with a child during a session Leor therapists will often join the child on the floor at the activity the child is already engaged in and incorporate therapy goals that way.
- Occasionally, therapists may bring their own equipment and work with a child in a quieter space to practice a skill. The therapist will communicate when they wish to do this with your centre’s Educators.
What information will I receive about my child’s progress?
Our team will work with you to understand how you like to be kept updated and make sure you are equipped to support your child with any ongoing strategies in between appointments.
The Leor team is here to support you and your child to meet their developmental goals. We are thrilled to be working with your child’s Educators to deliver best practices in early childhood education, care and holistic early intervention.
