Services

Occupational Therapy

An Occupational Therapist helps children and young people to develop their independence in everyday tasks. Some examples of how an Occupational Therapist at PAHU may be involved in your child’s care includes:

Self Care skills: Developing your child’s ability to be independent in toileting, bathing, dressing and grooming
Play: Developing your child’s ability to play with toys and people. The development of play skills helps children to think, plan, and tell stories as they grow older
Learning: Helping children to attend to and think about games and activities
Hand skills: The OT may play games to help develop you’re child’s hand skills, Pre and Post Botox management, splinting to maintain hand position and muscle lengths, casting to stretch muscles. An OT will help to develop your child’s fine motor skills E.g. Use of scissors, Drawing, Grasping, handwriting
Environmental access: An OT can help a child to access their home, school, preschool or other significant environment.

Speech Pathology

Paediatric Speech Pathologists assess and treat children who have communication difficulties (including speech sounds, understanding and talking, reading, fluency and voice). Speech Pathologists also work with babies and children who have difficulties with swallowing food and drink

The paediatric Speech Pathologists may provide the following services:

Communication assessment and therapy
Feeding assessment and therapy
Parent education

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists in Paediatrics provide therapy for a variety of children’s conditions including:

Respiratory conditions (e.g. pneumonia, Cystic Fibrosis, asthma)
Orthopaedics (e.g. broken bones, surgery, Talipes, DDH)
Developmental delay (or at risk of)
Mobility problems
Physical disabilities (e.g. Cerebral Palsy, Spina bifida)
Musculoskeletal problems (e.g. muscle, joint or ligament injuries)

The Paediatric Physiotherapist may provide the following inpatient services:

Mobility assessments including prescription of walking aids/equipment
Chest physiotherapy
Application of plaster casts for fractures (as requested by the Doctor)
Serial casting for foot conditions, eg. Talipes Equinovarus (“clubfoot”)
Developmental therapy or assessments
Parent education, eg. positioning and handling
Rehabilitation after injury, illness or disability
Provide or recommend equipment/orthoses (eg. Pavlik harness; AFO clinic
Exercise and stretching programs
Group sessions including Early Intervention Group, Pre-school Skills Group, School Readiness Group and Gross Motor Group

Dietitian

Paediatric Dietitians assess and treat babies, children and teenagers who have nutrition related medical conditions.

These may include
• Underweight or faltering growth,
• Feeding difficulties- food aversions, restricted dietary variety.
• Gastrointestinal disorders (including coeliac disease, lactose intolerance, chron’s disease and ulcerative colitis),
• Food allergies,
• Enteral tube or gastrostomy feeding,
• Iron deficiency and
• Developmental disabilities eg. Downs syndrome and cerebral palsy