What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy is a health discipline focused on helping children participate meaningfully and independently in the activities that make up their daily lives. For children, those activities include everything from getting dressed in the morning and holding a pencil at school to playing with friends and managing their sensory environment. When any of these tasks feel difficult or overwhelming, occupational therapy provides the targeted support needed to build the underlying skills.
At Kids First, our occupational therapists take a holistic view of each child's development, looking at motor skills, sensory processing, coordination, attention, and self-care as interconnected parts of a whole. We do not focus on one area in isolation because children's development does not work that way. Understanding how all these areas interact allows us to create programs that produce genuine, functional progress.
Assessment is always the starting point for any occupational therapy program at Kids First. Our therapists use standardised tools alongside careful clinical observation to build an accurate picture of where each child's strengths and challenges lie. This thorough baseline ensures that no difficulty is missed and that therapy is targeted from day one.
The goals of occupational therapy extend far beyond the therapy room. We are always working toward outcomes that matter in real life — a child who can tie their own shoes, sit comfortably in a classroom, manage their emotions during a busy school day, or join in playground games with confidence. These functional outcomes are what drive every decision we make in therapy.
Occupational therapy is appropriate for children across a wide range of ages and developmental stages, from toddlers showing early signs of sensory sensitivity to school-aged children struggling with handwriting or self-regulation. Our therapists are experienced across this full spectrum and adapt their approach accordingly. No challenge is too minor to be worth addressing, and no situation is too complex for our team.
At Kids First, occupational therapy is delivered with warmth, expertise, and a genuine understanding of how children learn best. Sessions are engaging and purposeful, designed to feel less like hard work and more like play — because for children, play is the most powerful vehicle for learning. Every activity has a therapeutic intention behind it, even when it simply looks like fun.
Who Can Benefit?
Occupational therapy at Kids First supports a wide range of children, and many families are surprised to learn just how broad that range is. Children do not need a formal diagnosis to benefit from occupational therapy — if a child is struggling with daily tasks, coordination, sensory experiences, or self-care, those challenges are reason enough to seek assessment. Early support is always more effective than waiting to see if things improve on their own.
Children with motor delays benefit significantly from occupational therapy that targets both fine and gross motor development. Whether a child is struggling to grasp a crayon, catch a ball, or navigate a playground safely, our therapists have the skills and strategies to build those capabilities progressively and effectively. Motor skill development in childhood has long-lasting implications for academic performance, physical activity, and self-esteem.
Children with sensory sensitivities may be struggling with sensory processing differences that occupational therapy can directly address. A child who reacts strongly to certain textures, sounds, lights, or movement experiences can feel genuinely overwhelmed by everyday environments. Our therapists use evidence-based sensory integration approaches to help children build tolerance, regulation, and comfort in their environment.
Children with ADHD often face challenges with attention, impulse control, organisation, and fine motor precision that significantly affect their performance at school and home. Occupational therapy provides practical, skill-based strategies that help these children manage their daily demands more effectively. Combined with other supports, OT can make a transformative difference to how children with ADHD experience their world.
Children on the autism spectrum frequently benefit from occupational therapy targeting sensory processing, motor coordination, self-care independence, and social participation. Our therapists are experienced in working with autistic children and understand the importance of creating a predictable, respectful therapeutic environment. Progress may look different for every child, but it is always possible with the right support in place.
Any child who is finding it difficult to keep up with the everyday demands of home, school, or social life deserves the opportunity to be assessed and supported. Kids First welcomes referrals from parents, educators, paediatricians, and other health professionals, and we approach every enquiry with the same openness and care. If you have a concern about your child, that concern is worth exploring.
Our Therapy Approach
The Kids First approach to occupational therapy is grounded in the understanding that children learn best through play, relationship, and purposeful activity. Sessions are carefully designed to be engaging and enjoyable while remaining firmly goal-directed at every stage. Children rarely feel like they are doing hard work — but the progress they make is very real and very measurable.
Our therapists bring warmth, creativity, and clinical expertise to every session, adapting their approach in real time based on how each child is responding. No two sessions look exactly the same, because no two children are exactly the same. This responsiveness is one of the hallmarks of high-quality occupational therapy, and it is something every Kids First therapist is trained to deliver.
Activities within sessions are selected to target specific developmental goals in ways that feel natural and motivating to the child. Fine motor exercises might be embedded in craft activities, sensory work might happen through sand or water play, and gross motor goals might be addressed through obstacle courses and movement games. The therapeutic intention behind every activity is always clear, even when the activity itself feels like pure fun.
Family involvement is woven into our therapy approach from the very beginning, because we know that what happens between sessions is just as important as what happens within them. Parents and caregivers are guided through the goals of each session and provided with practical activities to carry out at home. This consistency between therapy and daily life is what accelerates progress and ensures skills are generalised beyond the clinic.
Goal setting at Kids First is always collaborative. We involve both the child and their family in identifying what matters most — what daily tasks feel frustrating, what skills would make the biggest difference, and what success looks like for this particular child and family. Goals that are personally meaningful are goals that motivate everyone, including the child, to keep working toward them.
Progress is reviewed regularly throughout every occupational therapy program at Kids First, with formal review appointments scheduled at key intervals. These reviews give families clear, evidence-based feedback on where their child has progressed and where the focus should shift next. Knowing that progress is being tracked carefully gives families confidence that their investment in therapy is producing real results.
Motor & Sensory Development
Motor and sensory development form the foundation upon which almost every functional skill a child needs is built. When these foundations are strong, children can write, play, dress themselves, navigate busy environments, and engage socially with relative ease. When they are underdeveloped or disrupted, the effects ripple into every area of a child's daily life.
Fine motor skills — the small, precise movements of the hands and fingers — are essential for writing, drawing, using cutlery, doing up buttons, and managing personal care tasks independently. Many children with fine motor delays struggle at school long before anyone identifies the underlying cause. Our occupational therapists assess and target fine motor development with exercises and activities that build strength, precision, and coordination progressively over time.
Gross motor skills involve the larger movements of the body — balance, coordination, running, jumping, climbing, and navigating physical space with confidence. Children with gross motor delays often avoid physical activity or appear clumsy and accident-prone, which can affect their confidence and their ability to participate in sport and playground activities. Our therapists address these skills through engaging, movement-based activities that build physical capability alongside self-belief.
Sensory processing is the brain's ability to receive, interpret, and respond appropriately to information from the environment and from the body itself. When sensory processing is disrupted, children may overreact or underreact to sensory input — becoming distressed by noise, avoiding certain textures, seeking excessive movement, or struggling to regulate their arousal levels throughout the day. Occupational therapy using sensory integration principles helps the nervous system become more organised and regulated.
The relationship between motor and sensory development is deeply interconnected. A child who struggles with sensory processing often has difficulty with motor coordination, because the brain is not accurately interpreting the feedback the body is sending. Addressing both domains together, as our therapists do at Kids First, leads to faster and more sustained progress than treating either in isolation.
School readiness is one of the most important practical outcomes of strong motor and sensory development. Children who enter school with well-developed motor skills and a regulated sensory system are better positioned to sit still, attend to learning, manage a pencil, and navigate the social and physical demands of a classroom. At Kids First, we see school readiness not as a checklist but as a natural outcome of holistic developmental support.
Supporting Daily Life Skills
Daily life skills are the practical abilities children need to manage themselves and participate meaningfully in their world — and developing them is one of the core purposes of occupational therapy. At Kids First, we approach daily living skills not as a peripheral concern but as a central therapeutic priority. A child who can feed themselves, dress independently, and manage their self-care routine experiences a level of autonomy and confidence that transforms their daily experience.
Self-care skills including dressing, grooming, toileting, and managing personal belongings are worked on in ways that are age-appropriate and respectful of each child's pace. We break complex tasks down into manageable steps and use visual supports, repetition, and positive reinforcement to help children build mastery. The pride children feel when they achieve a self-care milestone for the first time is one of the most rewarding things our therapists get to witness.
Feeding and mealtimes are an area where many children with sensory sensitivities, motor challenges, or developmental delays experience significant difficulty. Occupational therapy addresses feeding from multiple angles — oral motor skills, sensory tolerance for different textures and temperatures, positioning, and the social aspects of shared mealtimes. Improving a child's experience of eating improves family life in ways that go far beyond nutrition.
Social participation is also addressed within our daily living skills work, because the ability to engage appropriately with peers, take turns, navigate group settings, and manage transitions between activities are all functional skills that can be supported through occupational therapy. Children who struggle in social situations are not simply shy or badly behaved — they are often missing specific skills that therapy can help them develop. Our therapists address these skills with the same intentionality they bring to motor and sensory work.
Skills are always practised in realistic, contextually relevant ways at Kids First, because skills learned in an artificial context do not always transfer to real life. We use real objects, real tasks, and real environments wherever possible so that children's learning is immediately applicable. When a child practises putting on their school shoes in the therapy room, they are practising the exact skill they will need at home the next morning.
The ultimate goal of daily living skills work is not compliance or competence for its own sake — it is independence, dignity, and quality of life. A child who can manage their own needs with confidence experiences the world very differently from one who relies on adult assistance for every task. At Kids First, we hold that vision of independence in mind throughout every session and every program we deliver.
Parent & School Collaboration
The progress children make in occupational therapy is most powerful when it is supported consistently across every environment they inhabit. Kids First places enormous importance on collaboration with parents, caregivers, and educators because we know that therapy alone — even excellent therapy — cannot achieve what therapy plus a unified support network can. We invest in these relationships because children deserve that level of commitment from everyone around them.
Parents and caregivers are included in every stage of the occupational therapy journey at Kids First. From initial goal setting through to regular progress reviews, we ensure families understand what we are working toward and why. We also provide clear, practical guidance on how to support therapy goals at home through everyday routines, activities, and interactions that don't require specialist equipment or expertise.
Home programs are a central feature of our occupational therapy model and are designed to complement and extend what happens in sessions. These programs are tailored to each child's goals and to the realities of family life, because we know that a home program only works if it is realistic to carry out. Our therapists review and refresh home programs regularly to ensure they remain relevant and achievable.
Collaboration with schools and educators is equally important, particularly for children whose challenges are significantly affecting their classroom performance. With family consent, our occupational therapists can communicate directly with teachers, learning support staff, and school counsellors to share strategies, provide recommendations, and ensure consistency between the therapy room and the classroom. Children benefit enormously when the adults in their school environment understand their needs and know how to respond.
We can also provide written reports and recommendations for schools when formal documentation is needed to access in-school support or additional resources. These reports are thorough, clearly written, and focused on practical strategies that educators can implement without specialist training. Supporting a child's school environment is often one of the most impactful things occupational therapy can do.
At Kids First, collaboration is not a box we tick — it is a genuine commitment to the idea that children thrive when every part of their world works together. We welcome communication from families and educators at any point in the therapy journey and respond with the promptness and care that families deserve. When the team around a child is truly unified, the results speak for themselves.
Book an OT Session
Starting occupational therapy with Kids First is a simple, straightforward process designed to be as welcoming and low-stress as possible for families. We understand that reaching out for support can feel like a significant step, and we want every family to know that from the moment they contact us, they will be met with warmth, professionalism, and genuine care. There is no wrong time to ask for help, and no concern is too small to be worth exploring.
The process begins with an initial consultation, during which one of our occupational therapists will speak with you about your child's development, the challenges you have been observing, and the areas where you would most like to see progress. This conversation helps us understand your priorities and gives us the context we need to recommend the most appropriate next steps. Many parents find this first conversation enormously reassuring.
Following the consultation, we will recommend a comprehensive occupational therapy assessment to establish a clear baseline of your child's skills across all relevant developmental domains. This assessment informs the personalised therapy plan that our team will develop in collaboration with you. Understanding exactly where your child is starting from is what allows us to set meaningful goals and track genuine progress.
Our occupational therapy sessions are delivered face-to-face at our Northern Beaches Sydney location, in a purpose-designed environment that puts children at ease from the moment they walk in. Our therapy spaces are stocked with the equipment, materials, and activities needed to deliver engaging, high-quality sessions across all areas of occupational therapy. The environment itself is part of the therapeutic experience.
Ongoing sessions are scheduled according to your child's needs and your family's availability, and we work hard to provide consistency of therapist so that children can build the trusted relationship that makes therapy most effective. We also remain flexible and responsive to changes in your child's needs or circumstances over the course of the program. Your family's experience of accessing therapy should feel supported at every stage.
Contact Kids First today to book an occupational therapy assessment and take the first step toward helping your child thrive. Our Northern Beaches Sydney team is ready to provide the personalised, expert support your child deserves.
