Frequently Asked Questions

  • An Occupational Therapist can support a child to develop their skills in a broad range of areas! To put it simply, an OT helps children to do all of the tasks that are meaningful in their daily life. This can involve movement skills, play skills, handwriting and fine motor skills. This could also include sensory processing, emotional regulation, or self care skills such as dressing, toileting, or managing daily routines. An Occupational Therapist’s goal is to support your child to engage in their daily activities as independently as possible.

  • A Speech Pathologist (SP) can work with children to build the communication skills they need to connect, learn, play and participate in their everyday life. This might include helping a child to use correct speech sounds and produce them more clearly, understand and express language, develop their vocabulary, tell and understand stories or develop their conversation and social communication skills. An SP can also support children who are non-speaking or very hard to understand to acquire and learn to use AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). In addition, depending on a child’s needs, an SP can support early communication, phonological awareness, reading and written language skills as well as children who have difficulties with speech fluency. The overall aim is to help each child communicate their thoughts, needs, ideas and feelings effectively and participate more confidently in the people and activities that are important to them.

  • No, a referral is not required. Families can contact us directly to get support. A referral is only required if you are seeking a Medicare rebate.

    See Medicare information below.

  • No. The therapists at Steps Together Children’s Therapy can provide support to children with or without a diagnosis. Our therapists often work with children who are experiencing difficulty with a specific skill or area of development that is not related to a diagnosed condition. Our Occupational Therapists and Speech Pathologists can also help identify early signs of developmental differences or delays and, where appropriate, support families to access further assessment or diagnostic services.

  • Yes. We accept NDIS funding for Self-Managed, or Plan-Managed participants.

    Unfortunately, we are not able to provide services for Agency-Managed participants at present.

  • Families may be able to access a partial Medicare rebate for session costs, if a referral is provided by your child’s GP.

    If your child’s GP agrees that Occupational Therapy or Speech Pathology support would be beneficial, they may be able to provide a referral under a Medicare-funded pathway. Depending on your child’s eligibility, this may include one of two Medicare programs.

    • GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP) - This referral can provide a partial Medicare rebate for up to five allied health sessions per calendar year.

    • Complex Neurodevelopmental Conditions Program (M10) - This referral can provide Medicare rebates for up to 20 eligible allied health services over your child’s lifetime, with up to 10 services included in each referral.

    Eligibility for these programs is determined by your child’s GP, and Medicare rebates generally cover only part of the appointment fee, so an out-of-pocket cost will apply.

  • Our standard therapy rate is $220 per hour for an initial appointment and $200 per hour for subsequent appointments. A typical appointment includes 45 minutes of direct therapy with your child, with the remaining 15 minutes allocated to clinical notes, session preparation and planning. By building this time into the appointment, we aim to minimise additional out-of-pocket costs for routine preparation and documentation outside of the session.

    As we are a mobile therapy service, travel time is also charged at our standard hourly rate.

    For families accessing therapy through the NDIS, NDIS pricing applies and services are charged in accordance with the current NDIS-mandated rates.