What does it mean to work with a multidisciplinary disability team?

As a parent of a child with disability, you can find yourself working with many specialists for support.

Having all these specialists working in one organisation can mean a more collaborative approach to achieving your goals.

Sunshine Coast mum, Tayla, has seen the significant benefits of working with our multidisciplinary team for Harrison (5) and daughter Ella (2) who both receive Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology from Northcott. Ella also sees our Physiotherapist.

Ella has Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy which is associated with severe muscle weakness as well as speech, hearing and vision difficulties. The Sunshine Coast Team have been working with Ella since she was 6 months old.

Having a multidisciplinary team that understands complex disabilities has many benefits. For example, following a recent stay in hospital all therapists shared information from health teams to plan for discharge, ordering equipment and ensure Tayla didn’t have to tell each therapist the story over again.

Joint sessions with Ella and Northcott Speech and Occupational Therapists allow the Speech Pathologist to model and embed use of Ella’s PODD book while the OT supported with play and pre-writing skills. For children like Ella who attend multiple therapy sessions each week, this coordinated approach can help reduce fatigue and free up time for other family activities.

Ella’s brother Harrison also attends Northcott and is working on his social skills and emotional regulation as he gets ready for prep.

His Speech and OT plan their sessions so that each week he is focused on the same goal. Harrison’s Occupational Therapist also ensures she uses the same communication strategies such as key word signs in her sessions.

Our services

Northcott Queensland are disability specialists offering Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology and Physiotherapy as well as Social Work, Level 2 Support Coordination, Short Term Accommodation and Community Programs to Queensland kids and young adults.

Top facilities across South East Queensland

Northcott has modern and fun facilities across South East Queensland. We’ve just recently finished an expansion of our Maroochydore office in the Kon Tiki Building and our Ipswich centre at Raceview.  Our Sunshine Coast office now has nine dedicated therapy rooms including a gym space.

Other offices are located at Darra, Kedron, Ipswich, Slacks Creek, Toowoomba, Gold Coast and we have a number of clinics where we regularly visit to provide services.

Supporting you in your goals

At Northcott we believe that everybody should have the opportunity to live their best possible life.

We work with you and your family to develop and meet your goals. Together, we start with possibilities – what do you want to achieve? And how can we help you get there? Our friendly and experienced team will work alongside you to build a plan that’s right for you or your child.

Experience in evidence based disability practices

Northcott therapists are highly experienced in physical disabilities and syndromes, developmental delay, sensory and speech disorders and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. We support our therapists with a robust clinical development program to ensure they are well versed in latest evidence based support.