How To Make Your Child's Therapy Funding Go Further with a Capability Coach (Therapy Assistant)

At Family Agility we do everything we can to ensure our patients receive the best possible care, service and value. Did you know that by using a carefully trained Therapy Assistant as a Capability Coach, you can stretch your child's therapy budget much further and make progress towards multiple therapy goals?

What is Capability Coaching / Therapy Assistance?

A Capability Coach (Therapy Assistant) can enable your child to make incremental yet meaningful progress towards their therapy goals in a cost effective way. Evidence-based practice tells us that the best therapeutic outcomes occur when a child or young person is able to translate their therapy into everyday routines. Most people need regular support to achieve these outcomes, which is where a Capability Coach / Therapy Assistant comes in!

A Capability Coach (Therapy Assistant) is a cost-effective way to help you to learn skills and then put them in action in your child's daily life. Patients often tell us that they're able to demonstrate a technique / skill in a clinic or when they're with a therapist, but when they get home, they can’t repeat it! We can help. 😊

A Capability Coach can assist to implement your child's Treatment Plan (created by a qualified Therapist), or transfer skills, through a mentoring process, and by integrating these skills into their daily routines. A Capability Coach can help your child practice skills / techniques in real world situations (ie: at your local café!), by supporting them in real world situations to practice skills - it doesn't have to be done alone.

How Can I Make My Child's Therapy Funding Go Further?

It's simply cheaper to use a Therapy Assistant instead of a Therapist on an ongoing basis. If clinically appropriate, a Capability Coach can be trained by your child's normal Therapist(s) to implement your Treatment Plan(s) in a far more cost effective manner. For example, the current NDIS rate per hour for an Occupational Therapist is $193.99* and the current NDIS rate per hour for a Therapy Assistant (level 2) is $86.79* (*prices are subject to change).

A Capability Coach can mentor you child to achieve multi-disciplinary goals in single sessions. For example, your child may have goals set by their Occupational Therapist and also their Physiotherapist. Their Capability Coach can integrate these 'multi-disciplinary' goals into each session (if clinically appropriate) - offering even more value for money.

How Does Capability Coaching Work?

In order to transfer skills learned in therapy to real world situations, your child's Capability Coach will spend a minimum of two hours per session with them in real-world situations to assist in making real progress towards their goals. For example, their Capability Coach may go to school or daycare with them, to practice skills learned with their:

• Speech Pathologist (ie: chatting with day-care staff, reading signage),

• Physiotherapist (ie: learning to use assistive technology),

• Occupational Therapist (doing some self-care activities when they return home).

Real and meaningful change takes time, and by using a Capability Coach (Therapy Assistant), achieving your child's goals can be much more affordable.

What Qualifications Do Body Agility Therapy Assistants / Capability Coaches Have?

All Body Agility Therapy Assistants / Capability Coaches are current (or graduate) allied health students, either studying physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech pathology, or have qualifications in allied health assistance / disability care and operate under the guidance of a qualified therapist.

Family Agility Can Help You, Your Child & Your Family

​At Family Agility, we always take a neurodiversity-affirmative approach to your child's therapy and we include Family Goals in everything that we do. Our specially trained Occupational Therapists are highly qualified and experienced in assisting children, young people and families with physical, sensory, cognitive or behavioural issues through play therapy.

Family Agility, under it's parent company, Body Agility Pty Ltd, are nationally registered NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) providers of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, play therapy, speech therapy, exercise physiology and therapy assistance. Experience the Family Agility difference and experience exceptional care and customer service. We take the time to understand your child's NDIS Goals - along with your family goals, so that the whole family benefits from our supports.

What are YOUR family's goals? We can help. Contact us now, we have capacity to provide services to you immediately, right across the broader Perth region with home visits, or at one of our clinics / gyms / any hydropool - or via video consultation (telehealth). We'd be delighted to hear from you.