By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist & Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty When we talk about helping children with regulation, we often think about helping them calm down. But regulation is about much more than sitting quietly, being still or feeling relaxed. Think about the different ways children respond to their day. One child might come home from school and immediately head for the trampoline. Anot

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational TherapistDirector, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty Does your child cover their ears when places become noisy, avoid certain clothes, constantly seek movement or find everyday activities such as hair washing and toothbrushing particularly difficult? Perhaps they manage through the school day but come home exhausted, irritable or overwhelmed. Or maybe you've been told that your child

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty “My child manages all day at school, but the moment they get home, everything falls apart.” Or perhaps you hear the opposite: “They don't have any problems at home, but school says they're struggling.” It can be confusing — and sometimes frustrating — when parents and educators seem to be seeing very different versions of the same

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty At Kids World, all of our occupational therapists are DIR®/Floortime certified. The DIR® model (Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based) recognises that each child's individual differences — including the way they process sensory and motor information — influence how they engage, communicate, regulate and particip

Child cleaning their teeth and completing a self care task By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty If you've been asked to organise a Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) for your child or young person, you may be wondering what it actually involves — and how it differs from other assessments they may have had in the past. A Functional Capacity Assessment looks at how a

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty When a child refuses to get dressed, melts down over a change of plans, runs away from a noisy room or seems unable to follow a simple instruction, it can be easy to focus on the behaviour we can see. But behaviour is only the part we can observe. At Kids World, we encourage parents, carers and professionals to become curious about

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty If you've spent time on the Kids World website, or spoken with one of our occupational therapists, you may have heard us talk about DIR® and Floortime. The terminology can sound a little clinical, but the thinking behind DIR® is actually very human. It helps us understand who a child is, how they experience the world, where they ar

By Georgina Ahrens, Occupational Therapist Director, Kids World Paediatric Therapy DIR®/Floortime Trainer | Profectum Foundation Associate Faculty When parents first hear that their child may benefit from occupational therapy, one of the most common questions is: What does an occupational therapist actually do? Occupational therapy is about helping people participate in the activities that are meaningful and important in their everyday lives. For children, these everyday “occ