Oakview Early Years Support Centre Brings First Class Therapeutic Services to Kerry

by Cathriona Murphy

Oakview Early Years Support Centre is based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. It is a state-of-the-art facility which was founded in 2016 with the aim of offering Families access to an inclusive and holistic approach to their Child’s learning, development, and wellbeing.

The Early Years Support Centre offers Children and their Families a highly supportive and caring environment where the Children attending the Service are seen as active agents in their own learning. The Centre has a full Multidisciplinary Team available including Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Play Therapy, Adolescents and a Parents Coaching and Educational Psychologist. They provide a comprehensive range of Assessments, Intervention and Therapy Services, to families needing support.

We recently met with the staff of Early Years Support Centre Team to have a chat and find out more about these Services and who can avail and benefit from them!

When you first walk through the doors of the Centre or make that first phone call, the person you will meet is the EYSC Co-Ordinator. With a warm and inviting personality, you will immediately feel welcomed by her. The Clients and Children who use the Services are our number one priority and that is evident throughout the interaction with the team. The Co-Ordinator is always on hand to answer questions big or small from Service Users or a Parent that may need advice and guidance. Speaking to the Co-Ordinator, she told us more about the Early Years Support Centre.

“The Early Years Support Centre first opened in 2016 to the Children within Oakview Village Childcare and to outside referrals too, we welcome everyone regardless of what Service they use. Anyone that may need assistance with Speech and Language, Occupational or Play Therapy, to name a few, can give us a call and we will be more than happy to help. Sometimes when a Parent calls, they can be a little anxious or upset, I take the initial inquiry and reassure them that we will help them as best we can. I emphasise that they are not alone, we are here for them to guide them along the way into the best therapy to suit their needs.” “The Public Services have a very heavy caseload which we completely understand, it’s difficult and try as they do, they cannot see every Client as quickly as they would like. This is also very stressful on Parents awaiting assessments to help their Children. Fortunately, we are in the position to offer reasonably fast assessment appointments should Parents choose to avail of them. Depending on the needs of the Client and their schedules, we will work with them to find a suitable appointment time that suits them. We are a private business, but our aim is to be easily accessible and within reach for all families. We also offer support to Parents who have Adolescents so really our Services are of benefit from Toddlers to 18yrs. We are very careful when scheduling appointments so that there is little crossover with other units, this allows privacy along with access for Parents strictly adhering to COVID-19 Guidelines. We have a designated Waiting Area with kitchen facilities for the Parents to use as they may be coming straight from work so they can at least avail of the tea and coffee provided. We strive to be a family friendly and user-friendly Service and for our Centre to be warm and welcoming for both our Clients and their Parents.”

Speaking with the Speech and Language Therapist she told us about her role within the Service. “Speech and language therapy (SLT) provides treatment, support and care for Children and Adolescents who have difficulties with speech, language or communication. We also help people who have difficulties with eating, drinking, and swallowing. SLTs’ assess, diagnose, and provide support and advice for Children and their families with a vast range of different needs. We work closely with families to identify the Child/Adolescents strengths and areas of need and identify a management plan to suit this. Areas SLTs’ can help with; Language, Articulation, Apraxia of Speech, Literacy, Fluency, AAC, Phonology, Voice, Social Skills, Hearing Loss, Executive Functioning and Dysphagia. SLTs’ work closely in a wide variety of settings to establish a treatment programme to help each Child/Adolescent to communicate as effectively as possible. SLT’s also work and liaise with other Professionals, such as Teachers, Doctors, and Occupational Therapists, to ensure that their Service is holistic and person-centred. The SLT can do home visits and schools visits to see the Child / Adolescent in their natural environment. The roles of an SLT; Assessor – We provide comprehensive speech, language, communication
and eating and drinking assessments. Educator – We educate Children, their families, their school staff about the Child’s difficulties and how they can help. We also hold webinars and training workshops where we can educate others about different areas of Speech and Language therapy. Counsellor – We counsel families through
difficult times as sometimes hearing your Child has a disability can be overwhelming, so we highlight and help the family acknowledge the Child’s strengths. Advocate – We advocate for the Children/Adolescents on our caseload if they need additional support in school or referrals into Services. Researcher – We are continuously researching the literature to ensure our practice is evidence based. If you have any concerns about your Child’s communication; they could be for example a late talker, refer to see a Speech and Language therapist as waiting and see is not always best. You can also just give us a call to discuss any queries and concerns you might have as a parent. Here at Oakview we are offering a number of webinars for Parents and Professionals, some are paid, and some are free, details of which can be found on our website.”

Next, we spoke with the Operations Manager who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of The Early Years Support Centre and of Oakview nationally. I asked her what sets Oakview apart from other Service Providers in the Kerry area? “We are aiming to be easily accessible to all families to avail of supports where necessary. We aim to keep the pricing structure as reasonable as possible and we do not require any formal referral from Schools or Professionals, so if Parents notice that their Child is struggling with aspects such as mobility, socialising, communication etc., they are welcome to contact us to arrange an Assessment directly. Parents can also ring for advice, there is absolutely no obligation to make a commitment over the phone, we are happy to chat with them and advise them on what would be the best options for their family dynamic. To our knowledge, we are currently the only Private Service in Kerry that has a full multi-disciplinary team making ease of access even better for Parents. Often the challenges that Children or Adolescents face are not solely related to one area of function. This means the in-house therapists can communicate directly with each other (with Parental Consent) as a team and give multidisciplinary recommendations for any Child accessing the Service. As everyone is under the same roof, this is a lot easier and faster as opposed to the Child seeing multiple therapists across the County or even the Country, where issues like sharing information can be difficult due to GDPR. It can be frustrating for the family and mostly the Child to continuously have to familiarise themselves and repeat everything to new therapists. With the Early Years Support Centre, families are coming to a team setting where they can get to know everyone at once. From my own perspective, previous to this Role, I have over 10 years’ experience in Special Needs Education, so I know exactly how frustrating it is when families are getting passed around from service to service, or even struggling to identify what service should they actually be accessing. A huge advantage for us is to look at the whole Child and their situation, not just focusing to one issue, and as important part of this, we facilitate both home and school visits if requested. This ensures that we get a good overview of the Child in all environments. The school environment can be very challenging for a Child with additional support needs, and it could be something as small as a noise in the room or where they are seated or lighting that could immediately make their days easier. With a visit by one of our therapists we can link in with the Educator and work with them to develop strategies for the Child and make life a little easier for them. We have had huge success within Oakview Village Childcare caring for children of all abilities. We have a team of support workers who liaise with the Preschool department to put necessary supports in place for the Child who might benefit from same. We are also one of the first Early Years Intervention Services to have a Family and Adolescent Coach available. Often when there are challenges in the family or a Child who needs extra support, it is very important that everyone is on the same page and feels seen and supported. The Adolescent and Family Coach is absolutely brilliant at helping with issues within the family dynamics, but also working with Children and Adolescent presenting behaviour that challenges the Parents and providing families clear strategies on improving communication.”

Finally, we sat with their Senior Occupational Therapist who works with Children from as young as 18 months up to as far as 18 years of age. “Generally, I have kids from 3-6 years attending for sessions, I do have other age groups but nowadays there is such a focus on early intervention so little things do get picked up on quicker. Parents get prompted quicker nowadays by schools and professionals even when small issues are noticed. This is great from a Therapeutic point of view as we can start to support the Children earlier. I would have a good, detailed chat with the Parents before booking appointments, you don’t want to put Children through an Assessment unnecessarily. It could take an hour or two to complete an Assessment depending on the Child, I would always say to the Parents – we go at the Child’s pace and offer breaks when needed if they get overwhelmed. At the end of the day, you want to get the best results out of the Child, so you are getting a full picture. I would assess their Fine and Gross motor skills, Sensory Processing, Visual Perception skills and their Auditory Perception skills. It gives an overview picture of the Child and how issues affect them day to day and that’s where Occupational Therapists come in. We teach Parents how to support the Child and get the best out of them. Occupational Therapists help with a range of everyday tasks such as eating, brushing teeth, sitting still, little activities that others may take for granted but they just might need a little more support around.” “We are running online courses around Sensory Processing and Developmental Milestones which are open to Parents, Guardians and Childcare Workers, anyone really that has an interest in the topic. Some of our courses, which are on our website, are free and others that are a bit more in depth will require a small fee. We also offer the option of doing workshops with Businesses, delivering a programme in-house to an entire staff at once. I would especially recommend Schools availing in training in Sensory Rooms, with a lot of Schools receiving grants towards Sensory Rooms, it would be great to ensure they are utilising them correctly and offer them the chance to do so. Again, we are happy to help with all inquiries whether it’s professionals or families needing support, just give us a call and we’ll see what we can do.”