Autumn Days
The mornings are getting cooler, and it’s getting darker earlier. Even though the days are still very warm the leaves will start changing colour soon, and different flowers are showing their faces. Happy Autumn!
In this newsletter:
- Housekeeping
- Director’s Reflections
- Around the House
- We love this resource because …
- Rhythm 2 Recovery
- Our E-Books
- NDIS News
- COVID-19 Update
- Medicare Safety Net
- My Therapy House® Website
- Facebook Page
Housekeeping
Classroom Contacts and Close Contacts
While we did have a delayed start to the school year, now everything is back in full swing the true cost of COVID-19 in our community has become clear, and many families are feeling the impact of their child being a classroom or close contact.
Although schools are allowing classroom contacts to monitor symptoms and continue attending classes, My Therapy House is defined as a high-risk setting. This means that if you or your child is a:
- Classroom Contact (Child): Do not attend My Therapy House® for 14 days from the last contact;
- Close Contact (Anyone in your household): Do not attend My Therapy House® for 14 days from the last contact;
- Any Positive Case in your household: Do not attend My Therapy House® for 14 days from the start of the isolation period.
If you need to stay away from My Therapy House® due to COVID-19 isolation of any sort we can:
- Arrange telehealth sessions during your child’s regular session time;
- Prepare resources for you such as visuals for routines or social stories to help children understand what’s happening;
- Record videos for you and your child to watch and play along with;
- Arrange a video or phone meeting with your child’s therapist to discuss strategies or concerns.
Please note that our usual cancellation policy still applies, as detailed in your Service Agreement – we charge a full cancellation fee if you give us less than 48 hours’ notice that your child will not be attending their session.
You can find the current SA Department for Education advice here.
How to show your COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate
Did you know you can link your certificate to the MySA Gov app that you use to check in?
To do this, you will need to have the Medicare Express app installed on your phone. When you log in to Medicare Express using your MyGov credentials you can view your certificate, and also choose to download it to your phone (saved securely in Google Pay or Apple Wallet), add a shortcut to your home screen (will require a PIN or other security measure to access), or give permission for the various different state check-in apps to show your certificate.
You can also access vaccination records for your children under 14 years old through your Medicare Express app.
Read step-by-step instructions on how to do this here: https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/vaccination/adding-proof-of-covid-19-vaccination-to-mysa-gov
Director’s Reflections
What a start to the year it’s been. Covid numbers went up, risks went up so as a practice we had to put in more restrictions to keep each other and all of our clients and community safe. Thank you so much to all the families and children (and staff) for wearing surgical masks when coming into the clinic as well as being fully vaccinated or on your way to full vaccination if you are over 5 years of age.
On a brighter note, we have purchased new resources for our clinic to keep the juices of creativity alive. Georgina and Charlotte have spent hours sorting our resources so they are easily accessible to all our staff to use with the children and Charlotte has started her Speech Pathology course.
Thank you all for being part of our community and making My Therapy house a very special place.
Stay safe.
Around the House
Response to some of our feedback
Thank you to all the families who have provided us with feedback about changes they would like to see in our practice.
Some families would like longer session times.
We would too, especially when we are all getting into the play and wonderful stories we are creating with the children! Unfortunately, it takes us at least 10 minutes to clean the room, laundry, outside area, and waiting areas so we are ready for the next client. This cleaning regime is essential to keep everyone safe.
We also need to write notes about the session to better prepare for your child’s next session, and to provide detailed Progress Reports. Often even 15-20 minutes is not enough between clients.
Phoning in
Some families have provided us feedback that it’s too hard to remember to phone in before entering the premises so we have placed a reminder on the gate. Because we have more clients now, this is essential to minimise client contact and possible cross-contamination. We have also replaced our phone system to better manage multiple calls. Thank you to all the families who have been phoning when they arrive!
Too many emails
We agree! Christie is doing everything possible to balance reducing the amount of paper waste we produce against sending as few emails as possible. For example, we no longer send copies of invoices to families that are Plan Managed. However, we still require the Health Declaration and signing off on session attendance for health reasons and NDIS compliance. The Health Declaration helps families review any changes that may have occurred. We try not to send families emails unless they are important, but if you are feeling overwhelmed with the amount of email please speak to us – we may be able to arrange things differently on an individual basis. We do send session reminders via email and text message – if you do not want these please let us know but remember that if sessions are forgotten or not attended a 100% cancellation fee will apply.
Why does your practice have all these policies in place, while others don’t?
We can’t speak for other practices, however, we have Quality Assurance Frameworks in place both for the NDIS and Australian Services Excellence Standards. It is important we communicate regularly with our clients and are transparent in everything we do. It is also important that families feel safe and comfortable bringing their child to My Therapy HouseⓇ, knowing we have everything in place to ensure that we maintain a clean and healthy practice.
Please continue providing us with feedback. We try to change things where we can while bearing in mind that as a health/disability practice we have high standards and regulations that we need to meet and uphold. Thanks so much for your understanding, patience, and support.
We love this resource because …
… there are many different uses for it. Children can categorize, can match, can express their understanding and perceptions of the world. Children can talk about their families and feelings. They can use it to extend their play when playing with trains or cars or other toys. Children can develop their fine motor skills as well as visual processing skills and eye-hand coordination.
The Sorting Neighborhood Set has been a very popular resource in our practice. The children love it, and they are the best judges!
Rhythm 2 Recovery
Georgina, Jacinta, and Judy have spent a couple of days learning about rhythm and how it can help to regulate and centre the children we work with.
The Rhythm 2 Recovery course focuses on drumming and how to enhance listening, interactions, and communication using rhythm.
Kerry, Alyssa, and Dana did the course a few years ago and found it invaluable, and often use the knowledge and skills they learned during sessions. We look forward to hearing and experiencing what Georgina, Jacinta, and Judy learn and how they will use it with the children and families they work with.
In this photo, they all look relaxed, happy, and regulated!
Our eBooks
My Therapy House® has published a series of 12 e-books about animals performing different actions to help children learn language concepts through music and play.
When you buy any of the eBooks you can then access the free video corresponding to the particular book which has animal puppets performing the actions with the music and song. These videos have been very popular for modelling the actions and songs for children who learn best through video footage and music.
You can purchase these books through the links here: https://mytherapyhouse.com.au/books/
NDIS News
If you use a Plan Manager to look after NDIS invoice payments then you need to ensure that you stay on top of communication with them – when NDIS Plans reach their review date, some plans are extended, and others are rolled over onto a new plan with new dates. Your Plan Manager may not be able to process our invoices if you have not authorised them to do so after a plan change. You must also notify My Therapy House® of new NDIS Plan dates after any plan changes.
You can keep up with any changes to NDIS Plans by logging in to the My Place portal.
Medicare Safety Net
If you need to see a doctor or Medicare provider regularly the Medicare Safety Net could help you reduce out-of-pocket costs.
When you spend more than a certain amount, out-of-pocket (after any Medicare rebate has been reimbursed), on medical expenses in a calendar year you will get a higher rebate. You can also register as a family to combine your Safety Nets. Safety Nets are calculated from January 1st to December 31st each year.
Using the Express Plus Medicare app can make it easier to keep track of your Safety Net Threshold. It also allows you to store a digital copy of your Medicare Card, and to make claims if a provider’s EFTPOS machine is offline, as well as being able to access immunisation history for yourself and your children under 14.
To use the app you will need your MyGov login details and your Medicare Card number and expiry date.
COVID-19 Update
Thank you all for checking in with the COVID-SAfe app when you arrive at My Therapy House®, and for completing the Health Declarations that are emailed on the morning of each session. For those who are unable to use their phone to check in, we have a paper log available. Everyone 12 and older on-site may be spot-checked at any time by SA Police, risking fines for both individuals and My Therapy House® if they haven’t checked in.
Website Resources
We now have a page on our website dedicated to family resources, where you can find videos and further reading about many aspects of the services we provide. If you have any ideas for different sorts of things we could include please let us know!
Facebook Page
We post general NDIS information, news, and interesting articles on Facebook. This is a great way to get the bigger picture, and we’d love you to like our page to see what we share.
All the best from the My Therapy House® Team