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At Explore and Soar, our blogs serve to foster connections and strengthen relationships with our clients, families, and communities, extending beyond our therapy services. Here, you’ll discover diverse topics with insights and strategies on how to implement them for your continued support.
We’re passionate about sharing knowledge and supporting you in various ways. If any topic piques your interest or you seek more information, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re eager to share our expertise with you!
How to help children interact in their community
HOW TO HELP CHILDREN INTERACT IN THEIR COMMUNITY Working with kids to help them build social skills is such a rewarding part of my job as an Occupational Therapist. Social skills are about more than just communicating. It’s about building meaningful connections…
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Emotional Regulation – Community for Wellbeing
EMOTIONAL REGULATION – COMMUNITY FOR WELLBEING Familiarising the team In my role as Clinical Manager, I love to go out and see clients with our team, supporting both our families and our therapists. Over the past few weeks, I have been out…
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Thriving Together: Building Your Parenting Community and Networks
THRIVING TOGETHER: BUILDING YOUR PARENTING COMMUNITY AND NETWORKS Have you ever felt alone in your parenting journey, searching for meaningful connections and parenting support that truly understand your experience? Parenting support is essential for building strong relationships and finding encouragement along the…
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Welcome to 2025: A Year of Community and Wellbeing!
Welcome to 2025: A Year of Community and Wellbeing!
Happy New Year! As we enter 2025, we’re excited to kick off a year focused on Community for Wellbeing. At Explore and Soar, we believe that thriving communities are key to our collective wellbeing, and we’re committed to strengthening our local connections. This year, we’ll continue offering meaningful support to our families, launching new initiatives, and providing opportunities to build connections that foster health and happiness.
We can’t wait to see you at our January School Holiday Programs starting January 13th—let’s make this year one of growth, connection, and wellbeing!
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Embracing Transitions and Growth: A Year of Learning and Achievement
As we reflect on the year gone by, we celebrate the growth and transitions that have shaped our lives. From embracing new beginnings to overcoming challenges, we recognize the strength and support that help us thrive. Join Explore and Soar as we look back on a year of progress and look forward to the exciting transitions ahead.
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The Power of Play: Supporting Transitions in Your Child’s Development
THE POWER OF PLAY: SUPPORTING TRANSITIONS IN YOUR CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT Did you know that play isn’t just for fun? It’s a powerful tool for your child’s development!? At Explore and Soar, we incorporate play into all our therapy interventions to teach essential…
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OT Week: Celebrating 80 Years of Connection – 21st to 27th October (Week 3, Term 4)
OT WEEK – CELEBRATING 80 YEARS OF CONNECTION 21st to 27th October (Week 3, Term 4) OT Week is a special time for Occupational Therapists. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of our profession, celebrate our journey professionally and individually,…
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Nurturing Early Sensory Development: The Critical Role of Suck-Swallow-Breathe Synchrony in Infants
NURTURING EARLY SENSORY DEVELOPMENT: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF SUCK-SWALLOW-BREATHE SYNCHRONY IN INFANTS As paediatric Occupational Therapists, one of the fundamental areas that we assess is infants and young children involving their feeding skills. A critical aspect of these skills is the Suck-Swallow-Breathe…
Empowerment Through Adolescence: Navigating Puberty with Confidence and Support
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ADOLESCENCE: NAVIGATING PUBERTY WITH CONFIDENCE AND SUPPORT As we focus on transitions this year, it’s essential to explore the significant changes our clients and families face, especially the transition from childhood to adulthood during puberty. Life transitions are inevitable in…
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Fine-Tuning Foundations: Nurturing Essential Fine Motor Skills
FINE-TUNING FOUNDATIONS: NURTURING ESSENTIAL FINE MOTOR SKILLS Throughout our journey together, we’ve delved into various aspects of fine motor skills and how we, as Occupational Therapists, can support you in building such complex skills, including Hand-Eye Coordination, Handwriting and Creative Writing for…
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Understanding Reflexes for Gross Motor Development
UNDERSTANDING REFLEXES FOR GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT Over the past few years, during June, we have covered various aspects of Gross Motor Skills, including Core Strength, Muscle Tone, Motor Planning and Coordination and Gross Motor Developmental Milestones. Despite all this, there’s still more…
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Navigating Therapy Transitions: Your Path to Growth, Health, and Adaptation
NAVIGATING THERAPY TRANSITIONS: YOUR PATH TO GROWTH, HEALTH, AND ADAPTATION In our previous blog posts, we discussed various life transitions, such as parenting, regulating emotions, and adapting to change. One of the most significant transitions we experience is therapy transitions, whether as…
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Nurturing Imagination and Social Skills in Today’s Digital World
NURTURING IMAGINATION AND SOCIAL SKILLS IN TODAY’S DIGITAL WORLD In our fast-paced digital era, fostering social skills in children is more crucial than ever. These skills are the cornerstone of effective communication, relationship-building, and navigating social situations. As children grow, their social…
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Smooth Sailing Through Life’s Changes: Mastering Emotional Regulation During Transitions
SMOOTH SAILING THROUGH LIFE’S CHANGES: MASTERING EMOTIONAL REGULATION DURING TRANSITIONS As we delve deeper into 2024, emotional regulation is a prominent theme that goes hand in hand with supporting transitions. Understanding Transitions Transitions in life are inevitable. Whether it’s starting a new…
Parenting – You’re the expert; we are here to support the transition!
PARENTING – YOU’RE THE EXPERT, WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT THE TRANSITION! As the sun rises on a new week, we hear the hum of school routines resuming, marking the return of familiar patterns.During the past week or so, many of our…
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Life Transitions and The New Year
LIFE TRANSITIONS AND THE NEW YEAR Happy New Year! We hope you have enjoyed the end-of-year celebrations with some yummy food, rest and spending time doing things that bring you joy. Annual Theme – Life Transitions Progressing from a year of developing…
Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS It’s December! Bring on all the end-of-year celebrations after another great year. How are you celebrating and acknowledging the last 12 months? End of Year Celebrations For us, our team have been all together again…
Navigating the Transition to High School: A Parent’s Guide
NAVIGATING THE TRANSITION TO HIGH SCHOOL: A PARENT’S GUIDE Over the past few weeks, we have visited many of our local schools to talk to parents and families of children starting kindergarten in 2024. During these talks, we provide lots of information…
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Sensory Defensiveness: What is this Oversensitive and Overwhelming feeling?
SENSORY DEFENSIVENESS: WHAT IS THIS OVERSENSITIVE AND OVERWHELMING FEELING? Spring is upon us, but that also means we are now heading full steam ahead into some of the busiest months of the year. Term 3 is almost over; Term 4 is just…
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Sleep Hygiene: Support to Improve Your Child’s Sleep
SLEEP HYGIENE: SUPPORT TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP How many of our families out there dread the night-time routine, the idea to try and get the kids to settle to sleep and stay asleep? The millions of questions running through their minds…
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Eyes on the Prize: The Power of Hand-Eye Coordination for Mastering Fine Motor Skills
EYES ON THE PRIZE- THE POWER OF HAND-EYE COORDINATION FOR MASTERING FINE MOTOR SKILLS From playing catch to mastering the art of drawing, hand-eye coordination is the superhero skill that enables children to develop their fine motor skills with ease. Have you…
The Core of It All!
THE CORE OF IT ALL! How often have you heard your OT talk about the importance of core strength in a session with your child? It is something that we definitely speak about a lot in sessions as it is foundational to…
How to Build Resilience for your Child and Family
HOW TO BUILD RESILIENCE FOR YOUR CHILD AND FAMILY By the time you have read this blog, we will be back into the daily routines of school for Term 2. I don’t know about you, but Term 1 seemed to fly past,…
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What’s really happening when your kids play pretend?
WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING WHEN YOUR KIDS PLAY PRETEND When I hear the words ‘pretend play’, my mind instantly goes to playing ’parents’ with my sisters, using our teddies as babies and making our little brother play the mean mum. I remember playing…
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Tools to Support our Emotions
TOOLS TO SUPPORT OUR EMOTIONS A common ask from our families is help regulate their child’s emotions. As the new year is still fresh and we are all working hard to settle into the new routine of life, the big transitions or…
Safety for Vulnerability
SAFETY FOR VULNERABILITY Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has had a magical Christmas and New Year with your family, friends and community. I know December was a busy time for a lot of people, navigating all the demands of the…
Transitions for Kindergarten
TRANSITIONS FOR KINDERGARTEN Transitions can be an exciting and nerve-racking time. Transitioning to Kindergarten being one of those times in our life. It is the moment where you are finishing an era in preschool and being home more with your family, to…
Auditory Intervention – TOMATIS®
AUDITORY INTERVENTION – TOMATIS® Recently the OT team at Explore and Soar participated in some professional development training that allows us to provide another auditory intervention to our clients and their families. We are pleased to announce that Explore and Soar is…
Self Care with Structures and Routines
SELF CARE WITH STRUCTURES AND ROUTINES This month’s theme is self-care – which works in conjunction with our 2022 theme of self-awareness and growth. Self-care encompasses many different aspects of well-being. Last year we spoke about the occupation of self-care, the tasks…
Handwriting & Creative Writing for Self-awareness and Wellbeing
HANDWRITING AND CREATIVE WRITING FOR SELF-AWARENESS AND WELLBEING There is nothing quite like putting pen to paper. Handwriting is a skill that we are often introduced to prior to entering school. It is then further explored in early education, then over time…
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Gross Motor Skills – Muscle Tone
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS- MUSCLE TONE This month we are going to break down a term that you might have heard your therapist mention to you when discussing your child’s gross and fine motor skills – and that is muscle tone!Muscle tone is…
Mindfulness for Parents and Carers
MINDFULNESS FOR PARENTS AND CARERS A new school term and managing busy schedules is never without its challenges. The new year means building and establishing new routines that will work with your families core priorities, needs and wants whether it’s work, school,…
Social Skill Development & Community
SOCIAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY Last month we spoke about enhancing our understanding and development of safety and connection between the caregiver and a child. In the time that’s passed since our last blog, so much has happened at Explore and Soar…
Safety and Connection
SAFETY AND CONNECTION As we continue to break down and share with you the way Explore and Soar supports our clients and families in our year of ‘self-awareness and growth’, it’s only fitting that after having dived into our continuity support plans…
Parent Coaching & Support
PARENT COACHING & SUPPORT This year we are looking to work even closer with our families, by listening to the needs of not only our children but their parents and carers too. In 2022 we will be offering more parent coaching, providing…
School Readiness
SCHOOL READINESS Another month gone! That means that 2022 is fast approaching us. And with a new year, comes a new group of children and their families making the scary and exciting transition into ‘big school!’ Transitioning into the primary school setting…
Auditory Intervention
AUDITORY INTERVENTION As part of working as an occupational therapist, and under sensory processing integration, we work with all of the 8 sensory systems. One of these is the auditory system. The auditory system is complex and many other sensory systems are…
Self Care
SELF CARE Self care is something we all do everyday. It includes activities which contribute to our basic needs, such as dressing, showering, going to the bathroom, brushing our teeth, sleeping and eating. As occupational therapists, we often refer to self-care skills…
The Developmental Stage of Handwriting Skills
THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE OF HANDWRITING SKILLS The year is flying by! I cannot believe that we are already in July! Our winter school holidays are in full swing and we are now taking the time out to rest, recharge and perhaps even…
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Understanding Motor Planning and Coordination
UNDERSTANDING MOTOR PLANNING AND COORDINATION This month we are going to talk about motor planning and coordination. Each child develops at a different rate and at Explore and Soar it’s our job to identify and offer intervention solutions to help that process. …
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Health Promotion for our Families
HEALTH PROMOTION FOR OUR FAMILIES As occupational therapists we are trained to provide support to all our clients and their families, in order to increase their independence, grow their confidence and to live a happy and healthy life. More often than not,…
The Impact of Relationships on Social Development
THE IMPACT OF RELATIONSHIPS ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Over the last few months, I have seen a consistent theme emerge with clients and families within our communities, centered around personal health, well-being and relationships. As we are focusing on the importance of mental…
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The Emotional Continuum
THE EMOTIONAL CONTINUUM Emotions; the one thing that many people find hard to acknowledge, understand and express freely. Yet they are the one thing that binds us together. They are a constant in out lives, changing as we navigate through day to…
Biological Rhythms
BIOLOGICAL THYTHMS This year we are placing a strong emphasis on both physical and mental health. As a team, we are focused on a core goal of wellness for both our ourselves and our clients. The place to start understanding wellness and…
Team Culture
TEAM CULTURE Over the last few months we have had the privilege of sharing the way in which we as a team can provide support to our clients and families; through a multidisciplinary team approach, therapeutic assistant support and the way in…
Multidisciplinary Approach
MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH Building a multidisciplinary team involves a range of professionals from different disciplines, working in harmony to provide care. At Explore and Soar, a multidisciplinary approach is about building a strong team around our families, in order to provide high quality,…
The Role of the Therapeutic Assistant
THE ROLE OF THE THERAPEUTIC ASSISTANT It’s been an intense start to the back end of the year for the Explore and Soar Team and I. After breaking my jaw in multiple places during an accident on 2 July, I was forced…
Fine Motor Skills
FINE MOTOR SKILLS Now that we have discussed gross motor skills, it’s time to talk about fine motor skills! Fine motor skills refer to the ability to use the small muscles of the hand, with adequate strength, dexterity and coordination, to grasp…
Gross Motor Skills
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS Whilst we continue to navigate the current disruptions and changes to our everyday life, I thought I would focus on a term we regularly see in our referrals from parents, caregivers and teachers. Gross motor skills. The development of…
Emotional Regulation
EMOTIONAL REGULATION Today I want to speak about the importance of emotional regulation. Not only its development and significance in our children’s lives, but in our own as parents, caregivers and individuals. Emotional regulation is an important skill that is developed over…
Parent Therapist Relationships
PARENT THERAPIST RELATIONSHIP With 2020 now well underway and with intentions set for the new year, it’s finally time for us to reconnect with our clients and families after the Christmas and New Year break. The beginning of a new year is…
Flying with Children
FLYING WITH CHILDREN As I write this, I am currently sitting in my economy seat on a Boeing A380. I am making the 13-hour flight from Los Angeles back to Sydney after a wonderful time with friends exploring a country I’ve never…
Unpacking Sensory Processing Disorder
UNPACKING SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER If you jump on Google, you’ll soon see that there is a plethora of information regarding all different strategies, ideas and ways to support children with Sensory Processing Disorders, ultimately striving to allow them to process the world…
Roughhousing
ROUGHHOUSING Hello Spring! It’s officially the season of change and us finally getting to enjoy being outside again. I thoughtshare my favourite play activity with you; roughhousing. I don’t know about you but I find winter really hard. The cold inconsistent weather,…
Play
PLAY This week we are going to chat about the importance of play and how it plays a roll not only in paediatric OT but in our lives as adults too! I have to admit, playing is one of my favourite things…