We help children and young people develop the functional skills they need to participate in sports and recreation activities.

Participation is the the point of everything we do at Splash Physiotherapy!

Where do we begin! We are incredibly passionate about this service!

Participation

• participation is the the point of everything we do at Splash Physiotherapy, so this service fits with our core purpose

• we see children develop functional skills, but without that last bit of support, often they don't get to participate in every day activities in their community, and are still kicking a ball around in the backyard by themselves a long time later. Using our approach we support putting the skills into every day life, rather than developing a skill and hoping that it will work out

• it's a supported way for children and young people to try new sports and recreation activities that they may not otherwise have a chance to do

• it's a focussed way to further build skills in a sport or recreation activity a child or young person is already participating in, but where they are struggling to progress with a particular aspect (similar to our approach of providing blocks of aquatic physiotherapy to help kids and young people in swimming lessons when they struggle with learning a new skill)

Evidence informed practise:

• the evidence base shows that blocks of therapy are better than distributed therapy. That's why we do weekly blocks during school terms. However, school holidays are a great opportunity to do a block of daily sessions so that skills can be built upon every day, to more quickly achieve a goal. They can work as a great 'boost' before going back to school. They are timed before the term starts to you can take these skills and put them straight onto your chosen activity.

Play!

• this is what play looks like for children and young people! We provide play based therapy at all ages, and as kids grow up, active play becomes about sports and recreation. It's the same for adults!

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Quality of life and whole development

• it gives opportunities for a number of areas that improve quality of life. Aside from being able to move and do what you want to do, the social, communication, self regulation, and motor planning aspects are all involved.

• improving ability to join in sport and recreation opens social opportunities at school in the playground and in sport, as well as as an adult

• challenging yourself, not being afraid to learn through mistakes, working towards goals, seeing your achievements, and sharing them with others all help to develop resilience and a growth mindset

• not everyone is going to be into team sports. Recreation is just as important. That's why we include activities such as bike riding, canoeing and bush walking.

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Independence

• bike riding is an important mode of transport for many adults with disabilities to gain more independence

Health

• children are recommended to be participating in moderately vigorous activity for 2 hours per day! and for adults it's 30 minutes. We want to be a part of setting children up for a healthy, active lifestyle as adults. Evidence shows that children who are active are more likely to become active adults.

• whole families often get involved and become more active, which has health benefits for everyone!

• being active and being part of a community has mental health benefits across a lifespan

• having a healthy active lifestyle is particularly important for the children and young people we work with. It's an enjoyable way to keep up your fitness, strength, balance and range of movement.

Functional skills are concrete and easy to observe

eg. you used to miss the soccer ball when you tried to kick it, now you can kick it with direction to another person most of the time.

Participation is when you are able to join in an activity in every day life, with all the complexities that come with that.

To continue the soccer example:

• kicking balls in different directions

• running and changing direction to get near a ball or away from a team mate

• while keeping an eye on where your moving team mates are

• on uneven ground, that might be hard and dry in summer or soggy and spongy after rain

• while a team mate is calling out to you

• with sun in your eyes, or with light rain

• when you're feeling great and when you're tiring out

• when you're excited and when you're struggling because your team is losing

You get the idea, the skill is much more complex once you're in the activity!​

Context:

To add to that, there are other factors related to the context

Personal:

• you're still feeling a bit sad after something that happened at school, you're anxious about the new activity, your tired,

• or you're feeling great, full of energy, and excited

Other people:

• how supportive, encouraging and inclusive are your peers, their parents, your coach or teacher?

• do they have the understanding and skills to modify activities, or to use strategies to help you participate?

The environment:

• can you get there easily enough? Or do you need to go the long way around to avoid the steps?

• do they have equipment you can use?

• will your walker cope on the uneven ground?

You can imagine there are many things to consider for each different activity, and we are skilled at quietly observing these, and helping the people involved find solutions to any barriers we identify.

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Read more about participation and the WHO ICF - CY (World health Organisation International Classification of Function​

As of 2019, we have run intensives on the following sports & recreation activities:

- bike riding, swimming, bush walking, canoeing & kayaking, ballet

- basketball, netball, soccer, AFL football, cricket

- tennis, badminton, table tennis were done as a combination looking into racquet sports

We are looking into intensives for:

- little athletics, surf beach swimming, circus

We would like to look into:

- martial arts, hockey, rollerskating

If you have a different recreational activity or sport your are keen to look at, ask us! We will do our best to help. We are in no way limited to the activities on this list. This list has been developed in response to the goals of current and past Splash families.

Find out more about bike riding physiotherapy here