Frances Dolan OT

09/04/2025

Hi all, just sharing our mobile services 😊 Luke currently has availability & would love to support participants in need of Community Access or in home services.

Hello we're Luke and Frances, the husband and wife team at Light House Family Supports. We have created a working partnership with the goal of supporting those in our community living with disabilities and their families. Together we have combined over 40 years professional experience working in the fields of Occupational Therapy (Fran) and Special Education (Luke) as well as lived personal experience with disability in our immediate family. We aim to deliver dynamic yet practical support both in home and in the wider community, fostering our passion for capacity building and inclusion for people of all abilities! Please contact us by e-mail at info@lighthousefamily.com.au or visit our website at www.lighthousefamily.com.au (which is currently under construction but does have an active link to our referral form). We are grateful to live, work, and play on Awabakal and Worimi lands and celebrate LGBTQI inclusion.

15/12/2024

Send a message to learn more

26/11/2024

Just sharing an update and wishing you a lovely upcoming Christmas & holiday period! I'm contracting part-time at Hunter Coast Therapy, it certainly is a lovely place to be. I'll be there in the new year and hopefully many more to come ☺️

26/05/2022

I’m sorry for the violations & traumas suffered by First Nations People’s children, families & communities in Australia. I don’t know the full truth, I will seek space to learn more. I ask forgiveness from the traditional owners of the land where we live, the Awabakal people so together we can heal & respect our beautiful country. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us all.

15/12/2021

Don’t wait & see, we can teach parents strategies that work. These will make time together more enjoyable 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Get in touch if interested in next years Project ImPACT course

🙅🏼‍♀️ Let's just wait and see.

Or NOT!

😡 Drop an emoji in the comments if you've heard someone say this.

It has been an all too common practice for parents to be told we will "wait and see" when they have concerns about their child's development.

I have so many problems with this...
1️⃣ Early intervention works! Children who receive early intervention have better long term outcomes than their counterparts.

2️⃣ We are wasting critical time. The brain is growing so fast and learning so much in the early years. We want to take advantage of that neuroplasticity and intervene as early as possible!

3️⃣ It's dismissive of a parent's concerns and goes against what their intuition is telling them, you know your child best!!

The children in this study received parent-implemented interventions (shout-out to the coaching model!) and children who received intervention made growth that was comfortable to their typically developing peers. Early intervention for the win!!






ID: dark blue tile that reads children ages 24 to 42 months with language impairments who received intervention had greater receptive and expressive language skills than children in the wait and see group.

08/11/2021

YES to this 👏 The bottom line: before we teach children about self-regulation, they need to experience co-regulation with us. All of us—parents, educators, and providers should build emotional co-regulation into children’s lives with compassion and understanding.

When we attempt to teach self-regulation skills without evaluating a child’s co-regulation history, we risk asking too much of children too soon.

29/10/2021

22/10/2021

Did you know Project ImPACT (Improving Parents as Communication Teachers) was recently recognized in the key findings of a systematic review of evidence-based practices? The National Clearinghouse on Autism and Evidence Based Practice article was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. ImPACT is recognised as a manualised evidence based parent intervention. Great news for families of children with social & communication difficulties, Autism or GDD in Newcastle & surrounds who can access PI through our services! Freely available here or the link for Executive Summary is in comments below.

This systematic review describes a set of practices that have evidence of positive effects with autistic children and youth. This is the third iteration of a review of the intervention literature (Odom et al. in J Autism Dev Disorders 40(4):425–436, 2010a; Prevent School Fail 54(4):275–282, 2010...

04/10/2021

Supporting parents to understand their children’s communication and coaching them how to respond to promote social & communication development, is becoming more established as an essential part of early intervention therapy for young children 👏😊

29/09/2021

All children are blessings, I love this story 💗🙏

08/09/2021

23/07/2021

https://www.ted.com/talks/molly_wright_how_every_child_can_thrive_by_five?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

"What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of pla...