Spot Therapy Hub

Spot Therapy Hub Spot Therapy Hub is a Neurodiversity Affirming Speech Pathology & Occupational Therapy practice.

There’s a lot of discussion this time of year about Elf on the Shelf, behaviour, and “being good”.Here’s the nuance that...
16/12/2025

There’s a lot of discussion this time of year about Elf on the Shelf, behaviour, and “being good”.

Here’s the nuance that often gets missed:

Behaviour is not the same as values.
And kindness is not something children perform on demand.

Children can care deeply about others and still do things that look “unkind” - because their brains are still developing the skills required to act on those values under stress.

Systems that rely on surveillance, rewards or threats may shape behaviour temporarily, but they don’t build empathy, impulse control or emotional regulation. Those grow through safety, co-regulation and relationship.

Especially for neurodivergent children, behaviour is often a signal of nervous system load - not a reflection of character.

If we want children to internalise kindness, we have to stop confusing compliance with values.

K xx
















Yesterday’s events touched all of us.Children make sense of the world through the safety of our presence.This guide offe...
15/12/2025

Yesterday’s events touched all of us.
Children make sense of the world through the safety of our presence.
This guide offers calm, relationship-centred ways to support them today.

When trauma shakes us, connection steadies us.Yesterday’s events have deeply impacted our community, and we are holding ...
15/12/2025

When trauma shakes us, connection steadies us.

Yesterday’s events have deeply impacted our community, and we are holding close all who are feeling shaken, especially our many Jewish families and Bondi families.

Connection is our highest human need. The things that define us today will be the human moments. We reach for those who many not be ready or able to reach back 🩵











14/12/2025

When a school meeting starts like this, it matters more than people realise.

Because the research is clear - studies from the Netherlandshave shown that children’s difficulty participating in school is not driven by parenting style or disability itself.

The strongest predictors are school-based factors:
• the sensory and relational environment
• expectations and demands
• flexibility, safety and felt understanding
• whether a child’s nervous system can actually settle enough to learn

School Can’t isn’t about a child being unwilling.
It’s about a nervous system that doesn’t feel safe in that environment.

So the question is never:
“What’s does the child or family need to fix?”

It’s:
🌈 “What needs to change here so this child can access learning, relationships and dignity again?”

This is where real collaboration begins.















14/12/2025

Every year around Christmas I gently remind families of this 👇

Threatening that Santa won’t come if children don’t “behave” doesn’t support behaviour - it makes ‘bad’ behaviour even more likely.

When a child is already struggling, adding the threat of loss, abandonment or disappointment pushes their nervous system into fight, flight or freeze.

When a nervous system feels unsafe, a child’s capacity to cope, listen or regulate drops.

Concerning (or even annoying and ‘rude’ behaviour) is not a character flaw. It tells us about nervous system load.

If we want children to do better, we need to help them feel safer first (** I’m bit talking about conscious ‘safety’ but deeper level nervous system safety).

Connection builds capacity.
Threats erode it.

This isn’t an opinion or idea. It’s evidence based.









Kate had the absolute privilege of joining Leisa Reichelt at School Can’t Australia for a deeply important conversation ...
14/12/2025

Kate had the absolute privilege of joining Leisa Reichelt at School Can’t Australia for a deeply important conversation about school distress, regulation, and what our kids are really communicating when they can’t attend.

As a dual-qualified therapist, advocate, and mum, Kate shares a neuroaffirming lens on:
🌈 Why school can’t is not a behaviour to fix
🌈 What safety, connection, and co-regulation truly look like
🌈 How families, educators, and therapists can work together to support young people with compassion and curiosity
🌈 Why listening to lived experience matters more than ever

A huge thank you to School Can’t Australia for creating space for this conversation and for the work they do every day in championing the needs of kids who are struggling in the school system. We’re so proud to be part of this movement.

Check out the podcast today

Neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed values and care are becoming more accessible…but we’re still a long way fro...
12/12/2025

Neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed values and care are becoming more accessible…but we’re still a long way from seeing it consistently practiced.

For many care seekers, this way of working is still new.

Everybody needs to know - just because someone expects you to tell them what’s “wrong” and prescribe a solution, doesn’t mean that approach is right.

As professionals, we need to:
• Remove deficit-based and pathology-driven lenses
• Work alongside people, not above them
• Stop setting goals based on assessment alone
• Offer genuine choice in therapy, treatment and support approaches

In short - our role is not to fix people.
It’s to educate, support and empower them.

This happens through relationship-building.
It happens through inclusive, sensory-safe environments.
And it happens when we centre identity, autonomy and collaboration.

Please add ideas and share if you feel aligned 🌈🩵

11/12/2025

Stereotypical ideas about autism are well and truly a thing of the past.

Children who are autistic can be sociable, popular, warm, funny and importantly, happy and joyful - especially in their younger years if they have attuned caregivers and live their life in environments that align with their needs.

We do our best to understand how a child experiences the world and to describe their identity based on what we observe… but for many, it won’t be until much later in life that their autistic identity is recognised (when they finally have the language to describe their lived experience).

10/12/2025

It’s not just bad luck when a child gets fluid in their ears and needs grommets inserted. It’s usually the children whose orofacial function is reduced because the fluid can’t drain properly when the muscles of your face and mouth aren’t being used.

When the muscles that are supposed to contract during chewing, swallowing and yawning aren’t activated consistently, the fluid sticks around.

Kids who need grommets (‘tubes’) inserted into their eardrums are often mouth breathers, have an open-mouth posture at rest, and may have reduced saliva control or oral habits. Noticing that their speech or language is delayed is only likely looking at the most superficial tip of the iceberg.

We actually see a lot of kids who have fluid continuing to leak out of their ear canals (visible in the outer ear) even after grommets have been inserted. Why? Because the operation doesn’t fix their orofacial function.

These kids typically have nervous system differences, differences in their muscle tone, and are innately wired to show differences in how their communication develops.

Take home message:
Needing to have grommets should really be a marker for a developmental check-up, not something to take a “wait and see” approach with.

Questions or comments always welcome 🥰

Let’s tackle the double empathy problem and think about better ways to support NEURODIVERGENT kids.Get curious and refle...
10/12/2025

Let’s tackle the double empathy problem and think about better ways to support NEURODIVERGENT kids.

Get curious and reflect on WHY a child is not sharing like their peers. It’s probably connected to REGULATION - not their moral compass!!

All kids need our support with this, and we need to be especially careful to remember that EQUITY is our goal (ie. Equal opportunities for everybody), not EQUALITY (ie. Everybody should be the same thing or get the same thing for the same amount of time).

What did you think about our suggestions for rewording goals?

Let’s try to keep the conversation going so we can all work to ensure our little people have the support they need (& yes - we’re talking about changing the systems as well as the small changes we can all make in our own homes and therapy services 💙).

09/12/2025

As the school year ends, it’s worth reflecting gently on why your child’s year may not have felt great.

Two things matter most:

1. Their relationship with the teacher

This isn’t about blaming teachers. Even as a therapist, I know I can be safe for a child and still not be someone they form secure attachment with, and certainly not on my timeline.

But secure attachment is foundational. Kids learn, explore and take risks when they feel genuinely liked, understood and emotionally safe. If connection didn’t land this year, you can work with next year’s teacher to intentionally build that relationship from day one.

2. Their neurotype and changing capacity

Some kids compensate for learning differences for years… until demands increase.
Some are high-masking Autistic kids.
Some have inattentive ADHD that goes unnoticed because they’ve never caused behavioural concern.

When capacity changes (especially with hormones and rising expectations), underlying needs can finally show. Remember: all children do well if they can. A child who suddenly becomes impulsive, forgetful or overwhelmed isn’t lazy - they’re showing us something important.

As you prepare for next year:
✨ Prioritise connection with the teacher
✨ Stay curious about your child’s neurotype and nervous system

This is what helps kids flourish emotionally, neurologically and academically.

K x

Sometimes what’s presented as “inclusion” can actually feel deeply invalidating to disabled children and their families....
08/12/2025

Sometimes what’s presented as “inclusion” can actually feel deeply invalidating to disabled children and their families.

Too often, inclusion is framed as “doing what everyone else does” - even when that dismisses a child’s needs, nervous system, cultural values, disability identity, and the essential role of their family.

This carousel speaks to the real experiences of many families we support:
✨ being pressured to choose “independence” over safety
✨ having support needs minimised or misinterpreted
✨ being told their lived experience is “holding their child back”
✨ feeling judged for prioritising relationships, joy, regulation and identity
✨ being offered deficit-based narratives disguised as “help”

True inclusion isn’t sameness.
It’s participation that feels safe.
It’s needs being met without stigma.
It’s honouring interdependence, culture, disability identity, and the unique ways a family thrives.
It’s recognising that closeness, support, and shared experiences are strengths; not barriers.

Families are the experts in their child’s lived reality.
Educators, clinicians, and schools become genuine partners when they listen with curiosity, centre the child’s dignity, and collaborate through an affirming lens.

If this resonates with your experience, you are not alone and your advocacy is valid.
Your child’s needs are real.
Your family’s way of moving through the world is worthy and respected. 💙

Address

Level 1/111 Belmore Road, Randwick
Sydney, NSW
2031

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 3pm

Telephone

+61293266000

Website

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