Kilkennyoccupationaltherapy

Kilkennyoccupationaltherapy IAIM Infant Massage Instructor
Children's Occupational Therapist

Baby massage classes available PM/Call for more details

We don’t have time not to play.Play, no matter the age, helps us learn. Families that know me, know that everything is d...
13/11/2025

We don’t have time not to play.

Play, no matter the age, helps us learn. Families that know me, know that everything is done through play. The minute home programmes and OT intervention feels llike a chore then we STOP, TAKE A BREAK and REASSESS what needs to be done before proceeding.

The reason behind the stopping and reassessing is because we don’t have time not to!

📚Reference from Quote:

Purvis, KB, David, R Croas and Wndy Lyons Sunshine., 2016, The connected child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family. New York: McGrath Hill.

DM for more information 💕Last class before Christmas
09/11/2025

DM for more information 💕

Last class before Christmas

STOP. 🛑 Breathe🤗, Take a step back🪜 Cycle 🔄A few lovely little babies and children reminded me of this during the week. ...
08/11/2025

STOP. 🛑 Breathe🤗, Take a step back🪜 Cycle 🔄

A few lovely little babies and children reminded me of this during the week. Nobody wins when we try to power through. The art is learning how and when to take the step back to begin to push again. Knowing how to support skills comes from the all important assessment process.

When do OTs use this cycle?
🐴 in intervention
📚and Psychoeducation in home programmes

What does OT provide support with? OCCUPATIONS
Activities of Daily Living

🍼feeding
💤sleeping
💩toileting
🛀washing
👗dressing
🪥🦷selfcare
📚organisation
✍️handwriting
💭🙇focus and attention
🛝play skills
🤾‍♀️socialisation

A lovely friend reminded me of this day yesterday 💕So some answers for the age old question……❓So what is Occupational Th...
28/10/2025

A lovely friend reminded me of this day yesterday 💕

So some answers for the age old question……

❓So what is Occupational Therapy? 😎

⬆️SOME OF THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PAEDIATRIC AND BABY MASSAGE CLASSES📚Lots of these benefits I have seen first hand in...
24/10/2025

⬆️SOME OF THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PAEDIATRIC AND BABY MASSAGE CLASSES

📚Lots of these benefits I have seen first hand in classes and some are from books and research articles.

☕️Paediatric and baby massage classes are so much more than what it says on the tin. It is a wonderful strategy when taught and facilitated in the correct way.

✍️Baby Massage Ireland has a list of all the registered certified infant massage instructors (CIMI) in Ireland

❌The research is strong on the benefits of baby massage, however, there are also lots of contra indications, therefore please research and find a qualified instructor.

What is early intervention?Early intervention is discovering your child is finding something a little bit trickier than ...
06/10/2025

What is early intervention?

Early intervention is discovering your child is finding something a little bit trickier than their peers and finding guidance and support to help them overcome it. “Early intervention” in Ireland is from 0 to approximately 5 or 6 years. But I believe early intervention should not have an age, early intervention is about seeking the support when you recognise your child is struggling a little bit more than they have to. This could be at 5 months or 15 years.

What is the OT role?

📝Assessment; to ascertain where the child’s strengths and challenges lie.

📚Psychoeducation and neuroplasticity; understanding that education is key and neuroplasticity is always achievable.

☺️ supporting regulation by supporting the family: when we understand it we can work with it

🦀Supporting adaptive responses: looking at maladaptive responses and edging closer closer and closer to adaptive responses that support the child’s development.

✅all of the above leads to a better quekty of life for the child and the family.

Kilkenny Occupational Therapy’s pre-crawling clinic and baby massage classes are about health promotion. They are about giving parents the tools and support to be the observer in their child’s development to give them every opportunity to grow and thrive ❤️

Baby Massage Classes Autumn 2025 dates: 📆Commencing 4th of September ( 1 space left) please DM to be placed on waiting l...
04/10/2025

Baby Massage Classes Autumn 2025 dates:

📆Commencing 4th of September ( 1 space left) please DM to be placed on waiting list as people sometimes can’t make it closer to the time.
And
9th of October (plenty of spaces available so far)

📚Learn all the massage strokes. Each week there will also be a different topic discussed using an Occupational Therapy lens 🔎

☕️🧁Tea, buns, chats, laughs and cries are included and essential for our sanity!

⭕️The circle of trust

💸Classes are €130 which may be redeemable with health insurance depending on your baby massage/ occupational therapy cover.

*suitable from 2 weeks to pre-crawling, please contact me for prep work if your baby is younger than two weeks****2 spac...
04/10/2025

*suitable from 2 weeks to pre-crawling, please contact me for prep work if your baby is younger than two weeks*

***2 spaces left **

A group of parents and their babies come together to learn a unique set of skills to encourage optimum movement, fun and development for their pre-crawling baby.
The focus of the class is to encourage development from an Occupational Therapy perspective using movement, play and education.

The 5 week class aims to equip parents with:
✔️ Evidence-based advice and strategies on the “8 phases” of assisting baby to move in and out of positions depending on their motor ability and sensory preferences.
✔️Each week will cover different topics related to child development from an Occupational Therapy perspective
✔️The importance of “movement medicine” and how to incorporate healthy movement and play into activities of daily living with your baby
✔️Tea/coffee, cake and chats while your little one sleeps after a busy morning of movement and play.

⏰Each class lasts around 90mins (some days I ask questions that take the whole day to answer. Some days I ask questions as part of research. And some tea and coffee sessions are used as focus groups! 😂🙈)

🫔For more information please have a look at the link in my bio and DM me or email me to secure your place.

💶Some of the cost of the classes can be redeemed by health insurance depending on your plan and Occupational Therapy cover.

The most important thing here is seeks **and/or** needs.Sometimes what the nervous system needs is what the child is avo...
26/09/2025

The most important thing here is seeks **and/or** needs.

Sometimes what the nervous system needs is what the child is avoiding. ❤️

Sometimes what it seeks is what we need to provide 👀

It is all a dance!

Occupational Therapists are trained to support that dance.


3 Ps for Toileting: The OT role 🏡 Place; looking at getting the poos out, wherever the child is most comfortable doing t...
23/09/2025

3 Ps for Toileting: The OT role

🏡 Place; looking at getting the poos out, wherever the child is most comfortable doing this and gradually moving this towards the bathroom.

🛝Play: supporting developmentally appropriate play to encourage bowel movements and support sensory hyper/hypo reactivity.

Professionals:
👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ linking with medical professionals and working as a team.

When working with the small baby. We look at all the same things we just adapt the play and support with lots of other tools.

💩
WEEK 2 of baby massage is all about poos, we learn about the poo routine for infants and we chat about poo inducing play

Extra date added💙Please see my website link in bio for more details. 3 spaces available
22/09/2025

Extra date added💙

Please see my website link in bio for more details.

3 spaces available

FeedingIt takes a village, sometimes it takes the whole village and sometimes it just takes a few. Each professional has...
20/09/2025

Feeding

It takes a village, sometimes it takes the whole village and sometimes it just takes a few. Each professional has a role to play working within their own scope of practice.

What is the OT scope of practice when it comes to feeding?

💆‍♀️regulation

🫟sensory

🔩motor

Gaining and improving function from all of these elements.

Address

Hugginstown
Kilkenny

Telephone

+353838579883

Website

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Kilkenny Occupational Therapy

Our Story

Group work and 1:1 assessment and intervention are provided by Kilkenny Occupational Therapy. Kilkenny Occupational Therapy is passionate about early intervention and believes health promotion and education provided to parents in the early years is key to helping a child reach their full potential.

My name is Helen and I run the company Kilkenny Occupational Therapy. I have been an Occupational Therapist for the past 8 years and have specialised in paediatrics for the past 4 years. I am also a Certified Infant Massage Instructor. Baby massage classes are provided in the Kilkenny area. The importance of the tactile system is widely known in the OT community and we want to bring that to new parents through the medium of baby massage classes. In the classes all the massage strokes are thought along with the recommended theory from the course. Over tea and cake we then go into more detail about child development and how to encourage this through the use of baby massage, games and songs. Kilkenny Occupational Therapy is passionate about child development and believes early intervention is key to their development. Parents are encouraged to chat about their baby's development and look at what they are doing and why. We encourage parents not to compare their baby’s to others as children learn at their own pace. A little guide is provided to parents to encourage their child to reach their potential.

Once restrictions are lifted and there is more scope for face to face practice again, we also plan on running movement groups in local pre-schools. "Little Movers N' Shakers" will bring early sensory development and the importance of engaging the sensory systems to children and parents in the local community. Parents will also get a chance to encourage these skills at home with each child being sent home with different play ideas to help development after each session. For updates, classes and group work announcements follow my page @kilkennyoccupationaltherapy. Our website is currently under construction and will go live soon. Our website will provide details of all courses completed and continued professional development.