Allied Health

Over the Term 3 holiday break, the Occupational Therapy (OT) teams from St Patrick’s Special School and Our Lady of La Vang completed the MACA (Mobility & Accessibility for Children in Australia) Transporting Children with Disability and Medical Conditions professional development course. The training explored a range of topics, including:

• The leading role of allied health professionals

• Keeping children safe as passengers and road users

• Road safety principles and vehicle standards

• Best-practice approaches to prescribing vehicle restraints and supports

• Common transport challenges families face

• Documentation requirements

Assessing and prescribing for motor vehicle transport is a specialised area of practice. This training provided our teams with the opportunity to explore the latest research and strengthen our evidence-based approach to developing safe and effective transport plans for our students — ensuring both safe bus travel and community access.

As part of this learning, we’d like to share with families the 5-Step Test for Travelling Safely in a Seatbelt. This simple tool helps assess whether a young person is ready to travel using the standard vehicle seatbelt without an additional restraint system (e.g. car seat or booster).

If your child isn’t quite ready for a standard seatbelt, you might like to explore MACA’s National Product Register, which provides independent information about restraint systems and accessories for children and adults with disabilities and medical conditions: MACA's National Product Register

Our OT team (Tom and Amber) are using what we learnt are currently reviewing all student transport plans, so you may hear from us soon. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact Tom and Amber if you’d like to discuss your child’s transport needs further.

Amber Lloyde & Tom Walker - Occupational Therapists