Our “one-week” sessions are generally much better suited for children already regularly participating in the NAPA programs. If your child comes to NAPA for weekly appointments or has attended at least one 3-week intensive program in the past 12 months, these shortened programs are a great way to add a “booster” to their annual therapy plan as they work towards their goals.
As the time is shortened, “one-week” sessions are not designed in the same way as a typical 3-week intensive program, and therefore may have different outcomes for a child. The therapy teams are also more limited in what goals they can focus on and exercise programs they can deliver over the shorter program time.
If you are considering your child’s first intensive program, or your child has not attended NAPA for over 12 months, we strongly recommend starting with the full three-week program whenever possible.
Our parent lounge is equipped with a fridge, microwave, oven (not in brisbane), coffee, tea, dishes and utensils as well as a device charging station. There is a vending machine in each parent’s room featuring a selection of drinks and snacks.
The ideal outfit to be worn during an intensive session is a lightweight t-shirt, long lightweight pants or leggings, and sneakers. Keep your child comfortable by avoiding baggy clothing, which tends to bunch up under the Neurosuit and cage harnesses. Jeans, tracksuit pants, and shorts are not recommended. Please bring socks and some stable shoes. Good running shoes are fine if you do not have any specific therapy footwear.
All children prior to booking an intensive therapy session will need to have their Patient Intake form completed and assessed. You can start that process by completing the interest form here.
The NAPA therapy team will make initial therapy recommendations, which will be sent through after your intake has been received. After receiving your therapy recommendations, you can contact our Intensive Co-ordinator at NAPA, or you can apply for your child to be scheduled into an intensive session via the website.
You need to do this do be able to book into a session or have your child placed on a waitlist. We do not presume to add your child to a waitlist without your request.
All therapy recommendations will be reviewed prior to the start of any therapy program beginning, and again upon actual assessment on the first day of your child’s appointments. Please note the first day of your child’s intensive/weekly therapy session may involve a full evaluation so their goals and program can be finalised appropriately. We may also need to change the program once we have seen how your child adapts to the NAPA therapy programs.
It is important that you keep us updated of any changes, developments, or regressions your child may have. If there are any medical procedures, seizure management plans, or changes to their diagnosis, again, please let us know.
We would prefer all children on the program supply up-to-date information about the status of their hips. If your child has any known hip instability, please ensure we have their latest hip migration information (report and x-ray) prior to beginning therapy. If you are unsure, please refer to your child’s doctor to check if there are concerns, and please update us to their response. It is important the NAPA therapy team are aware of your child’s latest hip status, as it can affect how they plan the therapy program.
In some circumstances, we may require written medical clearance from your child’s specialist team prior to starting an Intensive session. We do recommend you let your child’s physician know they are joining the NAPA program.
Yes an achievable home program will be taught to parents and carers in the last week of the intensive program. If there are aspects of the program that would be aided with video or visual aides, then we encourage parents to record this on their devices for easy ongoing access.
It is also possible to have a home program written up – please discuss this with your child’s therapy team in advance, as there may be an additional fee for this service.
Once you have decided that you’d like your child to come to NAPA – the first step is to complete this form to get you started. This will introduce us to you and then you will need to complete a patient intake form which will give us a fuller understanding of your child, their needs and your goals for them.
You will then receive a set of NAPA Therapy recommendations sent through to you from our team.
You can utilise this information to register for the intensive sessions that you are interested in and know that you can complete.
Our intensives are released progressively throughout the year and are always available via the Patient portal.
Make sure you follow NAPA Australia on Facebook so you don’t miss the announcements around future schedule releases. NAPA do not take bookings for the following year prior to the registration period opening.
The best way to determine which of our therapies are most appropriate for your child is to complete our patient intake paperwork. Our therapists will review to confirm that your child is a candidate for our intensive program, and also recommend which of our therapies are best suited for your child’s needs, as well as how many hours per day they believe to be most appropriate. All intensive sessions are 60 minutes in length (50 mins face to face).
NAPA Intensive programs run for 3-weeks (15 days), Monday-Friday and there are some limited one week options throughout the year as well.
NAPA is also able to offer weekly therapy sessions to families living locally.
To get started, complete this interest form.
We recommend most children attend two intensive therapy blocks per year.
However, children under age 3 and those going through puberty (around 9–13 years old) benefit most from three intensives per year, as these are the periods when your child’s brain are especially open to learning and change during these key growth periods.
Keep in mind that these are just guidelines. Every family is different, and you can choose what works best for your child, funding and family situation. We will continue to recommend at least 12 weeks between intensives with a minimum of 6 weeks between any block of intensive therapy.
If you’re unsure, we’re here to help you decide what’s right for your child.
If we can’t get you into the session you requested, we can add you to the session’s wait list. We can’t predict if or when a family will cancel, we will let you know if an opening becomes available. How quickly you may move up the waitlist is dependent on how many others registered ahead of you, but is also reliant on other factors like the type of therapy you have requested, and your flexibility with times and availability.
We also recommend you follow our social media pages for last minute intensive opportunities which occasionally pop up when a child cancels out of an intensive.
You can note specific therapists in your preferences, but we cannot guarantee any therapist for your session. Many other factors play into scheduling, but we do everything we can to meet scheduling preferences such as preferred therapists and start times.
NAPA will release your finalised schedule including times and your therapist’s names roughly 30 days prior to your intensive start date. Please contact us ASAP if you would like to request any adjustments to your schedule or add more therapy and we will try to accommodate your requests. Please note however that it may be difficult to make changes as our therapists will have very full schedules with other intensive and ongoing weekly patients.
Once an intensive session is booked in, NAPA may have very limited opportunity to amend your child’s schedule. Please ensure when booking that you inform us of your child’s ‘best’ therapy times, or any nap times, and we will do our best to take this in to account when planning a session. Any schedule amends will be subject to availability and may come with additional costs.
The commitment to the intensive program is for the hours recommended by the therapy team. These hours should be the same each day.
If you think your child will not be able to handle the length of the session we recommended, we advise either considering a smaller schedule, or including a longer break within your child’s daily therapy session. But please keep in mind, your child may be way more capable and have more stamina than you think. Our team are experts in keeping children busy and engaged through their programs, and pacing where needed. Most children well-exceed expectations in their stamina as they work through the program.
Once your child begins their session we will not be able to decrease the number of hours they are confirmed for, unless it is recommended to change by the Clinical Director at NAPA. Because NAPA is heavily booked in every intensive, we have limited availability to add in more therapy hours, so any additional therapy hours are strictly subject to availability.
Please ensure you have actioned all requests that will be emailed to you prior to your session commencement. This includes arranging payment for your session, completing or updating your child’s patient intake forms, and signing off on our terms and conditions.
It is important that you keep us updated of any changes, developments, or regressions your child may have. If there are any medical procedures, seizure management plans, or changes to their diagnosis, again, please let us know.
We would prefer all children on the program supply up-to-date information about the status of their hips. If your child has any known hip instability, please ensure we have their latest hip migration information (report and x-ray) prior to beginning therapy. If you are unsure, please refer to your child’s doctor to check if there are concerns, and please update us to their response. It is important the NAPA therapy team are aware of your child’s latest hip status, as it can affect how they plan the therapy program.
In some circumstances, we may require written medical clearance from your child’s specialist team prior to starting an Intensive session. We do recommend you let your child’s physician know they are joining the NAPA program.
If you wish to provide us any feedback, we encourage you to contact the Managing Director on 02 9420 5080, or email: feedback@napacentre.com.au, or write to: NAPA Centre, 2 Lincoln Street, Lane Cove West, NSW 2066
