As well as our three-week intensive therapy program, NAPA also offers weekly appointments in our Clinics.
Weekly appointments are available for physiotherapy, DMI, Occupational Therapy, NeuroSuit (min. 2 hours), and speech therapy and will be with the same therapist each week. Please note that we do not offer fortnightly or monthly appointments.
For more information about registering for weekly sessions, please click here.
NAPA’s services are completely clinic based, and as such we do not offer mobile therapy services or sessions in homes or community settings such as schools. We can connect with external practitioners, schools and teachers vis telehealth though.
We recommend connecting with other local therapy services if you require home or community services.
Our clinics are open for appointments on weekdays for the following hours:
Monday 8am – 3.30pm
Tuesday 8am – 4.30pm
Wednesday 8am – 4.30pm
Thursday 8am – 4.30pm
Friday 8am – 3.30pm
Yes! It is important for your child to have reports that demonstrate the progress they have achieved or the plans you may have for their upcoming therapy and care. NAPA Centre has a range of reports that are able to be requested to assist you with this need including NDIS Reports and Assistive Technology Reports.
For more information about our range of reports, timing and pricing, please see the Reports section of this website.
As we deal with vulnerable children each day, we ask that you do not come into the clinic if your child or you have the following ailments:
At NAPA, we work with a variety of medically complex patients every day, and we always take their personal health and safety very seriously. We want to reassure you that the current procedures we have in place are following the advice provided by the State Government authorities.
Whilst we have removed some of our preventative measures such as temperature testing and mask-wearing, we remain on high alert for symptoms in our team and ask that our clients do the same.
Masks are no longer required in our clinics for our clients, team or visitors but if you would prefer your therapist to wear a mask during the session with your child, please just let us know and they will be happy to wear a mask.
As per the above sickness policy, should your child or someone in your immediate family test positive for Covid, we ask that you cease treatment in our clinics and only return 5 days after your first positive test and fever free.
Our normal cancellation terms and policies apply for Covid related absences.
We appreciate your assistance in keeping our NAPA community safe at this time.
We do recommend you let your child’s general physician (GP) or preferred specialist know that they are attending the NAPA intensive program and discuss any precautions that the team may need to be aware of due to your child’s diagnosis, recent medical history, or current presentation. It may also be helpful if you can discuss the program with your child’s local therapy team (if not NAPA) before starting an Intensive session to confirm goals, their current therapy program, and any other information we need to be aware of.
In general NAPA does not require formal referals or medical clearance from your child’s team. In some instances and diagnosis’ we may request further information including scans, bone density reports, recent hospital discharge papers or medical clearance.
Please note that from 10/07/2023 clients who are doing Vital Stim therapy at NAPA will require medical clearance from their doctor.
Yes this is possible, and kids love a cheer squad, but you will be responsible for them, and ensuring they don’t distract from your child’s therapy session, or any other child doing their therapy session. We suggest you bring plenty of entertainment for any siblings, and spread out the visits from additional family members.
Our team may ask for your assistance in keeping the therapy area focused on the children doing the program, and that our parent lounge and kitchen areas be treated with respect and kept tidy.
As a registered NDIS Provider, we have enlisted the services of TIS to support any families who may require the assistance of an interpreter during their sessions at NAPA. Please let us know in advance of the assistance you require (which sessions, preferred language) and we will make the necessary arrangements on your behalf.
The Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) provides interpreting services to people who do not speak English and to agencies and businesses that need to communicate with their non-English speaking clients. These services enable non-English speakers to independently access services and information in Australia.
TIS has access to over 3000 interpreters across Australia and more than 160 different languages.
Yes this is possible, but must be arranged in advance and cleared with the NAPA therapy team. Please note, this is an observation session, not a training session for your local therapist. Our therapy team will be focused on your child and their NAPA program.
We encourage you to join the NAPA Center Facebook page, and the parent-run Facebook forum NAPA Centre Parents Australia. Both are good places to learn a bit more about the NAPA experience, and many of the parents are very helpful in guiding you through the experience, and any travel and planning questions you may have.
If you are completing an intensive, aim to spend a little time in our Parent’s Lounge where you will connect with many NAPA parents that will help you on your journey.
Many of our children have the same overall diagnoses, but vastly differ in their level of ability or presentation. Others have very rare or undiagnosed conditions. For this reason, it’s very difficult to judge exactly what gains your child may see from an intensive session.
All programs are individually tailored to your child’s needs and around your child’s goals. On the first day of your child’s session you will meet with their therapy team and collectively come up with a set of realistic goals for the following weeks. Your primary concerns will be taken into account, so please feel free to discuss openly what you would most likely to concentrate on.
Typically during an intensive we strive for 6-12 months of typical development for your child, when comparing to what is generally achieved via a weekly therapy program.
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 find the link to the Patient Intake form here.
The NAPA therapy team will make initial therapy recommendations, which will be sent through 10 working days 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.
If your child becomes ill or has a surgery scheduled prior to an intensive session start date, and will not be able to participate in their booked therapy program, please contact us ASAP so we can offer another family on our wait list a chance to come to NAPA. A medical certificate or doctor’s letter will be required for the cancellation. NAPA can either hold the money you put towards the intensive as a credit towards an alternative session you schedule with us, or cancel a NDIS Service Booking. We most likely will not be able to get you back in right away, but once we do, we will have our admin team apply this credit to the new invoice. You may also apply for a refund if you are unable to find an alternative date to return.Without a medical certificate that cover’s your child for the length of the intensive, a cancellation fee may apply.
If your child is ill during an intensive, we will require a medical certificate to cover any missed hours or days of their program. For local patients we can look to reschedule make-up sessions after the intensive. For children not from the Sydney area, we may be able to add missed therapy hours onto other intensive days when your child is feeling better. In other cases when adding on additional therapy would be too taxing, we can credit any hours missed, as a credit that can be applied towards your next intensive, or we can adjust a NDIS service booking if needed. Without a medical certificate, a cancellation fee may apply.
For all illnesses please exercise good judgement in regards to returning to the clinic. As we are a paediatric clinic that sees many vulnerable children, please do not bring your child back to the clinic until they have medical clearance or have suitably recovered from their illness and many no longer be contagious, as advised by their doctors. In most cases, this is going to be at least 48 hours of being symptom free.
Once you have decided that you’d like your child to come to NAPA – the first step is to complete our online Patient Intake form here. This gives us a full 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 Clinical Director confirming whether or not we believe your child is a candidate for intenisve therapy, and what program and therapies they recommend.
You can utilise this information to register for the intensive sessions that you are interested in and know that you can complete. Please take note when you register if the session is waitlisted – this means that the session is currently full and we will contact you should a position in that session become available that suits your child’s needs. Remember to keep an eye on our social media for date announcements for when the following years sessions will become available or for last minute intensive sessions that may become available from time to time.
If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to reach out at any time.
The 2023 intensive schedule is available now. The 2024 intensive schedule will be released in August 2023 and you will be able to register for 2024 intensives from our registration day which will likely be in September 2023. Make sure you follow NAPA Australia on Facebook so you don’t miss the announcements around schedule releases. NAPA do not take bookings for the following year prior to the registration period opening.
All children prior to booking an intensive therapy session will need to have their Patient Intake form completed and assessed. You can find the link to the Patient Intake form here: https://napacentre.com.au/australia-intake-form/
The NAPA therapy team will make initial therapy recommendations, which will be sent through to you. After this you can apply for your child to be scheduled in to an intensive session.
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.
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.
NAPA Intensive programs run for 3-weeks (15 days), Monday-Friday. We don’t generally recommend shortened periods, so your child can gain the maximum benefit over the 3-weeks.
NAPA is also able to offer weekly therapy sessions to families living locally.
Typically, we recommend a minimum two-intensive (6-week) break between intensive sessions. You will continue to see gains after your child’s session, and it is just as important to build off those gains as the intensive session itself. If you would like to schedule another session within two months of your last, you will need to receive permission from NAPA’s Clinical Director.
Once you have filled out the Intensive Intake Paperwork, the NAPA therapy team will confirm your child is a confirmed candidate and have made initial therapy recommendations, which will be sent through to you.
After receiving this, you can contact our Intensive Coordinator at NAPA, or you can apply for your child to be scheduled into an intensive session of your choice by clicking here and submitting a form for the session of your choice. Please note that this does not guarantee a session. It simply lets us know you are interested at coming at this time.
The Intensive Coordinator at the clinic you selected will reach out and let you know if we have availability for your preferred session. If they are unable to offer a place, they are able to add your child to the session waitlist.
Please note we do not presume to add your child to a waitlist without your request.
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 dependant 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 recommed you follow our facebook page for last minute intensive opportunities which occassionally 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 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.
Our intensive sessions begin as early as 8:00 AM, with our last intensive hour beginning at 2:30PM. We do our best to accommodate your timing preferences but this may not always be possible due to our schedules being full.
Intensive session times run as follows:
8am-9am
9am-10am
10am-11am
11am-12noon
12 noon-12.30pm – Clinic Lunchbreak
12.30pm-1.30pm
1.30pm – 2.30pm
2.30pm – 3.30pm
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. At times we will require your flexibility as well.
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.
Yes, the clinics observe all public holidays and will be closed on the following days:
New Years Day
Australia Day – 26 January
Good Friday
Easter Monday
Anzac Day – 25 April
Queen’s/King’s Birthday
Christmas Day – 25 December
Boxing Day – 26 December
The clinic will also be closed for the following state relevant public holidays:
Labour Day (NSW, VIC and QLD)
Melbourne Grand Final Public Holiday (VIC only)
Melbourne Cup Day (Vic only)
Ekka Day (Brisbane Only) – Note NAPA will close on the LOGAN Ekka Day.
If you wish to provide us any feedback, we encourage you to contact the NAPA Centre 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
If you would like to provide feedback or make a complaint about the quality or safety of our NDIS supports or services, or would like to know more about the NDIS commission, please contact the NDIA by:
