Early childhood intervention teaching

Getting ready for kindy and school

Starting kindergarten or Prep is a bigger change than it looks. A child goes from a familiar routine with a small number of adults to a busy room, a timetable, group instructions, a new toilet, a lunchbox they have to open themselves, and a playground full of children they do not know.

Our early childhood teachers work with families across Springfield and Ipswich in the months before that change and the months after it, on the practical skills that make the difference. They are qualified educators, not therapists, and that is exactly the point: they know what a classroom actually asks of a child.

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What school readiness really means

It is not about reading before Prep. The skills that determine how the first year goes are mostly not academic:

  • Separating from you — managing drop-off and trusting that you come back
  • Following group instructions — responding to something said to everybody
  • Managing the routine — knowing what comes next and coping when it changes
  • Independence in self-care — the toilet, the lunchbox, shoes, the hat, the jumper
  • Sitting and attending in a group — for a realistic length of time, not a long one
  • Asking for help — recognising they need it and having the words
  • Playing with other children — joining in, sharing, taking turns, recovering from a disagreement
  • Early academic foundations — recognising their name, holding a pencil, early sounds and numbers

Signs your child might need a hand

  • Big distress at drop-off that is not settling with time
  • Difficulty following instructions given to a group
  • Needing a lot of adult help with the toilet, lunch or dressing
  • Struggling to sit for even a short group activity
  • Playing alone, or finding other children hard to join
  • Strong reactions to a change in routine
  • Educators raising concerns about readiness
  • A child who was managing and has started refusing to go

How our early childhood teachers help

They work on the real skills in the real places. A lot of this happens at your child’s kindy or day care, or at home, because that is where the routine lives. They build the specific skills your child is missing, in small steps, through play rather than drills.

They also do the joining-up work that often falls through the cracks: visiting the new school, practising the route and the uniform, building a visual routine for the morning, and making sure the receiving teacher knows what works for your child before day one rather than discovering it in week four. With your permission they attend transition meetings and help with the paperwork.

Where your child also needs speech pathology or occupational therapy, our teachers work alongside them, following the key worker approach so your family has one main point of contact rather than three separate plans.

Working together with you and educators

The biggest gains come from the adults around a child using the same approach. So the work is as much with you and with the educators as it is with your child — a shared visual schedule, the same words for the same routine, the same expectations at home and at kindy.

Our teachers will show you what they are doing and why, so you can carry it on between visits. None of it should require special equipment or an hour of your evening.

What getting started looks like

There is no test here. We spend the first few visits getting to know your child and building a picture of what the transition will actually ask of them.

  1. A conversation with you. What you are noticing, what you are worried about, and what you want the first year to look like.
  2. Getting to know your child through play. No pressure and no testing — watching what they do when they are comfortable.
  3. Observation in their current setting. With your permission, seeing how your child manages at day care or kindy now.
  4. Mapping the demands of the new setting. What the kindy or school in question actually expects, which varies more than people assume.
  5. Identifying the gaps. Comparing the two, so we work on what matters rather than a generic readiness checklist.
  6. Goals agreed with you. Two or three practical goals, with a clear sense of what progress will look like.
  7. Connecting with the new setting. Visits, a transition meeting and a handover, so your child starts with the adults already informed.

We will share what we noticed, agree the goals with you, and set out who is doing what — including what the kindy or school will be asked to do.

Where we see children

  • In our Springfield clinic
  • At home
  • At daycare, kindy or school
  • In the community

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Frequently asked questions

Are your early childhood teachers therapists?

No — they are qualified educators, and that is deliberate. They bring classroom and kindergarten expertise, which is exactly what transition work needs. Where therapy is also required, our speech pathologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists provide that, and the team works together around your child.

Should we delay starting school for a year?

It depends on the child, and it is genuinely a decision rather than an obvious answer. We can help you weigh it up — what the specific school expects, where your child actually sits, and what another year would be used for — but the decision is yours and the school’s, and we will give you our honest read rather than a recommendation dressed up as a certainty.

When should we start this work?

Earlier than most families do. The year before the transition gives time to build skills gradually and to do the visits and handover properly. That said, it is also worth doing after a difficult start — a lot of what we do is helping a child who has already begun and is finding it hard.

Ready to help your child start strong?

We’ll partner with you to create a plan that works for your family — with access, empathy and hope.

Request an appointment ECI teaching

Or call 0480 841 300 · hello@accesstotherapy.com.au