The Thrive Spot

20/11/2025

🌈 We’re hiring NEW GRAD OTs & SPEECHIES! 🌈
If you’re looking for your first allied-health role and want support, fun and zero burnout vibes — you’re going to LOVE it here 💛

At The Thrive Spot, we’ve built a workplace where new graduates are genuinely supported to grow, learn and enjoy their job… not just survive it.

Here’s what you can expect:
✨ LOW KPIs with a gentle caseload ramp-up
✨ New Graduate Support Program tailored to YOU
✨ Weekly clinical supervision + extra operational support
✨ Fortnightly team meetings so you’re always connected
✨ Quarterly internal PD days + your own PD budget
✨ A team culture that’s actually FUN (think dinners, dress-ups, birthdays & all-round good vibes!)
✨ Work within a collaborative multidisciplinary team that genuinely supports each other
✨ Based in beautiful Wollongong/Dapto 🏖️

If you’re a new grad looking for a team where you can grow, feel supported, and thrive (pun absolutely intended), we’d love to hear from you! 💌

📩 Apply via our website or email admin@thethrivespot.com.au
🌱 Full-time and part-time options available.

19/11/2025

Speech practice doesn’t need to be boring — and today, Maddy proved it again with Tongues Out 🐶👅

Each puppy pull meant another chance to practise a target sound. Because the child was laughing, choosing puppies, and racing Maddy to find matching pictures, they produced far more repetitions than they would in a traditional worksheet or drill.

More repetitions =
✔ stronger motor speech planning
✔ more accurate productions
✔ faster generalisation into everyday talking

Games like Tongues Out keep kids engaged, motivated, and regulated — the perfect recipe for meaningful speech progress.

At The Thrive Spot, we make speech sound practice playful on purpose. Because progress happens when kids love the process 💛✨

17/11/2025

04/11/2025

✨ Patience is Therapeutic ✨

Today during a session, one of our little legends was so proud of the incredible Magnetile tower he was building. When it was time to transition to the clinic room, he wasn’t quite ready to leave it yet.

So… we paused.
We waited.
We joined him where he was. 💛

Instead of rushing to “get started” on therapy goals, Roisin sat with him, talked with him, and helped build the final pieces together.

And here’s what happened:

🧠 He stayed regulated during the transition
🤝 He felt heard, respected and valued
🏗️ He trusted the process — and us
💬 Our session in the room afterwards was more engaged, more connected and ultimately more successful.

Taking those few extra minutes didn’t mean less therapy — it actually created better therapy outcomes.

Because when a child feels safe and understood… that’s when they’re ready to learn.

🌱 Connection first. Regulation first. Relationship first.
The goals will always follow.

14/10/2025

It’s World Allied Health Day! 💜

We celebrated with a delicious lunch from The Plant Room Café at Horsley (run by The Disability Trust 🌿) — a perfect way to thank our amazing team for all they do to help children and families thrive every day! 💫

01/10/2025

One of the biggest mistakes we see communication partners make?

👉 Navigating through folders for their child or their student.

We get it — it comes from a good place! You want to make it fast and easy to find words.

But here’s the thing: when we do the navigating, we take away a opportunity for kids to build motor planning and independence with their AAC. 💪💬

🌟 Instead, try this:
🟡 Model the navigation slowly so they can see the motor plan.
🟡 Use “think aloud” strategies (e.g. “Hmm… where’s monkey? Oh! Animals!”).
🟡 Highlight where words live with the search function.
🟡 Create a practice folder so they can safely explore and return “home.”

🎯 The goal? Empower your child to find their own words — so they can say whatever they want, whenever they want, with confidence! 💛

22/09/2025

🌟 Real Life Communication in Action 🌟

Today’s therapy looked a little different… it involved peas and a very curious duck! 🦆💚

When we take therapy into the community, we’re not just having fun (though we definitely are!) — we’re also helping children:

✨ Practice functional words and phrases on their AAC device, like “hello,” “more,” “bye,” or “help”
✨ Generalise language skills beyond the clinic, so communication happens in everyday life
✨ Build confidence that their AAC device is their voice everywhere — at the shops, at the park, with friends, or even meeting a duck 🦆

Community visits are a powerful way to show children that their AAC device goes with them wherever they go, and their words matter in every environment. 💛