Finding the right therapist is one of the most important decisions a family makes, and one of the most overwhelming. There are many providers, many approaches, and a great deal of confusing terminology. You want to make the right choice, but it is not always clear what the right questions even are.

We think this process should be more transparent. So rather than simply telling you why TDT is a good choice, we want to give you the tools to evaluate any provider, including us. These are the five questions we believe every family should ask when considering therapeutic support, along with an honest account of how TDT answers each one.

At the end, we will introduce the TDT team properly, because knowing who you are working with, what they bring, and how they operate together is as important as knowing what services are offered.

Not sure if TDT is the right fit? Our free 30-minute phone consultation is specifically designed for this. We will listen carefully, answer your questions honestly, and tell you whether our approach matches what your child or family needs. No obligation, no pressure. Book your complimentary call — available Mondays 3:30–4:30pm.

The 5 Questions Every Family Should Ask

  Question 1: What extra qualifications and specialisations does this therapist have?

In any regulated health profession, the baseline qualification gets a therapist through the door. What distinguishes genuinely effective practitioners is what they have built on top of that baseline, the specialised training, the ongoing professional development, the clinical frameworks they draw on, and the lived experience they bring to their work.

It is reasonable to ask any provider: What specifically do you know about my child’s presentation? What training have you done in this area beyond your core degree? How do you stay current in a field that is evolving quickly?

At TDT:

Emily Healy, TDT’s director, holds a Master’s degree in Special Education, a qualification that reflects deep academic grounding in neurodevelopmental learning profiles, inclusive practice, and evidence-based intervention. She has been featured in Defence Family Matters for her work supporting families in complex circumstances, and her clinical practice spans neuroplasticity-based programs, reflex integration therapy, mentoring, and — currently in progress — a counselling certificate.

Emily’s approach is grounded in the Taylor & Trott Pyramid of Learning and the understanding that lasting change happens when we address the neurological foundations of learning and behaviour, not just the surface presentations. Her programs are built individually for each client based on comprehensive assessment, not taken from a standard protocol shelf.

Fiona Bottorff is TDT’s speech-language pathologist, trained in DIR Floortime and play-based approaches to communication development. Fiona brings specialist knowledge of the intersection between sensory processing, primitive reflex integration, and speech development, an area that is rarely addressed in standard speech pathology practice. Her sessions are relationship-based and child-led, creating the safety and connection that communication development genuinely depends on.

Together, Emily and Fiona offer joint sessions for clients where nervous system foundations and communication development are both relevant, a genuinely integrated approach that is one of TDT’s most distinctive clinical offerings.

💡  Ask any provider: What does your continuing professional development look like? The best therapists are curious learners who actively update their practice. A therapist who completed their training a decade ago and has not significantly expanded their knowledge since is a different proposition from one who is continually growing.

  Question 2: What intensity and frequency of service is right for my child?

There is no single correct answer to how often therapy should occur, it depends entirely on the individual, their goals, their nervous system’s current capacity, the family’s availability, and the type of therapeutic approach being used. What matters is that the provider can explain their reasoning and adapt it as the client progresses.

Be cautious of any provider who offers the same frequency and intensity to every client regardless of presentation. And be equally cautious of providers whose frequency recommendations appear to be driven primarily by funding availability rather than clinical need.

At TDT:

At TDT we build individualised programs for each client. Some children benefit from short, intensive bursts of intervention; others need sustained, steady support over a longer period. Some families need weekly sessions; others are better served by fortnightly sessions with a structured home program in between.

Critically, our neuroplasticity-based programs rely on short, daily practice at home between sessions, because this is how neural change actually happens. The brain lays down new pathways through consistent repetition, not through occasional intensive input. This means therapy with TDT is not just what happens in a session. It is what the family does in the fifteen minutes before school each day, built into the existing routine in a way that is genuinely sustainable.

We are transparent about this from the beginning. Families who cannot commit to the home program component are better served by a different model, and we will tell them that honestly rather than taking their funding and hoping for results.

💡  Ask any provider: What will I be expected to do at home, and why? If the answer is ‘nothing — just come to sessions,’ that may be a sign that the approach does not rely on the daily repetition that genuine neural change requires.

  Question 3: What is your exit strategy, and how do you know when therapy is working?

Therapy should have an endpoint. Not necessarily a fixed date, developmental work is rarely that linear, but a clear sense of what progress looks like, how it will be measured, and what it means for the child to have genuinely developed the skills they came for. A good therapist is working toward their own redundancy.

This is one of the most revealing questions you can ask. A provider who struggles to articulate what success looks like, or who cannot describe what the pathway out of therapy looks like, may not be tracking progress rigorously enough to know.

At TDT:

TDT programs are built around clear, measurable goals established from the outset. We assess comprehensively before designing a program, which means we know what we are targeting and can track whether we are reaching it. Progress is monitored throughout and documented, families receive regular summaries that show specifically what has changed and how it connects to the goals we set together.

Our exit strategy is genuine independence. We build skills that are designed to be owned by the client, internalised, generalised to everyday life, and sustainable without ongoing therapy input. When clients reach their goals, we celebrate that and close the program. If goals shift as development progresses, we review and adjust the plan collaboratively.

We are also happy to do warm handovers to other providers where needed, to schools, to other therapists, to support coordinators, because the goal is the client’s long-term flourishing, not their long-term dependence on TDT.

You can read more about what this progress typically looks like for families in our post on positive changes as therapy progresses.

💡  Ask any provider: Can you show me examples of what progress documentation looks like? A provider who tracks progress rigorously will be able to show you. A provider who cannot may be measuring outcomes less carefully than they should be.

  Question 4: What is your approach to treatment, and how do you work with other people in my child’s life?

Therapy does not happen in isolation. A child who makes progress in a clinic or consulting room and then returns to an environment where no one understands what was worked on, or where the strategies are applied inconsistently, will not generalise those gains as quickly or as fully as a child whose whole team is aligned.

The question to ask is not just “what do you do in sessions?” but “how do you work with the rest of the people in my child’s world?”

At TDT:

Collaboration is fundamental to how TDT operates, not an optional add-on. Emily and Fiona work closely with families, schools, support coordinators, and other therapists to ensure that the strategies built in sessions are understood and applied consistently in the environments where the child spends most of their time.

Caregivers are included in TDT sessions wherever possible and appropriate, not as observers, but as active participants. When parents and caregivers understand the rationale behind the approach and can implement it confidently at home, the pace of progress accelerates significantly. We invest time in that education because it directly improves outcomes.

For children with school-based challenges, we are willing to participate in school meetings, contribute to learning support plans, and communicate directly with teachers and learning support coordinators. Advocacy for our clients in educational settings is something we take seriously, you can read more about the practical steps available to families in our post on supporting children with executive function difficulties at school.

Our mentored support workers are briefed on each client’s therapeutic goals and actively reinforce strategies in the home and community, meaning the work of therapy extends well beyond the session itself. And our consistent support model ensures that the people surrounding your child know your child deeply, not just their file.

💡  Ask any provider: Will you communicate with my child’s school or other therapists? Do you include parents in sessions? What does your coordination with other providers look like in practice? The answers will tell you whether the provider sees the child in their full context or primarily within the consulting room.

  Question 5: Will you help train the people who support my child day to day?

The adults who have the most contact with a child, parents, teachers, support workers, are also the most powerful agents of that child’s development. A therapist who works with a child for one hour a week and leaves everything else to chance is working with far less leverage than one who actively builds the capacity of the people around the child to support the same goals.

Ask any provider how they invest in the adults around the child, not just the child themselves.

At TDT:

Yes, this is one of TDT’s core commitments. Parents and caregivers are coached in the strategies used in sessions so that the therapeutic approach continues consistently in everyday life. For our support workers, Emily provides direct mentoring and supervision that aligns their work precisely with each client’s therapeutic goals.

This investment in the people around the child reflects something we believe deeply: that the most powerful therapeutic environment is not a clinic room. It is a Tuesday morning before school, or a Saturday afternoon at the park, or bath time, or dinner, the ordinary moments of a child’s life, handled by people who understand what the child needs and why.

For clients whose support workers are part of their team, our mentored model means workers understand the why behind each strategy, not just the what. A worker who understands that a child needs heavy work before transitions because their nervous system needs proprioceptive input to regulate will implement that very differently from a worker who has been told “do bear walks before leaving the house” without any context.

Read more about what this looks like in practice in our post on what mentored support actually means at TDT.

💡  Ask any provider: What training do you offer parents and caregivers? How do you ensure that support workers understand the therapeutic approach and implement it consistently? The depth of the answer will tell you a great deal about how seriously the provider takes generalisation of skills into real life.

Meet the TDT Team

Knowing who you are working with matters. Here is a proper introduction to the people behind Tailored Developmental Therapies.

  Emily Healy:  Director | Neuroplasticity, Reflex Integration, Mentoring, Counselling (in progress)

Emily founded TDT on the belief that every child and adult deserves support that addresses root causes rather than surface symptoms — and that lasting change is always possible when the right foundations are built. With a Master’s degree in Special Education and deep clinical experience in neuroplasticity-based programs and reflex integration therapy, Emily brings both rigorous academic grounding and genuine warmth to every client relationship. She has been recognised in Defence Family Matters for her commitment to supporting families navigating complex circumstances. Emily is currently completing her counselling certificate, adding another dimension to TDT’s capacity to support the whole person and the whole family.

Emily’s clinical work is grounded in the Taylor & Trott Pyramid of Learning, the understanding that foundational nervous system organisation underpins everything else. Her programs address retained primitive reflexes, autonomic nervous system regulation, visual processing, interoception, and the neurological roots of learning and behaviour — building from the bottom up so that changes at the foundational level cascade upward into the areas families actually see and care about.

  Fiona Bottorff:  Speech-Language Pathologist | Speech Therapy, DIR Floortime, Play-Based Communication

Fiona brings specialist expertise in the intersection between sensory processing, primitive reflex integration, and communication development, an area that is rarely addressed in standard speech pathology practice. Her sessions are grounded in DIR Floortime and play-based principles, meaning therapy follows the child’s lead, builds on their genuine interests, and prioritises the relational safety that communication development depends on. Fiona has a particular passion for early communication development and for supporting families who have found that standard speech therapy has not produced the results they were hoping for.

Fiona and Emily regularly offer joint sessions for clients where both nervous system foundations and communication development are relevant. Read more about the approach underpinning Fiona’s work in our posts on speech and communication development and the role of reflex integration and why children need foundation skills before words.

What Makes TDT Different

Many therapy practices are good. We think TDT offers something genuinely distinctive, and we want to be specific about what that is, rather than using language that every practice uses.

A Bottom-Up Approach

Most therapy focuses on the presenting problem: the behaviour, the speech, the reading difficulty, the emotional outburst. TDT’s programs address the neurological foundations that are driving those presentations. When we get the foundations right, the surface presentations frequently resolve or reduce, not because we targeted them directly, but because the system that was producing them is now better organised. This is the distinction between fixing the symptoms and fixing the cause.

This approach is explained in depth in our post on the Taylor & Trott Pyramid of Learning.

A Genuinely Integrated Clinical Team

Emily and Fiona do not work in parallel silos with the same clients. They work together, sharing clinical reasoning, conducting joint sessions, and building programs that address nervous system foundations and communication development simultaneously. This integration produces outcomes that neither approach can achieve as effectively alone.

A Mentored Support Model

TDT’s support workers operate within a structured, supervised, outcomes-focused system, not as independent contractors who figure things out alone. Every worker has a clear case plan, regular supervision from Emily, and ongoing professional development. The result is support that is intentional, consistent, and measurably effective. Read more in our posts on what mentored support actually means and why consistency is foundational to progress.

Flexible Access

TDT sessions are available at our Mawson Lakes clinic, via Zoom, or in the client’s home or school. We travel to clients where appropriate. This matters because the best therapy in the world is only useful if families can actually access it, and for many families navigating complex needs, getting to a clinic consistently is not straightforward.

NDIS Support

TDT works with NDIS participants across plan-managed and self-managed plans. We are transparent about what our services cost, how they can be funded, and what realistic outcomes look like for different levels of funding. We do not overpromise on what NDIS-funded therapy can achieve, and we do not underpromise on what is genuinely possible with the right approach.

Values That Are Not Just Words

TDT’s values, growth, fun, self-respect, service, success, compassion, authenticity, community, knowledge, kindness, safety, and trustworthiness, are not a marketing list. They are the criteria against which every clinical decision is made and every client relationship is built. When a family’s goals and values are genuinely aligned with ours, that alignment produces the best therapeutic outcomes. When they are not, we say so rather than taking a referral that is not a good fit.

What to Expect From Your Complimentary Phone Consultation

Every family’s journey with TDT begins with a free 30-minute phone consultation. This is not a sales call. It is a genuine clinical conversation designed to help both sides work out whether TDT is the right fit.

In your consultation, you can expect:

• To be listened to carefully, we want to understand your child’s or your own specific situation, not fit you into a generic category
• Honest answers to your questions, including honest acknowledgement of anything TDT cannot offer
• An explanation of how our programs work and what the realistic pathway looks like for your situation
• Information about NDIS funding options where relevant
• No pressure, if TDT is not the right fit, we will tell you, and where we can we will point you toward someone who is

Complimentary consultations are available on Mondays between 3:30 and 4:30pm. You can book directly via our website.

We genuinely believe in the importance of the right fit between a family and their therapeutic team. A technically excellent therapist who is not the right fit for a particular family will not produce the outcomes a slightly less credentialled therapist who is the right fit will produce. The consultation is as much about you deciding about us as it is about us understanding your needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a referral or a diagnosis to access TDT?

No referral or diagnosis is required. Families can contact TDT directly and begin with the complimentary phone consultation. Our assessment process looks at what is actually happening in the nervous system and the developmental picture, not at diagnostic categories or paperwork.

Do you work with adults as well as children?

Yes. TDT works with individuals of all ages, from toddlers to adults. Retained primitive reflexes, visual processing difficulties, executive function challenges, and other neurodevelopmental profiles do not resolve automatically at adulthood and can be supported effectively at any age.

How long do programs typically run?

Program length varies significantly depending on the individual, their presentation, and their goals. Short-term programs of three to six months are appropriate for some clients. Others benefit from longer engagement as goals evolve and development progresses. We discuss realistic timeframes honestly during the initial consultation and review them regularly throughout the program.

What if I am not sure which service is right for my child?

The phone consultation is exactly the right place to work this out. You do not need to know which specific service you are looking for before you contact us. Describe what you are observing in your child and what concerns you, we will help you understand what is likely to be relevant and how our services can support it.

Can you work alongside our existing therapists?

Yes. TDT actively seeks to work collaboratively with other providers in a client’s team. We are happy to communicate with existing therapists, contribute to shared care plans, and coordinate our approach with other services. We never suggest that families should discontinue other therapy to work with TDT, unless there is a specific clinical reason to do so, which we would explain transparently.

Ready to find out if TDT is the right fit for your family?

Book your free 30-minute phone consultation, no obligation, no pressure.

We will listen carefully and be honest about whether our approach is right for your situation.