How We Work
Watch the following videos and hear from some of our team.
Fees & Charges
Noah's Ark is guided by the relevant NDIS price guide. Listen to Brittany explain more about our fees and charges.
Video Transcript
Hi, my name's Brittany and I'm an Occupational Therapist and Team Leader of the Inner East and South team at Noah's Ark. An important part of our intake process is helping families understand our fees and charges; at Noah's Ark we're guided by the relevant NDIS price guide.
And this at the moment this is $193.99 per hour for our individual therapy support.
We bill for both our direct contact services. So this includes things like home visits, visits to the educational settings or within the community, and also telehealth visits. But we also bill for our non contact services.
An easy way of thinking about this really is anything that we're doing outside a direct therapy session that helps support a child's goals and, and helps them to achieve outcomes.
So this might be client support that we're doing through the form of phone calls or emails to a classroom teacher resource development.
And it also might include report writing of assessments or NDIS reviews.
We really value transparency and what we are charging a family, and we'll always work with you to develop a list of agreed activities when we're thinking about non contact services that we might be providing.
Travel Costs
We work with you and your family in the places where you spend most of your time. Listen to Jo explain more about travel costs.
Video Transcript
Hi, my name is Jo. I'm a Speech Pathologist and team leader at Noah's Ark, Springvale and Frankston.
We work with you and your family in the places where you spend most of your time at home, at kinder, at school and in the community, we know that children learn best in places where they feel most comfortable. So that's why we come to you to work with you on your child's goals.
The travel for the first visit of the day is calculated from the office. The travel for the second visit of the day is calculated from the visit beforehand and so on. The final visit of the day also incurs the travel back to the office at the end.
In addition to the travel beforehand, travel is charged to your child and NDIS plan just like any visit.
We look to schedule visits close together where we can to minimise the travel costs for all families.
Cancellation Policy
We have a 72 hour cancellation policy. Listen to Jessica explain more about how cancellations work at Noah's Ark.
Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Jessica, Team Leader of the Wyndham team and Speech Pathologist at Noah's Ark.
We have a 72 hour cancellation policy. This means that if you cancel your session with more than 72 hours notice, you will not be billed for the session.
We understand that sometimes unexpected circumstances mean that you may need to cancel within the 72 hours before your visit. Meaning you will be billed for the session time when this occurs.
Your Noah's Ark Professional will work with you to determine if we can find an alternative way of providing service to you in place of your visit.
This could be telehealth or a change in location when this is not possible.
Your Noah's Ark Professional may use this time following discussion with you to complete administrative tasks such as resources or reports.
If this is related to your therapy goals, we ask that you contact your Noah's Ark Professional as soon as you are aware that you will need to cancel, including if your child or someone in the house is unwell at the time of a scheduled appointment.
Your Privacy
We make a commitment to respect and protect your legal right to privacy and confidentiality. Listen to Jo explain more about our privacy policies.
Video Transcript
Hi, my name's Jo. I'm a physiotherapist and Team Leader at Noah's Ark.
During our work together, it's likely that you will share with us personal health and sensitive information about your child and family.
Sharing this information with us helps to ensure that the service you receive is tailored to your individual needs and goals at Noah's Ark.
We make a commitment to respect and protect your legal right to privacy and confidentiality. We will collect, store and use your personal and confidential information responsibly.
There may be times when it's helpful for us to speak to other people such as your paediatrician or a school teacher regarding your child, their development or their NDIS plan, we will ask you first for your explicit and written consent prior to these discussions.
The only exception to this is if we have concerns that your child or family is at significant risk of harm, and then we must report concerns to the relevant services wherever possible. And if it's safe for us to do so, we will talk to you about this.
You can speak to your Noah's Ark Professional at any time if you have questions about working with Noah's Ark and privacy and confidentiality.
What is the Key Worker Approach?
Noah’s Ark’s professionals are known as Key Workers or Main Therapists. They each have specific professional backgrounds and are highly skilled in all developmental areas. Key Workers support each other within Noah’s Ark to share their expertise.
Key Workers arm parents, carers and other important adults in your child’s life with skills and knowledge so your child can learn and develop with familiar people, at home and in the community.
What is the Everyday Routines Approach?
We provide services for children aged 0-13 through Everyday Therapy and Learning.
Our Therapy and Education specialists, work with you, and your child to achieve your goals. We deliver our services where you need them :
- In your home
- At childcare
- At school
- In the community
- Online (we call these virtual visits).
We tailor our services based on the goals you and your child are working towards, that means we provide services that can focus on one goal (we call these bursts of therapy) or many goals over a longer period of time.
You receive the information, resources and support you need to help your child learn, develop and reach their goals.
Our Service To You:
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Initial Meet and Greet
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We start with an initial 30-minute Google video meeting dedicated to getting to know you, talking through our services and ensuring all the necessary paperwork has been completed.
This meeting is not charged and does not require your child to attend.
To prepare, it is helpful to have a copy of your NDIS plan and goals, and to think about what you want to achieve, and how this fits in with your family routine and availability.
You will then be allocated a Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Teacher, Physiotherapist or Psychologist—depending on your child’s needs and availability.
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Meet your Key Worker (Main Therapist)
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In the first meeting your main therapist will complete a Routines Based Interview.
This is a detailed conversation about your family and child’s day—the areas that are challenging for you, what is going well, and where you would like some help.At the end of this conversation, we will set the goals for you and your child for the next 6 months.
This process usually takes 2.5 hours. A 2-hour meeting with you plus another 30 minutes of non-contact time writing up the details.
We follow best practice Routines Based Interview to truly understand your child’s needs throughout the different times of the day, environments, family and social interactions.
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Regular Visits
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Each visit, your therapist will:
- Start by checking in on what happened since the last visit and confirm the goal you want to work on for the day—family priorities can change and we want to focus on what is most important to you.
- Provide therapy and support.
- Ask you to practice with your child. Discuss your routine and opportunities you might have to practice with your child throughout your everyday routine.
- Provide you with information and / or referrals.
- Check in at the end of the session for feedback and make sure everyone is clear on the strategies to try between visits.
Our strategies are meant to be part of everyday routine so there are many opportunities for you and your child to practice without it becoming an additional task.
Sometimes it will look like play and may be difficult to understand how it connects to the goal you want to achieve. If this happens, ask the therapist or educator to explain their recommendations and how it links to your goal.
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Out and About Visits
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The goals you have identified might mean spending time with you and your child in your chosen environment eg. food shopping, school, pre-school or day care.
They will work within the child’s natural setting—they don’t withdraw your child from the classroom.
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Payment
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At Noah’s Ark we charge the NDIS rate for:
- Individual visits including home, community, Early childhood and school
- Resources, reports, telephone calls, review of video footage etc (this will be discussed with you and an estimated allowance provided for in your service agreement)
- Travel
- Consultations with additional therapists on the team
Read more about Fees, Funding & NDIS
Frequently Asked Questions
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Key Workers/Main Therapists have expertise in child development, learning and wellbeing. They have university training in a range of different professions including special education, speech pathology, occupational therapy, psychology, social work and physiotherapy. All of our teachers and therapists are fully qualified and registered with professional bodies.
Key Workers have specific training in a range of evidence based programs such as:
- Hanen® More than WordsTM
- It Takes Two to TalkTM
- TalkabilityTM
- Learning Language and Loving itTM
- SPARK Communication
- Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) Tuning in to Kids
- PALS social skills program and
- Early Goals
They are also trained to conduct a range of standardised assessments.
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Your Key Worker/Main Therapist will have a good understanding of a range of strategies and supports but sometimes additional specialist support and knowledge is necessary. This can include access to another therapist or educator within the team.
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All Noah’s Ark professionals have the necessary skills to conduct assessments. We usually check in with you so we understand the purpose of the assessment and how it will assist in supporting your family so we can make sure we use the most suitable assessment tool and complete it in the best environment.
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Equipment or devices that can help someone do things they can’t do because of a disability, or may help them do things more easily or safely.
Qualified Noah’s Ark professionals can guide or prescribe assistive technology (AT) and equipment. Read more in our resource on AT.
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Yes! We run a variety of activities over the school holidays. Check our Group Therapy Programs page for more information and to register.