Individual Therapist Profile: Julia Eggles OTR

Family background:            

  • Married with 1 child – a boy (born 2003)

Special Achievements:

  • Honours in Occupational Therapy
  • Convenor of 2 paediatric conferences
  • Co-ordinator and developer of the Developmental Assessment Clinic, Toowoomba Health Services
  • Author of Play15
  • Mother of Benjamin!

Graduated

  • Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, University of Qld, 1982; Honours, 1983

Work as an Occupational Therapist:

  • Redcliffe Community Health
  • Intellectual Disability Services, QLD – state wide consultant for children with severe disability
  • Monash Medical Centre, Victoria
  • Independent Living Centre, Melbourne
  • Private Practice (Achievement Unlimited) – Toowoomba
  • Senior Occupational Therapist, Community Paediatrics, Toowoomba Health Services
  • Children’s Seashore House of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, New Jersey USA
  • Senior Occupational Therapist, Voorhees Pediatric Rehabiliation Hospital, New Jersey
  • Virtua Memorial Early Intervention Program, Burlington County, New Jersey
  • Kellie Clayton Occupational Therapy, (Private Practice), Stafford, Qld
  • Children’s Developmental Services, Inala Community Health Centre
  • Therapy & Support Services for Children, Goodna & Ipswich

Experience with children’s issues:

  • Just about everything really – developmental delay, orthopaedic conditions, degenerative conditions, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, autism, feeding problems/failure to thrive, post-traumatic head injuries, specific learning difficulties (reading, writing), ADD & ADHD, vision and hearing impairments, chromosomal abnormalities, Fragile X, various congenital disorders

Ages that have worked with:    

  • Birth to adult, but typically to 11 years of age

 Settings that worked in:

  • Homes
  • Schools
  • Community facilities
  • Clinics
  • Hospitals

Courses completed:

  • Neurolinguistic programming (NLP), Timeline Therapy and Introductory Hypnotherapy Training, Advanced Neurodynamics, Sydney, September 9 -15th 1995
  • Sensory Integration & NDT, Princeton, June1997
  • Professional Development Programs Symposium: Combining Sensory Integration & Behavior Modification; & The S.T.E.P.S.I Model, Massachusetts, August 1998
  • NLP Master Practitioner training, NLP Center of New York, 1998-99
  • John Barnes’ Pediatric Myofascial Release, Atlantic City New Jersey, Sept 2000
  • Certification in personal control techniques, Voorhees New Jersey Dec 2000
  • Dealing Effectively with Unacceptable Employee Behavior, SkillPath Seminars, March 13, 2001
  • Care of a Preemie: Medical Aspects of Prematurity & Promoting Development in Preterm Infants, Southern New Jersey Early Regional Early Intervention collaborative Regional Training Day, June 8, 2001
  • Mentoring Workshop, Virtua University, Voorhees New Jersey, November 2001
  • SI for EI – Increasing the Efficacy of your treatment, Therapeeds, February 18th 2002
  • Working with Infants & Young Children Affected by Parental Mental Health Problems, Youth Consultation Service, Institute for Training in Infant and Preschool Mental Health, July 17, 2002
  • The Listening Program, Advanced Brain Technologies, August 22 – 23, 2002
  • Preverbal Experience, January 22, 2003
  • Mental Health Issues in Children, March 19, 2003
  • Pediatric Early Intervention Treatment, Hampton Cares, August 21 – 22, 2003
  • Touchpoints, Youth Consultation Service, Institute for Training in Infant and Preschool Mental Health, September 6, 2005
  • Sensory Integration & Beyond: Power Tools for Treating Children, Professional Development Programs, December 2-3 2005
  • Rhythmic Entrainment Intervention, Authorized Provider training, January 2006
  • Therapeutic Listening, Vital Links, January 2006
  • Understanding Visual Perceptual Skills in Children, with Dr Chris Chapparo, 20th-22nd May 2008
  • DIR Floortime Basic Course Online, April - May 2009

Other Training:

  • Basic Life Support, renewed October 2009

Other Work History:

 In addition to clinical positions I have also had the following work experiences related to Occupational Therapy:

·         1995 – Current Facilitator & author of Play15 (previously “Powerplay”) – Expert partners & trainers’ workshops for parents, physical therapists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, early childhood educators, nurses and child care workers – have provided several presentations during this period around Australia and the USA.
 
·         Organizer, co-ordinator and presenter of several workshops and conferences in Queensland and New Jersey:
-       March 2003: Co - Facilitator Sensory Integration for Early Intervention, Southern New Jersey Regional Early Intervention Collaborative, Regional Training Day.
-       June 2001: Presenter, Striking Accord – Strategies to Enrich Therapeutic Rapport, Southern New Jersey Regional Early Intervention Collaborative Regional Training Day.
-       Oct, 1992: Convenor Kids In The Country: Rural Allied Health Practitioners Conference, Toowoomba. This was the first conference of specifically addressing the needs of general pediatric therapists in rural Queensland.
-       1988, Convener Statewide Severe Paediatric Disability Conference, Brisbane, Special Education Curriculum Resource Centre & Intellectual Handicap Services
                    
·         1985 – 2003 Chairperson and member of district, county and statewide committees in Queensland and New Jersey regarding delivery of paediatric occupational therapy services and continuing education, advising and serving government bodies and professional associations in both countries.
 
·         1994 – 1995: Coordinator, KIDS AT WORK Toowoomba Play Promotion Project. This project comprised several parts – The Kids In The Country conference, Calendar project and Powerplay.
 
·         1992-1994: Coordinator, Developmental Assessment Clinic Project, Toowoomba Health Services. Working with a multiagency, multidisciplinary team including health and education, guidance officers, allied health, medical and nursing staff, I developed this Clinic over a two year project. It resulted in the integration of child health, education department and medical services for children with developmental and learning difficulties.  
 
·         Educational roles:
            1991 – 1992: Teacher at Toowoomba TAFE, Residential Care Worker Program & Associate Diploma in Child Care
            1989: Demonstrator, Lincoln School of Occupational Therapy, La Trobe University, Melbourne  
            1987 – 1988: Assistant Program Director, Intellectual Disability Services, Brisbane, QLD – Therapy consultancy, resource & education co-ordination.

Areas of special Interest:

  • Specific learning difficulty – reading writing, study skills, attention problems, sensory related behavioural problems
  • Sensory integration – setting up sensory diets
  • Play
  • Early childhood – developmental delay

ALL KIDS MATTERS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS ARE ENROLLED IN A FORMAL MENTORING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS UNDER KIDS MATTERS OT, WITH OTHER KIDS MATTERS STAFF.