Hello and welcome. My name is Jessica Slatter (she/her), and I am an Occupational Therapist and owner of Diverse Kids. I chose the name Diverse Kids because there is beauty in diversity, and it should be celebrated.

I am passionate about working with young children and families. I graduated from James Cook University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and have spent the majority of my career working with children and families on the Gold Coast, as a Senior Clinician with QLD Health prior to setting up my own private practice.

I established a mobile therapy service as I believe working on goals in natural environments allows children and families to learn and experience success more easily. I understand some families have a preference for a natural setting versus a clinic setting, and Diverse Kids aims to be accessible to all. I have personal experiences of taking my own children to therapies at various times, and have come to greatly appreciate the convenience, personalised, and family-centred care that mobile therapy can provide.

I draw on trauma-informed, neuro-affirming and relationship-based approaches. In a nutshell, this means that I value the strengths of children, the quality of their relationships, and embrace their neurodiversity. I work to support environmental and activity adaptations over changing a child, and I teach caregivers and daycare teachers how to do this. I support families to understand neurodiversity and how to best advocate for their children. I support families to co-regulate and connect with their children in ways that are meaningful to all. 

It is very important to me that all children have opportunities to learn, play, participate, be included and succeed in whatever ways are meaningful to them. I bring with me a gentle, warm and playful nature; and a lived experience of being a parent to neurodiverse children.  

 I value ongoing professional development and have extensive knowledge about attachment, trauma, neurodevelopment, executive functioning, and sensory regulation. Some of the additional trainings I have completed are below: 

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• DIR Floortime level 201 
• Interoception Curriculum  
• Encopresis and Enuresis
• Sleep with Disability
• Sensory Processing   
• Neurosequential Model of Therapy 
• Diadic Developmental Psychotherapy Level 1
• Sensory Attachment Intervention
• Introduction to Play Therapy
• Lifestory Work
• Grief and Loss for Children 
• Dynamic Maturation Model of Attachment
• Solution Focused Therapy