Services Overview
Royal Far West’s team of specialist clinicians works together to deliver our comprehensive range of multi-disciplinary healthcare services.
These services, combined with the educational facilities through the Royal Far West School and accommodation facilities at Drummond House, ensure that we offer our children an integrated model of care and the highest level of individual support.
Ongoing communication with families and rural service providers allows us to build on this to support long-term change and best outcomes for the children.
For children with special needs, we conduct a respite program every January. This week-long program enables the children and their families to have a supported ‘holiday by the sea’.
Clinical Services
Developmental Services
Royal Far West’s integrated clinical and educational model of care is based on the latest research and clinical theory. Services include:
• speech pathology
• developmental paediatrics
• child and adolescent psychiatry
• psychology
• nursing
• occupational therapy
• social work
• dietetics
• physiotherapy
We also offer orthoptic, ophthalmologic and dental services and run an orthodontic program for our children.
Research has confirmed that the early years of a child’s life provide the greatest opportunity for change. However the transitions to school, high school and the adolescent years are also recognised as critical periods of child development.
Every child we see is offered best-practice interventions for their diagnosed disorders in a way that supports childhood resilience and family empowerment.
Oral Health
Royal Far West’s oral health service incorporates both dental and orthodontic services.
Restorative and preventative dental treatments are available to all our patients who do not have access to dental services closer to home. Specialist orthodontic treatment is provided for children with problems including severe malocclusion affecting speech or oropharyngeal development.
As well as treatments, the service focuses on education and communication for all our patients to raise awareness of the importance of good oral health and prevention through oral hygiene and healthy eating habits.
Royal Far West School
Located onsite at Manly, the Royal Far West School provides an educational service for our patients. Close collaboration between our clinical teams and the school ensure every child is able to receive integrated clinical and educational assessments and management planning.
Short-term programs are delivered to four multi-grade classes from Preschool to Year 12 students, one of which is for students with severe disabilities. These small groups provide a safe, secure and happy environment where students can achieve success.
[cannot get into website – this information from the nsw schools website]
Research
Research partnerships with the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University ensure Royal Far West is both contributing to, and kept abreast of, the latest research on child developmental disorders.
[have included projects below but think it would be better to have a link here rather than going in to detail]
[D] The SURF Project (Skills for Understanding Relationships and Feelings)
The SURF Project is a collaborative research program between the University of New South Wales and Royal Far West aimed at improving the effectiveness of prevention, early intervention and treatment of child and adolescent developmental and mental health problems.
The program aims to identify the abilities of children with a variety of developmental and mental health difficulties to ‘read’ emotions in other people and evaluate an innovative treatment to assist in this area. It is well suited to the diverse clientele and services provided through Royal Far West and is designed to produce outcomes that can be directly translated into clinical practice in community settings.
The Oxytocin Project (the impact of Oxytocin on social cognition and behaviour in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders)
This joint project with the University of New South Wales investigates the effects of Oxytocin on the ability to understand social cues and interact appropriately in social situations. Oxytocin is a hormone found naturally in the human body and research indicates that it is associated with social approach behaviours such as increased eye contact, emotion recognition and social memory. Through this project we hope to learn about how Oxytocin operates in children who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
This project is one of the first of its kind. It is open to boys aged 8-16 years who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and who are accessing services through Royal Far West.
Non-word repetition difficulties in specific language impairment and autism
Royal Far West is also involved in a joint study with Macquarie University - part of a five-year project funded by the Australian Research Council, entitled Cognitive and Neural Causes of Language Impairment in Autism. This study aims to help us better understand the speech-processing difficulties of children with specific language impairment and autism.
Accommodation Services
Drummond House provides comfortable on-site accommodation for children and families accessing the services at Royal Far West. This facility means our services are more accessible to the people who need them most enabling families to stay together with easy access to the medical centre and Royal Far West School.
Drummond House also accommodates families participating in the respite program held every January.
Accommodation in Drummond House may also be provided for country children and their families accessing specialist services that are provided by other organisations. [For more information on this service, please contact…]
Respite
Royal Far West recognises the many challenges our country children and their families face during the year. In line with Stanley Drummond’s original vision, the respite program allows families to enjoy some much-needed downtime in a supported beachside environment.
Held every January, the week-long program includes a range of activities that gives families an opportunity to bond as well as allowing for parents to have some precious time-out. Families participating in the program stay in comfortable, staffed accommodation at Drummond House.
