Paediatric rehabilitation equipment list

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This list has suggestions of possible resources and equipment that may be required to provide paediatric rehabilitation.

It is no way exhaustive or inclusive of requirements for every child as each child receiving rehabilitation will have their own individual goals and needs.

The list was collated from suggestions from allied health professionals working at the three NSW Paediatric Rehabilitation Services (Newcastle, Randwick, Westmead) in July 2022.

General resources

  • Art and craft tools, toys, books and other activities for various age groups, including resources for children with low vision and low stimulation and calming toys
  • Computer which is accessible to families to complete online applications, with the support of a health professional
  • Different sized chairs from toddler to adult size
  • Floor or playmats for floor-based activity
  • Height adjustable table and cut out table
  • Tablet device for use during therapy sessions
  • Quiet, private, softly furnished room with comfortable armchairs to conduct meetings with families and psychosocial interventions. It is important for this room to be wheelchair and pram accessible
  • Suitable indoor and outdoor gym or therapy space
  • Wheelie stools for therapists

Treatment space

Gross motor skills

  • Balance beam
  • Balls of various sizes
  • Cones or witches hats
  • Stairs with railing
  • Treadmill
  • Large foam blocks for high kneeling and/or standing
  • Mini trampoline
  • Step up blocks or steps of various sizes
  • Parallel bars
  • Games, such as ring toss, throwing balls at target
  • Height adjustable basketball hoop
  • Height adjustable plinth, double width size and able to go very low, where possible
  • Full length mirror on wheels
  • Small weights, such as dumbbells and ankle weights
  • Elastic resistance bands

Splinting and casting

  • Splinting and casting materials and tools
  • Fabrifoam wraps
  • Variety of off-the-shelf splints, e.g. Dictus foot drop splints, resting ankle foot orthoses (AFOs), Zimmer splints
  • Upper limb splints
  • Theraputty or similar

Toys and games

  • Bimanual toys
  • Blocks, cones, coins, nuts and bolts
  • Board games
  • Musical instruments, such as egg shakers, drums (djembes, lollipop drums, etc), xylophones, rainsticks, ukulele, guitars, keyboard, kalimbas or specdrums
  • Slope board
  • Switch toys
  • Toys or items for pain distraction, such as poppets, vibration toys
  • Various sized writing utensils and scissors

Other items

  • Books specific to rehab populations, e.g. Nicholas Nigel Norris book for children with cerebral palsy.
  • Electrical stimulation machine and electrodes
  • Non-slip matting
  • Range of vocabulary cards (nouns, verbs and adjectives), e.g. ColorCards
  • Subscription to therapy programs or resources, e.g. Twinkl
  • Therapy workbooks, e.g. Workbook of Activities for Language and Cognition (WALC)

Assessment tools

Note: some assessment tools may require clinicians to complete further training and/or credentialing before use.

General

  • Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) forms
  • Goniometers
  • Paediatric Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM)

Fine and gross motor assessments

  • Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA) and miniAHA assessment
  • Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
  • Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd edition (BOT-2)
  • Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)
  • Peabody Developmental Motor Scales

Infant assessments

  • Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS)
  • Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE)

Psychological outcome assessments

  • Child Behaviour Checklist
  • Child Depression Inventory
  • Conners Behaviour Rating Scales
  • Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

Speech and language assessments

  • Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 5th edition (CELF-5)
  • Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP)
  • Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT)
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
  • Preschool Language Scales 5th edition (PLS-5)
  • Receptive and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test
  • Rosetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale
  • Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment (SOMA)
  • Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language (TACL)
  • York Assessment of Reading and Comprehension (YARC)

Patient equipment

Communication

  • Augmentative and alternative communication apps, e.g. Proloquo2Go, Predictable, Grid3, LAMP
  • Augmentative communication system, e.g. Boardmaker 7 (picture communication system)
  • Cause and effect apps
  • Single message devices and sequential message devices, e.g. Bigmack, One Step, Little Step by Step

Eating and drinking

  • High chair
  • Modified cutlery
  • Sippy cups
  • Thickener

Mobility and access

  • Hoist and child sized slings
  • Portable ramp (ranging from 1.3-2m)
  • Slide board
  • Static seating for younger children, e.g Tumbleforms or Tomato chair
  • Threshold ramps
  • Transfer belts including extra-small and child sizes
  • Walking frames in paediatric sizes
  • Wheelchairs
    • high support stroller, e.g. Kimba Stroller, Shuttle Discovery Stroller
    • light drive power assist wheelchair, e.g. Quickie iExpress, Quickie Extender
    • lightweight rigid or fixed frame wheelchair (for active wheelchair user)
    • power assist add on for active wheelchairs, e.g. SmartDrive
    • tilt in space wheelchair, e.g. QUICKIE Iris, Freedom NXT
    • wheelchair accessories: positioning wedges or foam, contour backrest, headrest, lateral supports of different sizes

Showering and toileting

  • Commodes, e.g. K-care commode or K-care tilt in space commode
  • Hoist and sling
  • Over toilet aids
  • Shower aids
    • High support, tilt in space, e.g. Seahorse Plus Hygiene Chair or Rifton Hygiene and Toileting System
    • Supportive bath and/or shower seat, e.g. Otter bath seat, Rifton wave
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