Sarah De Jager

Sarah is an energetic and engaging therapist. Sarah has a natural gift with connecting and building trust with kids throughout therapy.  She also values building that trust with parents by being supportive and providing a listening ear. Sarah has been practising as an OT in paediatrics since October 2019, and prior to this, was an OT in a Brisbane Hospital for almost a year. In 2022, Sarah became a Mum to an enthusiastic, energetic little boy- who keeps her on her toes. As a parent, she understands that home and life can be complex, messy and exhausting- she works hard to collaborate with the family as a whole to problem solve and find the best fit of strategies that will realistically work and help for their unique situation and dynamics.

Sarah has always had a passion for working with kids, so has always felt drawn to paediatric therapy. Growing up with parents both working in the education department, she has always felt confident and drawn to collaborating with schools and other allied health professionals to ensure best possible practice.

Sarah has experience working children with a change of challenges including, play skills, fine & gross motor skills, executive function challenges, handwriting, self-care skills, emotional regulation, sensory processing and social skills. Sarah is passionate about working collaboratively with all of the child’s support networks; parents, extended family (as appropriate), other allied health clinicians, school/kindy etc. Previous work and volunteering as a Youth Coordinator & Leader at Kids Camps and Youth Groups, has helped develop her understanding and manage behavioural and learning challenges in a group context.

Sarah has experience working with the following conditions:

• Autism
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Motor Coordination difficulties
• Learning Challenges
• Global Developmental Delay
• Sensory Processing Challenges
• Anxiety
• Eating and sleeping challenges as part of a developmental profile.

• Learn to Play- Karen Stagnitti- Part 1 (2021) and Part 2 (2024).
• Helping Kids Who worry about Mistakes, Online Short Course, by Dr Suzanne Barrett and Dr Diona Zandt (2022)
• Coach Approach in Teams and Clients Online Workshop, by Cathy Love (2021)
• Handwriting & CO-OP: Putting Evidence into Practice Webinar, by Dr Elspeth Froude (PhD) (2021)
• Extensive clinical training (ASD, Use of Visuals, Executive Function, Sensory Processing), supervision and work shadowing at Kids Matters (2016-2017 and 2019-2020)
• The Traffic Jam in my Brain, by Genevieve Jereb (OTR) (2019)
• Sue Larkey and Dr Tony Attwood – Austism Spectrum Disorder Conference (2018)

Sarah strongly values collaboration, playfulness and strengths based approach. Her sessions are child led and often have a combination of imaginative play, sensory-motor activities in the sensory gym to provide a fun and motivating environment for the children to develop their skills and work toward their goals. Sarah also does structured, skill-building based activities such as fine motor, handwriting, executive function practice and games, as well as explicit teaching and education on social confidence, neurodivergence awareness and regulation skills.

Sarah was born in Brisbane, and is the eldest in her family. Growing up with a lot of teachers in her family, she spent a lot of time visiting their classrooms and helping with craft, camp preparations and various classroom set up activities. Sarah has fortunately been able to travel a few times overseas with her family, including New Zealand, Europe, Canada and America and looks forward to travelling with her own family as well one day to create special memories.

Sarah is a Wife of a High school teacher, Mum of a young boy, and Aunty of two nieces. Sarah loves spending time with her family on weekends, doing home projects, going to the park for a walk or bike ride and going to church.

Sarah by far enjoys quality family play time, especially playing in the backyard, having family dance parties and playing cars with her son. Sarah enjoys playing touch football and does social tap dancing classes as a hobby and to stay active. She also loves to go to the beach, watch marvel movies/tv series and go to the Gabba or Brighton Home Arena to watch the Brisbane Lions play!

Sometimes, despite our best efforts you or the therapist may find that you are not a good fit. If your therapist feels that he or she is not best suited to you, he/ she will discuss this with you and recommend a more appropriate therapist.

If you feel that your therapist is not a good fit within the first three sessions, simply discuss this with our admin team who will find a more suitable therapist.