Child & Family Therapy

At Home on a Hill Child and Family Therapy, our Neurodevelopmental Attachment Sensory Practice (NASP) is a collaborative approach offered by Linda Hawcroft, Paediatric Occupational Therapist, and Gavin Hawcroft, Family and Child Practitioner.

Together, we provide a safe, nurturing, and evidence-informed space where children and caregivers can strengthen connection, understanding, and resilience.

NASP is offered as an intensive block of 12 sessions, designed to help families better understand their child’s sensory processing, emotional regulation, and attachment needs — and to develop the caregiver’s confidence in supporting these areas at home and in daily life.

Each therapy block begins with:

• An initial meet and greet with the family to build rapport, introduce the therapy space, and outline what to expect.

• A parent-only session, where we complete a range of developmental, sensory, and relational assessments to build a comprehensive understanding of your child’s needs and family context.

• This may include tools such as the Sensory, Arousal State, Attachment & Physiological (SAAP) Profile, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), or other measures that explore sensory processing, behaviour, and emotional regulation.

• The following session involves a Marshack Interaction Method (MIM) — a video-recorded parent–child play assessment based on Theraplay® principles of structure, nurture, engagement, and challenge. This provides valuable insight into interaction patterns, attachment dynamics, and areas for relational growth.

• A collaborative feedback session, where we share strengths, challenges, and therapy goals before beginning targeted intervention sessions.

Following sessions focus on relationship-based and sensory-informed intervention, drawing on principles from Sensory Integration, Attachment Theory, Theraplay®, DIR/Floortime®, and the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics — always tailored to the unique needs of each child and family.

Our work brings together two complementary perspectives — the sensory and developmental lens of Occupational Therapy and the relational and attachment lens of Dyadic Family Therapy.

We support families to:

• Understand how sensory processing and emotional regulation influence behaviour, attention, and relationships.

• Strengthen co-regulation and connection between caregivers and children.

• Build confidence in using firm yet kind boundaries that promote safety, predictability, and trust.

• Practise strategies in session, not just talk about them, ensuring skills transfer meaningfully into everyday life.

We provide early intervention primarily for children aged 0–5 years (and occasionally up to 9 years), working closely with caregivers to support participation and development across environments — at home, in kinder, and at school. 

We ask families to commit fully to this process, as NASP is most effective when approached as a consistent weekly or fortnightly block.

Each family’s journey concludes with a summary report outlining progress, goals achieved, and recommendations for next steps — whether that’s ongoing Occupational Therapy, Family Counselling, or Allied Health Assistant support.

Aligned with NDIS capacity-building goals, NASP supports each child’s developmental growth, fostering improvements in self- and co-regulation, functional participation, and caregiver confidence — helping families experience meaningful change well beyond the therapy room.

At its heart, NASP is about nurturing connection before correction — helping children and their caregivers discover practical, relationship-centred ways to regulate, relate, and grow together.