DEs and allied health professionals

Where do DEs fit in your allied health team?

It can feel confusing to understand the scopes of different allied health professionals and therapists. Not every therapist (or type of therapy) is the right fit for you or your child, and different professions often work from different theoretical backgrounds or practice models. Developmental educators prioritise collaboration with a person's support team and can often work in Key Worker roles.We haven’t listed every type of therapy here, but just the main ones that share areas of the DE Scope of Practice.

DEs and Occupational Therapy

There can be difficulty understanding the difference between occupational therapists (OTs) and DEs because of the similarities within each disciplines scope of practice, but there are some areas that are distinct between the two.

Occupational therapists have a primary focus on supporting occupational performance and maintaining occupational justice for clients. OTs use a biomedical approach and principles of occupational science to support individuals experiencing occupational performance issues (resulting from injury, medical conditions, aging etc). Occupational therapists identify a person’s occupational performance issues (OPIs) and consider the person, occupation and environmental factors that are impacting effective occupational performance to develop individualised interventions for support.

Areas that OTs support with that DEs do not support with include mobility, gross and fine motor skill development, injury or stroke rehabilitation, equipment prescriptions or maintenance, home modifications or medical device management.

Developmental educators have a primary focus on supporting people with disabilities, improving their quality of life, advocating for their rights and safeguarding against social injustice. DEs use a biopsychosocial approach and social science to support people with disabilities, or parents and carers of children with disabilities. All degrees that allow for professional registration with the DEA (registering body for DEs in Australia) include specialist knowledge for working with people with intellectual, physical and communication disabilities, neurodivergence and human behaviour (including understanding and responding to challenging behaviour). DEs prioritise recognising concerns with the development of foundational skills, transitions between and within life stages and equitable access to all life domains. Support and interventions are individualised and focus on holistic person-centered strategies to target foundational skills impacting quality of life and wellbeing.

Both OTs and DEs support individuals with:

Daily routines and transitions
Cognitive skills and executive functioning (organisation, memory, problem solving, cognitive flexibility)
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) including
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) including
Social inclusion and managing relationships with others
Job readiness skills
Financial skills

Both DEs and OTs can support people with sensory processing differences, but it is important to note that sensory interventions require practitioners to have additional training. Sensory integration is not a component of current bachelor level OT or DE degrees.

DEs and Speech Pathologists

Speech pathologists have a broad scope that includes supporting people with speech and language concerns, fluency, social communication and swallowing and feeding concerns. Speech pathologists can use a range of therapy approaches to target skills around language and literacy interventions and are also the specialists to trial and prescribe AAC devices or augmented methods of communication.

DEs do NOT specialise in the areas covered by speech therapists, but there are areas relating to language and communication that is within the DE Scope of Practice, including:

Supporting and building functional communication skills
Social skill interventions
Understanding social nuances such as body language, facial expressions and tone of voice.
Developing compensatory skills such as social scripts and targeted vocabulary support
Support the generalisation of prescribed AAC to non-clinical environments

DEs and Positive Behaviour Practitioners

Many behaviour practitioners can use different theoretical frameworks and intervention approaches based on their training. Registered behaviour support providers in Australia are the only professionals able to create Interim or Comprehensive Positive Behaviour Support Plans and manage the use of restrictive practices.

The foundational degree for registration as a DE in Australia includes focus on human development and adaptive behaviours, including understanding and responding to challenging behaviour. All DE behavioural intervention training and qualifications focuses on person-centered practice, a human-rights approach, and neuro-affirming strategies. The Scope of Practice for DEs includes areas of supporting individuals and families experiencing behavioural concerns including:

Investigating and establishing patterns of behaviour
Recognising triggers and underlying skill deficits influencing behavioural concerns
Establishing consistent responses to behaviour
Family and school support strategies
Interventions individualised to targeted skills connected to behavioural concerns

DEs and Social Workers

Social workers use a “person-in-environment” approach that focuses on improving both the person’s individual circumstances and the wider societal systems impacting them. Social workers often prioritise case and crisis management, service access, counselling, advocacy, community development and social policies.

Both social workers and DEs can support families holistically, support access to relevant services and provide advocacy for social and environmental barriers.

Choosing the right therapist for your family

Sometimes the goals for yourself or your child may fit within the scope of more than one type of therapist. It is important that the person working with you or your family is someone who makes you feel comfortable, validated in your concerns and safe to ask questions.

Your therapist needs to understand the goals and priorities that you have and support you without judgement. Therapists will often be trained in a range of different modalities or intervention types, and not every therapist is the right fit for every person.