Tell us about the student

Hello and welcome. Thank you for booking a School Handwriting & DASH Assessment with Seeds Occupational Therapy. This agreement explains the service, how it is delivered, and what both parties are responsible for.

Acceptance. By signing this agreement electronically, you confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to these terms on behalf of the student. A copy of the signed agreement is emailed to you for your records.

Provider: Seeds Occupational Therapy, led by Principal Occupational Therapist Nishadip (Nisha) K. Bal. The assessment is carried out in person by an AHPRA-registered occupational therapist from the Seeds team. Participant: the student being assessed. Because the student is a child or young person, this agreement is signed by a parent or legal guardian with parental responsibility for them.

A one-off occupational therapy handwriting assessment for a school-aged student where handwriting speed, legibility, fatigue, discomfort or written output is affecting school participation or assessment performance. It brings together the student's background and history, observation of the student writing, a standardised assessment of handwriting speed (the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting, DASH, or its current edition) where clinically appropriate, scoring and occupational therapy interpretation, and a written report with practical recommendations for school and home, including recommendations about educational adjustments where the findings support them.

You complete this intake form, which tells us about the student, the school and what you are noticing. The therapist visits the student at home, or at school where the school agrees, for about an hour to an hour and a half. With your consent, the therapist may also ask the student's teacher for their perspective, because a report that carries the classroom view is a stronger one. The report is provided within two weeks of the visit. All reports are reviewed by Nisha Bal, and reports are not outsourced.

Seeds OT agrees to:

• Provide the assessment as described here
• Use validated tools where clinically relevant and administer them under appropriate conditions
• Keep the student's information safe and confidential
• Provide the report within two weeks of the visit

You agree to:

• Give honest, accurate and complete information
• Be present for a home visit, and for a school visit make sure the school has agreed to it
• Tell us early if a deadline applies, such as a school or VCAA application date
• Tell us before the visit if the school or anyone else has asked for a particular assessment or report content
• Pay invoices by the due date

A DASH score is one piece of evidence. It is read together with the therapist's observation of the student writing, the history you and the school give, and the functional impact on classroom work and assessments, and it never determines supports on its own. The therapist selects the assessment methods and tools on clinical judgement. We do not accept requests for specific wording, scores, diagnoses or recommendations to be included; every report is based on clinical judgement, the available evidence and professional standards, so that it stays accurate, ethical and useful to the school. Additional information and clarification are always welcome.

Private: the total cost is $550. This includes the background and history, observation, DASH administration and scoring where clinically appropriate, occupational therapy interpretation, the written report, practical recommendations, and travel within our Melbourne service area. No referral is required. The invoice is issued when the booking is confirmed, and can be paid before or after the visit; the report is released once payment has been received.

NDIS participants: the assessment is billed as occupational therapy time at the current NDIS price limit for occupational therapy, which is $193.99 an hour, usually 2.75 hours ($533.47) for the whole assessment and report, and we confirm the hours with you before the visit. We work with self-managed and plan-managed participants; we are not able to take agency-managed bookings. Any change to scope or fee is discussed and agreed in writing first.

Please give at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. Late cancellations or non-attendance may be charged the full fee, reflecting booked clinical time, travel and preparation. If the student is unwell on the day, tell us as early as you can and we will find another time.

The report provides clinical findings, interpretation and recommendations. Decisions about classroom adjustments are made by the school. For VCE external assessments, the school applies to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) for Special Examination Arrangements and the VCAA makes the decision. Seeds Occupational Therapy assesses the student and provides evidence and recommendations; it does not decide, and cannot guarantee, any adjustment or special provision.

A final report is provided rather than a draft process. If you or the school need clarification after receiving it, contact us and we will respond by email. Further work beyond the report, such as attending a school meeting or writing additional letters, may involve additional time or cost, which we would agree with you first.

If risks to the student's safety are identified, we may share relevant information with appropriate services in line with professional duty of care and legal obligations.

Any changes are discussed and confirmed in writing.

Either party may end this agreement with written notice. Costs incurred up to that point remain payable.

We welcome feedback and manage complaints carefully. If a concern cannot be resolved with us, you may contact the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria) or, for an NDIS-funded assessment, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

We comply with Australian privacy law. The student's information is stored securely and used only for the purpose of this assessment unless required by law. Our Privacy Policy, signed alongside this agreement, sets this out in full.

Seeds Occupational Therapy is the business name of Nishadip K Bal (ABN 89 367 785 504), a sole trader (“Seeds”, “we”, “us”, “our”). We provide paediatric occupational therapy and Functional Capacity Assessments, and we're committed to handling your information openly and securely.

This notice explains what we collect, how we use and store it, who we share it with, and how you can access it or make a complaint. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Because we provide health services, we're bound by these laws regardless of our size. Depending on where you live, state health records laws may also apply, including the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).

Most of what we hold is information you give us, or that's provided on your behalf by a parent, carer, guardian, support coordinator, plan manager or referrer. This includes your name, date of birth, contact details, NDIS participant number, plan details, and the people involved in your care.

Because we provide health services, much of what we collect is sensitive information, including health and disability information: medical history, diagnoses, assessment results, reports from other providers, therapy notes, and how a person manages everyday activities. For child clients we also collect information about the child's development, schooling and home environment, provided by parents and carers.

We collect information directly from you wherever we can: through our intake process, by email or phone, and during appointments. As part of setting up your assessment, you complete our intake questionnaire as a PDF and upload it, along with any supporting documents, into a secure folder in our Google Drive (Google Workspace).

Sometimes we collect information from others, with your consent or where the law allows: from referrers including GPs, from the NDIS or your plan manager, from other treating practitioners, and from family members or carers involved in your care.

We use your information to provide occupational therapy and Functional Capacity Assessments, to communicate with you and your care team, to write and deliver reports including reports for the NDIS, to arrange appointments and invoicing, and to meet our legal, professional, insurance and funding obligations. We only use it for the purpose we collected it for, for a directly related purpose you'd reasonably expect, where you've consented, or where the law requires or allows it.

Health and disability information is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We collect it with your consent, given when you sign. Where the client is a child, consent is given by a parent or guardian. You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, though this may affect our ability to provide the service.

We do not sell your information. We share it only where it's needed to provide the service or where the law requires it: the people you've asked us to involve; the NDIS, your plan manager or support coordinator for funded services; other treating practitioners and referrers with your consent; our professional advisors, insurers and auditors; and government bodies or courts where required by law.

We also use trusted service providers to run the practice, including cloud file storage (Google), scheduling, accounting (Xero) and communications. They may access your information only to perform their service for us, and are required to protect it.

Storage and overseas disclosure. We store your information electronically using reputable cloud services, protected with access controls and encryption in transit. Some of these providers, including our file storage (Google) and parts of our website and processing infrastructure, store or process data on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States. This means your information, including health information, may be stored or processed overseas. We take reasonable steps to make sure overseas providers protect your information to a standard consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. Once information is held overseas, it may also be subject to the laws of that country.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, including restricted access to files, secure passwords and two-factor authentication, and encryption in transit. No system is completely secure. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

We keep health records for as long as the law and our professional obligations require. For adult records this is generally at least seven years from the last occasion of service. For a child, we generally keep records until the person reaches 25 years of age, or longer where required. After that, we securely destroy or de-identify the information.

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it's wrong, out of date or incomplete. Contact us using the details below and we'll respond within a reasonable time. In some cases the law allows us to refuse access; if we do, we'll explain why in writing.

Where a client is a child, we deal with the child's parent or guardian, who gives consent and exercises these rights on the child's behalf, unless the child is mature enough to make their own decisions and it's appropriate for them to do so.

If you're concerned about how we've handled your information, please contact us first. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992). Depending on where you live, you may also be able to complain to a state health complaints body, such as the Health Complaints Commissioner in Victoria.

Contact us about your privacy: Seeds Occupational Therapy (Nishadip K Bal, ABN 89 367 785 504) · Privacy contact: Nisha Bal · nisha@seedsoccupationaltherapy.com.au · (03) 7056 9242