Case Studies
Issue No. 40 - April/ /
Child‘s play: a challenging business
Joanna Buttfield finds making her way in business is child’s play.
The Founder and Clinical Director of Kid Sense Child Development, Joanna is a private provider of paediatric development services for children with developmental challenges in their movement, play
and learning.
Based at a purpose-built child development centre in Unley, Kid Sense cares for children with challenges, trains paediatric therapists and ‘educates the educators’ - the teachers, kindergarten and child care staff who play an important role in a child’s formative years.
The idea for Kid Sense came up over coffee and lox in Savannah, Georgia with longtime friend and professional peer, Danielle.
“Danielle and I were sitting in the window looking across the street to a kids toy and clothing Exchange shop that prompted the discussion about how archaic and unnatural our experience of the delivery of paediatric care had been,” Joanna recalls.
“Each paediatric profession offered an isolated service, be it in the public or private setting. Children with challenges have the same need to engage in everyday experience of playing, socially interacting, getting their hair cut and going to the dentist as ‘typical’ peers.
“These everyday experiences are often difficult for children with challenges. The simplest support systems can make a world of difference. They can also make the world of difference to the child’s family, who are having to follow a vertical learning curve about their child and their challenges. We knew we wanted to provide to developmental support in a more global, holistic manner.”
Joanna founded Kid Sense in 1998 after returning to Adelaide in 1997. She saw the opportunity to create something that never been done in Australia before.
Traditionally, children with developmental chanllenges have depended on public institutions like the Women’s & Children’s Hospital and Aut...
