Meet our therapist

Kim Dean started working with people with a disability and their families in 2010.  

She has a passion for helping kids, and people with disability to meet their potential.  

She believes that physiotherapy should be person-centred and should work towards the goals of the individual.

She enjoys working with the child, or person with a disability, as well as their support network. 

This may include parents, carers, teachers, support coordinators and other therapists. She will take the time to learn about the client as an individual. By learning what is important to the client, and what they hope to achieve with physiotherapy, she can then develop an individual plan to work towards this goal. 

Kim is a mother of 2 young kids and is engaged in the community. She also has experience as a parent of a child with disability, parenting her son with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

Experience

Kim has worked with people with disability of all ages. Including from infancy through to school age and adulthood all the way to older age.  

She has worked with clients with a variety of physical needs. 

This includes people who use wheelchairs for most of their day and others who are walking around. 

Some of her clients need some help learning to crawl, or need support to walk better or positioning to make sitting in their wheelchair more comfortable. 

She has experience delivering therapy to people with a variety of conditions including:

• Developmental delay
• Intellectual disability
• Down syndrome
• Cerebral palsy
• Genetic syndromes e.g. Angelman syndrome, Prader Willi syndrome, point deletions or duplications
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Multiple sclerosis
• Stroke
• Spinal cord injury

She has worked with people with a variety of communication needs. She has had practice in talking with people who are non-verbal. This includes people who use Key Word Sign, PECS, PODD or electronic communication devices. She has also worked with interpreters for people who need support to speak English.  

Career History

Kim started KD Physiotherapy in 2019 with a vision to provide quality therapy to children and people with disability of all ages.  

Kim started KD Physiotherapy to be able to give each of her clients the individual attention they deserve and really get to know them for the individuals that they are.

Prior to this Kim has worked for Community Health, Large Non-Government Organisations and Government Disability providers and Large Metropolitan Hospitals as well as a Tertiary Specialist Childrens Hospital. 

Education History

She graduated from The University of Sydney in 2009 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy).  

She is an AHPRA (Allied Health Professional Regulation Agency) qualified physiotherapist and an APA (Australian Physiotherapy Association) member. She is also a member of the AusACPDM (Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine)

Kim has a love for continuing education. She attends courses and conferences to make sure that she is always supporting her clients in the best way.   

Most recently she has completed three short courses at Monash University. 

Personal interests

When Kim isn't at work, she enjoys spending time with her 2 young kids. 

She enjoys hobbies including snow skiing, board games, sewing, and coaching and playing softball. 

She is a life member of her local softball club.