The NDIS Early Childhood Approach (ECA) team has marked one year of service with over 150 families referred to the service.
The team provides connections, intervention and access to the NDIS for children in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) and Torres Strait region younger than 9 years of age.
“At the end of last year, we had 95 families referred to the service and between January and June of this year an additional five family referrals, in addition to 60 internal referrals,” TCHHS Director for NDIS, Aged Care and Palliative Care Charlene McCall said.
“It’s a great result for the team and proves the service is bringing positive outcomes to community.”
The NDIS ECA team provides information, strategies and support to parents and families through early intervention and works closely with the TCHHS maternal and child health, rural generalist and child development service teams to support families across their assessment and early intervention journey.
Occupational Therapist Grace Schofield said the team had seen its labours bear fruit, with 165 community engagement activities completed including community information sessions, support playgroups, make and take sessions and introductions with stakeholders by the end of 2024.
“It has been a huge privilege to be a part of the journey supporting families face to face in community and via telehealth,” Ms Schofield said.
“We are so proud of our participants and have seen some children transition to school and others meeting their age-appropriate milestones.”
The team of allied health clinicians, early childhood educators and early childhood coordinators are based in Cairns, Kubin, Thursday Island and NPA, and has supported families to apply for NDIS funding through the developmental delay or diagnosis pathway, with real results.
“The small wins make huge differences over time – one family has reported being able to take a ferry with their child which was previously a huge and difficult undertaking,” Ms Schofield said.
“That may not mean much to those of us in Cairns and the mainland, but if you are living in the Torres Strait, not being able to travel by ferry would have a huge impact on your life, including accessing services.”
The NDIS Early Childhood Approach team has experienced significant growth over the last six months, onboarding five new team members which has allowed more frequent and consistent travel to all communities of the NPA and Torres Strait.
“The future goals for the team include empowering parents to recognise developmental concerns in their children and seek support,” Manager NDIS ECA Matthew Moylan said.
“Previously, children have been identified to have developmental delay when entering the education system.
“The goal is to identify developmental concerns and delays and to provide those essential supports earlier.”
The program is currently going through evaluation to measure the impacts for children and community, led by the First Nations Kowa organisation.