The NDIA has today published a progress update about changes to improve the way the NDIS is supporting young children and their families.
Following a three-month consultation on proposed recommendations to reset the early childhood early intervention approach, the NDIA is now making changes to deliver a better and fairer experience for young children and their families seeking support, guidance or access to the NDIS.
This includes renaming the approach to supporting children younger than seven and their families to the ‘early childhood approach’, and publishing new, easy to understand operational guidelines.
It is the first time the NDIA has had a guideline specific to children, outlining how best practice support helps to get the best results for children younger than seven and their families.
The NDIA has completed four of the recommendations which were well received by the disability community.
The third completed recommendation is clarifying the interpretation and application of the developmental delay criteria, which will support NDIS partners and staff to have clear guidance to make decisions and recommendations, and will support families to better understand developmental delay and developmental concerns.
The fourth recommendation is to develop an early connections guideline, to be published this month, to outline how the early childhood approach can support families and young children to reach their full potential, including a combination of family education, early supports and connection to community.
These changes will simplify the way we talk about support for young children and their families and how we improve support for families and children when they no longer need the scheme.
The changes are part of the NDIA’s ongoing commitment to ensure families and carers have information that improves their knowledge and confidence, so they can make informed decisions about what supports are most likely to benefit their child’s development.
The progress update released today outlines which recommendations were supported and which have been completed, and those that the NDIS is still working on, as well as the timeframes around the changes. It also shows the recommendations that were not fully supported, and plans for those recommendations.
The agency thanks participants for their feedback on the consultation paper in helping to shape improvements to the scheme.
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