The NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme)
The NDIS is a government service that is part of a broad strategy that aims to enable all Australians to live an ordinary life that includes employment and leisure.
The government recognised that while people with disability require additional supports, their families and carers could benefit from the person being supported by having time available to access employment and other activities of daily life. An important goal of the NDIS is to ensure that families and carers can sustain their roles over time.
The NDIS therefore works in partnership with families and carers to obtain supports for the person with disability that suit the person and their family or carers. The knowledge and expertise of the family and carers is respected and welcomed as a significant part of the process of creating and NDIS plan for the person (referred to as the participant by the NDIS).
The NDIS recognises that the needs of the person with disability impact on the functioning of the family as a whole< and may fund supports to help family’s in their caring roles provided they represent value for money and are reasonable and necessary for the person with disability.
Examples of supports that can help you with your family roles are:
– Assistance with self-care to help get your child ready for school or to manage afterschool while you are at work;
– Assistance with self-care tasks such as showering while you get on with preparing meals or other household tasks;
– Supports for your child on Saturdays or Sundays so you can get on with shopping, or your child can be supported to access community activities;
– Overnight or respite supports to give you a much-needed break;
– Support to take your child to appointments.
Early Childhood Approach (formerly known as Early Childhood Early Intervention or ECEI)
The NDIS’ Early Childhood Approach aims to give children younger than 7 years with developmental delay or disability timely access to services and supports. Once children turn 7, they need to have a permanent and significant disability to access NDIS support.
Children under 7 do not need to have a diagnosed disability to access supports under the Early Childhood Approach. If you are concerned about the development of your child, think they might have a disability or developmental delay, the first step is to talk to a healthy professional. Your GP, child and family health nurse, or paediatrician is the best person to speak with first. They might connect you with an early childhood partner, which is an organisation the NDIS funds to deliver the early childhood approach. Or you can call the NDIA on 1800 800 110 and ask for contact details for local early childhood partners.
Once you are connected with an early childhood partner, they may then offer you supports in the form of Early Connections or Early Supports.
Early Connections are things to support your child’s development which are available in the mainstream community, such as parent support groups or playgroups. The early childhood partner may also deliver supports to the family in the form of information, help connect with other families, and connect with education settings and community health services.
If the child is younger than 6 and there are developmental concerns, the early childhood partner may connect the family with Early Supports to build capacity for everyday learning.
Early Supports are therapies and strategies that teach or strengthen the child’s capacity in everyday skills like toileting, dressing and eating. Early Supports might also be put in place to help the family learn how to support the child’s learning these skills.
NDIS Access for Children Under 7
If a child is likely to meet access criteria for the NDIS, an early childhood partner can help to apply for this. If the application is successful, the early childhood partner would work with the family to develop and NDIS plan to support the child’s goals, and to find and choose providers.
Early childhood partners are then responsible for regular ‘check-ins’ to understand the child’s progress, and talk about transitions that will happen in the early years. They are there to support the child and family to either leave the NDIS and access mainstream and community services, or continue receiving NDIS supports from age 7 but with a local area coordinator instead of an early childhood partner.
It is important to remember that NDIS criteria specifies that to receive supports from age 7 onwards, the child’s disability or impairment must be lifelong. It must also be shown to substantially reduce the child’s ability to undertake activities such as communicating, socialising, learning, mobility, self-care and self-management.
Not every child will be eligible for an NDIS plan, and it is the job of an early childhood partner to source and suggest community and other supports for children and families who do not meet the access criteria.
GET STARTED
Early intervention is the best way to support your child’s development and wellbeing. Find out more about early intervention in our Finding Your Way article Early intervention and therapy.
You can also check out Raising Children’s Network’s article The NDIS and early intervention.
Think about how your family functions. This means your family’s daily routines and how you carry out the activities of daily life. Families work out routines such as meal times, going to school and work, attending school sports or extra-curricular activities; work functions, and arranging fun and relaxing activities at weekends. Doctor’s appointments or other medical or therapeutic appoints come up from time to time and are fitted into the routine.
Families who have a child with disability often have increased medical and therapy appointments and additional needs such as needing increased time to get their child ready for school. Your child may need extra support at night, or perhaps their needs affect their ability to be at school. Think about how your child’s needs impact on your activities, such as being able to work, having time with your partner or other children, or getting enough sleep and being mentally and physically well enough to meet the demands of your caring role.
A carer impact statement is a powerful way to explain the impact of your family member’s disability to the NDIS. Take a look at ACD Vic’s handy fact sheet Writing a Carer Statement.
Writing about how your child’s disability affects you and the family can be hard, so take your time and be aware that sometimes difficult emotions can surface during this process. However, it’s important to be as honest as possible about the challenges you face.
The impact of having a child with disability is that it sometimes makes life hard and routines difficult to set up and manage. Simple solutions such as the support of an extra person in the home at times, assistive equipment or some hours of respite are made available with an NDIS plan.
If NDIS access is not granted, there are other community supports and programs, however there can be waitlists for these. Not everybody with a disability will receive NDIS funding. For more see our Finding Your Way article Accessing the NDIS.
Think about what sort of support will help you and your family. It might help to discuss this with other parents in similar situations, to find out what works for them. MyTime is a peer support group that meets for this purpose. Look for MyTime meetings in your area at the MyTime website.
ACTION STEPS
Here you can find a simple list of the best actions to take if you are interested in this topic:
1 .
Think about how your child’s needs affect your daily life.
2 .
Find out about My Time support groups in your area, to meet other parents and carers in your area and find out about services and supports available to you.
3 .
Write out an Impact Statement. This is a letter in which you write down all the ways your child with disability impacts on your life. An impact statement is an important tool for Planning what your child, you and your family need.
4 .
Use your impact statement in discussions with the NDIS. This is a powerful way to show the NDIS what your family’s needs are, and it will help the NDIS planner to work in partnership with you to create an NDIS funding plan that will be useful for your child, for you, for and your family.
5 .
Write a list of how you and your family directly support your child, and what works best and what could help you to do it better. Include what your child likes and prefers as well as what they need.