Early Childhood Early Intervention

What is Early Childhood Early Intervention?

Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) is a process where a child with a disability or developmental delay, and their family, is provided with specialised supports and services to foster development, a strong sense of wellbeing, and promote positive outcomes in all areas of their life.

Early Childhood Early Intervention Program
Early Childhood Intervention

Early Childhood Early Intervention at Access Your Supports

At Access Your Supports, our early childhood early Intervention services are for children aged 0 – 7 years. We have services in Geelong and Colac, and surrounding areas.
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What Early Childhood Early Intervention services does Access Your Supports provide?

At Access Your Supports we implement the ECEI Key Worker Model. This model is where you see one therapist (your Key Worker) instead of lots of individual therapists. The ECEI Key Worker is a one stop shop – you don’t need to access individual therapies (such as a speech and OT) when you have a key worker. The ECEI Key Worker is part of a team of professionals across a variety of disciplines who work together to build and review your child’s therapy plan. This is called a transdisciplinary approach and is considered best practice by the NDIS and experts in the ECEI field.

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What to expect from the Early Childhood Early Intervention Key Worker service at Access Your Supports?

Prioritising supports and assessing development

Our ECEI Key Workers work closely with you and your child to prioritise supports and identify areas that you would like to work on. During the first weeks of service, you will spend time with your ECEI key worker gathering information about your child, your family, your routines and daily life. Where required, formalised assessments may be implemented by a member of the transdisciplinary team to gain a more in depth understanding of your child’s development.

Collaborative family services support plan

A Family Services Support Plan is created in consultation with the transdisciplinary team and then implemented in collaboration with you, your family and important people in your child’s life. At AYS our therapy and strategies are evidence based and reviewed regularly by the transdisciplinary team.

Empowering families and enhancing therapy strategies

Our ECEI Key Workers value the importance of the family and informal supports for children with developmental delays and disabilities. Our approach is family centred and aims to build on your strengths and understanding of your child and build your capacity to implement therapy strategies outside of sessions. Our Key ECEI Workers prefer to arrange sessions at a location that best suits your needs as a family. This may be in the home, in the education setting, in the community, or in our specially equipped consulting rooms.

Accessing Specialised Supports within the ECEI Key Worker model

Our ECEI Key Workers are highly trained professionals with a variety of diverse backgrounds, knowledge, and qualifications. You will be matched with a ECEI Key Worker that has the experience required to meet your needs. However, sometimes things pop up that may be outside their scope. At AYS we are lucky enough to have therapists with specialised training that may be able to provide intensive blocks of therapy.

These programs include:

  • We will work hard to get to know you and your situation
  • Westmead Feelings Program
  • The Astronaut Program
  • PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)
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Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) FAQs

The ECEI approach provides timely, evidence-based early intervention therapies and support for young children aged 0-7 years with developmental delays, disabilities or established conditions impacting their functional abilities, delaying development and participation. The aim is to minimise the long-term impact through individualised therapies focused on enhancing skills, independence and inclusion.

ECEI caters to a diverse range of issues including physical/mobility limitations, intellectual/cognitive disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, hearing/vision impairments, speech/communication delays, behavioural/psychosocial challenges, and developmental effects from premature birth, genetic disorders, brain injuries or other medical conditions.

Depending on the child’s needs, an ECEI plan can incorporate:
• Occupational therapy – Enhancing independence, fine/gross motor skills, sensory processing, self-care
• Speech pathology – Expressive/receptive communication, articulation, language skills, feeding
• Physiotherapy – Gross motor abilities, strength, balance, mobility aids/equipment
• Psychology – Cognitive/developmental assessments, early behavioural intervention, counselling
• Special education – Pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, school readiness, educational supports
• Social work – Linking families to local support services, respite, counselling
• Capacity building – Coaching parents/caregivers in therapeutic strategies at home

Children under 7 can be referred by a doctor, allied health professional, childcare centre or other community providers to the NDIA Early Childhood Partner. Access Your Supports in Geelong, Colac & Mildura will work with your child and family to create goals, strategies and supports to suit their individual needs.

Key steps include:

1. Providing any assessments, medical reports, evidence of developmental concerns
2. An intake meeting to discuss the child’s strengths, needs and family goals
3. Financial support planning – creating an NDIS budget for reasonable, necessary therapies
4. Choosing and implementing NDIS-approved service providers and self-managed supports
5. Ongoing plan reviews to monitor progress and adjust funded supports as required

The earliest years are a critical window for child development. Beginning therapeutic interventions as early as possible helps reduce or even overcome developmental delays/disabilities before they become entrenched. This fosters the child’s optimal cognitive, physical, social and communication skills – promoting full participation at home, school and community. ECEI also empowers families with training, counselling and respite. Early childhood intervention services can help your child by providing support tailored to their individual needs, offering early intervention support services, and assisting with everyday activities to support your child’s development.

An early childhood partner plays a key role in delivering the early childhood approach, which includes coordinating support for children with disability or developmental delay and their families. The NDIS early childhood partner can provide support to children and their families by offering a best practice approach to early intervention, delivering quality early intervention services, and helping your child reach their full potential delivered through the Early Childhood Early Intervention Key Worker Model.

Best practice in early childhood early intervention is defined by evidence-based, family-centred approaches tailored to each child’s unique needs. It involves multidisciplinary teams working collaboratively with families to create inclusive, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive interventions through the use of the Key Worker Model. The focus is on enhancing the child’s abilities through play-based strategies and supporting families in promoting their child’s development across various environments.

A transdisciplinary approach benefits early childhood intervention by drawing upon the expertise of professionals from multiple disciplines who work together beyond their traditional boundaries. This collaboration ensures that children receive comprehensive care and allows for more holistic support that addresses all areas of a child’s development – cognitive, linguistic, social-emotional, physical—and family needs. This approach allowed for families to follow the Key Worker Model and have a key therapist to support the family without the pressure of multiple therapist visits weekly.

Key elements include individualised assessment and planning; family involvement and empowerment; consistent communication among caregivers, professionals, and families; regular monitoring of progress; adaptations to meet evolving needs; integration into natural environments (home, childcare, school or community settings); and coordination with community resources.

Involving families is crucial because they are the constant in a child’s life and play a significant role in their learning and development. Family involvement leads to better outcomes as parents gain skills to support their child’s growth effectively. Additionally, respecting family knowledge, values, beliefs, and cultural backgrounds can make interventions more meaningful and ensure that strategies applied at home align with those used by professionals.

Success in these programs can be measured through both standardised assessments and observational tools which track improvements over time in developmental milestones specific to the individual goals set for each child. Parental feedback on the child’s functioning within daily routines at home also provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of interventions. Furthermore, success includes increased family competency in addressing developmental challenges and greater inclusion within educational settings or peer groups for children receiving these services.

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