Stories - April 20, 2020
Plan perfect for little Lachlan
Lachlan reading with his mother Kelly, while his brother Archer chats with ECEI program manager Steph.
Bendigo mum Kelly says dealing with Intereach’s Loddon ECEI team has been “so easy”.
Her four year-old son Lachlan has now been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder after initially showing signs of a developmental delay. Kelly said her family wouldn’t have been able to afford speech therapy or occupational therapy had it not been for the NDIS.
“Lachlan said his first word at two years old and at that stage we weren’t sure that he’d ever talk. Now he doesn’t stop talking – it’s great! I thank the NDIS for this.”
Kelly
Lachlan was one of the first people in the Loddon area to start the NDIS plan process, which Kelly said took some time to get right. She credits the support of Intereach with making their plan work.
“Our first plan didn’t quite fit our needs, but that wasn’t a problem for Gemma (Loddon ECEI coordinator). We had further consultation with Intereach and now we have a plan that’s perfect for Lachlan’s needs. Our funding is split 50/50 between OT and speech therapy support.”
Intereach has established an ECEI governance group, which is comprised of ECEI Program Managers from all service areas. The purpose of this group is to draw on the expertise of these staff within their relevant disciplines to share knowledge, resources and inform practice decisions within the delivery of the ECEI program.
Intereach has developed and is implementing a Short Term Support Framework to provide a consistent approach to initial supports across the Intereach footprint that aligns with best practice in early intervention guidelines. This framework enables staff to exercise their professional judgement in delivering these supports, however it provides guidance about the types of activities that can be delivered and typical level of time spent by staff. This guidance will allow more effective and efficient resourcing and allocation of staff time.
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