NDIS Early Childhood Intervention Melbourne

Supporting young children with disabilities and developmental delay and their family to make positive life changes.

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How our Melbourne Early Childhood Intervention Delivers More

Our NDIS early childhood supports, or early childhood intervention program Melbourne, helps children with disabilities and developmental delay aged up to nine years to build skills wherever they’re needed—whether at daycare, school, home, or in the community.

A dedicated child and family team, led by a key worker, supports you, your child and others in their life to achieve the positive changes you want for your family.

Our key workers, mostly trained teachers, use their knowledge of child development to help your child grow socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and in language skills.

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The Key Worker Model: Supporting Your Child’s Development

We use the key worker model in Melbourne, the NDIA’s preferred model for support young children with disabilities and developmental delay. As your main therapist and day-to-day contact, they:

Plan and deliver most of your child’s therapy
Bring in paediatric speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, behaviour support practitioners and habit coaches for consults or short bursts of therapy to support specific goals
Link you with community services to support your child’s development.

We use a family-centered approach, recognising that you are the most important people in your child’s life. Your key worker partners with your family to understand your routines, goals, and priorities, and works with you to build your skills as parents, giving you the knowledge and tools to support your child’s development every day – not just during therapy sessions.

Support for Your Child and Family

Whether it’s enhancing social skills, making new friends, increasing independence, improving communication or mobility, our early childhood intervention can help improve your child’s and family’s well-being and quality of life. When you choose us for early childhood supports in Melbourne, we’ll help your child build skills including:

Language and communication skills to enable your child to better express themselves, understand others, and make friends
Playing in ways that enhance cognitive development and opportunities for learning
Personal care such as cleaning teeth, toileting, washing and dressing independently
Sleep hygiene and routines for mental and physical health for your child
Using assistive technology to perform tasks more safely, securely, and independently.

Navigating transitions such as starting daycare or school, moving home, and changes in family dynamics
Gross motor and fine motor skills to enjoy in physical activities
Behaviour management for self-regulation and expressing needs and feelings
Social skills and interactions for making connections with family, friends and other people in your child’s life.

We’re Ready to Get you Started

Our child and family teams in Melbourne are ready to help you start on your journey of positive change. If your child has a NDIS plan, your family is ready to begin.

Step 1: Complete our simple online referral form
Step 2: We’ll match you with a key worker and therapy team based on your goals and therapist availability
Step 3: A key worker visits your home for an initial assessment
Step 4: We work together to develop your personalised Child and Family Support Plan.

Is your child not yet a NDIS participant? Visit our NDIS page for information on getting your plan funded.

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How We Deliver Early Childhood Supports in Melbourne

Watch our short animation on how your dedicated child and family team supports you to achieve the positive changes you want for your family.

A Team Approach for Positive Change

We provide the following NDIS therapy services to children, teenagers, and adults in Melbourne.

Occupational Therapy Melbourne

Speech Pathology Melbourne

Physiotherapy Melbourne

Positive Behaviour Support

Habit Coaching Melbourne

Frequently Asked Questions about Early Childhood Intervention Melbourne

What is early childhood intervention?

Early childhood intervention (or early childhood services) aims to help children with developmental delay and/or disabilities and their families access support to promote their child’s wellbeing, community participation and development.

As children’s brains grow most during their early years, the earlier they receive early intervention services, the better the outcome will likely be.

Early childhood intervention promotes:

optimal chances of physical development
improved social and emotional outcomes
ability to participate in everyday activities
positive behaviours and ability to engage in learning
confidence, resilience and independence.

Who is a key worker and how do they help my child and family?

Our key workers are mainly teachers with a degree in education and specialist training in child development and learning. They will be your main therapist and day-to-day contact for all your early intervention services. They support your child and family as part of a broader team that may include speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, behaviour support practitioners, and habit coaches.

Read our blog for on the Benefits of the Key Worker Model.

I only need occupational or speech therapy for my child, can a key worker help with this?

Our key workers use their specialised training in child development and learning to design and implement strategies to support your child’s development. These include activities to improve fine motor skills, language development, or strategies to help with sensory processing issues. Other members of your child’s team, such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists, can also use these strategies.

Key workers can deliver more than an individual registered occupational therapist, speech pathologist or physiotherapist as they can implement their strategies and activities as well as those designed by the team of therapists.

Can children with autism spectrum disorder access NDIS early childhood supports?

Yes. We support children with autism, autistic children, and those on the autism spectrum through personalised NDIS early childhood intervention services. Our team understands that every autistic child has unique strengths, interests, and support needs. Starting early gives children on the autism spectrum the best opportunity to build strong foundations for learning and development.

Why do you use the key worker model?

We use the key worker approach because it is the NDIA’s preferred, evidence-based approach to helping children with developmental delays and disabilities.

I’m looking for an early childhood specialist near me. Can you help?

If you’re searching for early childhood supports near me, or early childhood services Melbourne our Melbourne child and family team can help. Access paediatric occupational therapy, child speech pathology, physiotherapy, positive behaviour support and habit coaches, through a key worker model, to support your child develop everyday skills.