NDIS Early Childhood Supports

Early childhood intervention services help young children develop the skills they need to participate in everyday life. They support children with developmental delay, disability, or concerns about their development to build skills in areas such as communication, play, learning, social interaction, and independence.

At Everyday Independence, a key worker partners with your family to identify your child’s goals and support their development through everyday routines and activities. When needed, they bring in other therapists, such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists or physiotherapists, to ensure your child receives the right support at the right time.

Our key workers are mainly teachers with a degree in education and specialist training in child development and learning.  They use their specialised training in child development and learning to design and implement strategies across developmental areas, including social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language. They do this in a way that engages your family and other important people in your child’s life, such as their teacher.  

Your key worker will be your main therapist and day-to-day contact for all your early intervention services.  They develop your Child and Family Support plan, deliver most of your child’s therapy and bring in other therapists and practitioners where additional expertise is needed. This 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.

Many families start by looking for a paediatric occupational therapist or speech pathologist. While these professionals provide valuable support, a child’s development often involves a range of connected skills, including communication, play, social interaction, learning, and independence.

This is why early childhood key workers are at the heart of our early intervention approach. They lead, plan and deliver your early intervention services. A key worker understands how children develop and takes a whole-child approach. They work with your family to identify your child’s goals and create a plan that supports progress in everyday life. When additional specialist support is needed, they can involve an occupational therapist, speech pathologist, or other professionals at the right time.

This means your family receives the right support when it’s needed, without having to coordinate multiple services yourself. Together, we’ll help your child build skills and confidence to participate more fully at home, in childcare, at school, and in the community.

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

Yes. We support children with autism, autistic children, and those on the autism spectrum through personalised 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.

Finding the right therapy provider is about more than finding someone nearby. It’s important to find a team that takes the time to understand your child, your family and what’s important to you.

When speaking with a provider, consider asking:

Where does support take place?
Children often learn best in the places they spend their time. Ask whether support can be delivered at home, childcare, kindergarten, school or in the community.

How will you involve me and my family?
You know your child best. Look for a provider that works alongside parents and carers, providing practical strategies that can be used in everyday life.

Will my child have one therapist or a team?
Some providers, like Everyday Independence, use a key worker approach. This means one therapist gets to know your child and family well while bringing in other therapists, such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists, physiotherapists, behaviour support practitioners, and other practitioners when needed.

How will you help my child achieve their goals?
Ask how goals are set, how progress is measured and how support helps your child participate in everyday activities that matter to your family.  We work with you to set goals, and regularly measure your child’s progress towards these goals to ensure they’re getting the right supports and the best outcomes from their NDIS funding.

Fine motor skills are the small movements we use every day for activities such as drawing, colouring, using scissors, getting dressed, eating with cutlery and playing with toys.

If your child needs support with fine motor skills, your key worker can help them build confidence and independence through everyday activities and routines. Your key worker may also bring in an occupational therapist to provide additional support and strategies when needed.

Just as importantly, your key worker works alongside you. They will show you practical ways to help your child practise and develop their skills during everyday routines at home, childcare, kindergarten and in the community.

At Everyday Independence, we focus on building skills where life happens. By supporting both your child and the people around them, we create more opportunities for learning, practice and success every day.

The best therapy depends on your child’s needs and goals. Children may benefit from allied health therapies such as occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, positive behaviour support or a combination of supports. At Everyday Independence, a key worker helps families access the right mix of therapies while building skills through everyday routines and activities.

Early childhood intervention speech therapy helps young children develop communication, language, speech, feeding and social interaction skills. At Everyday Independence, key workers and speech pathologists provide the right support when it’s needed.