On 21^st December 2016, Bob Buckley, A4 Convenor has a video meeting with several NDIS staff to discuss A4's concerns over the NDIA's Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Approach. The NDIA then sent the email and letter (download below) to follow up.

email

Good afternoon

Please find attached response as follow up after our video conference on 21 December.

Included are a Signed PDF and a Word document for accessibility.

Regards

General Manager

Performance Improvement and Recovery

Operations

National Disability Insurance Agency

Letter

Mr Bob Buckley

​Convenor

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4)

convenor@a4.org.au

Dear Mr Buckley,

Thank you for your email dated 17 November 2016 and the opportunity to meet via the recent teleconference on Wednesday, 21 December 2016.

As discussed with you, the Early Childhood Early Intervention approach ( ECEI) aims to ensure children are provided with the right level of support, at the right time, for the right length of time. Working in collaboration with sector experts, evidence-based research has been used to design ECEI as a family-centred approach.

Early Childhood Partners are experienced in supporting children with a developmental delay or disability and their families through family-centred and capability building approaches. Early Childhood Partners will also have staff with early childhood experience and clinical expertise in a range of areas, including knowledge of Autism and how to determine the impact on function as it relates to each individual child.

In addition, Early Childhood Partners must adhere to the National Guidelines on Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention developed by Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA). The ECIA Best Practice Guidelines acknowledge that there are bodies of evidence that suggest targeted interventions for children with specific needs, such as Cerebral Palsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder, will be supportive of functional skill development. As discussed with you,  the NDIA is working with a number of sector experts and specialist providers to support better outcomes for children and their families.

Families have choice and control in choosing a provider to deliver early childhood intervention supports. The NDIA acknowledges it is essential that early childhood intervention providers  have the required expertise and experience to support a child’s functional outcomes and progress towards goals.

The NDIA values all feedback in the continuous improvement of the delivery of early childhood intervention support under the ECEI approach.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. As discussed, the opportunity to meet again in six months time through this transition period would be beneficial.

Yours sincerely

General Manager

Operations Division

17 January 2017