Including Children in Their Local Community

Story sharing – Including children in the local community

Including children in their local community

SDN Children’s Services Early Childhood Links program

SDN Children’s Services Early Childhood Links program (SDN ECL) is funded by Family & Community Services and supports families of children aged from 0-8 years old.

As a project based in inner Sydney, ECL has employed early childhood teachers, family resource workers, speech pathologists and occupational therapists to support children identified as having additional needs.

SDN ECL helps families access a range of services that enable participation in their community, supporting children who:

·  have a diagnosed disability or developmental delay

·  are being assessed for a disability or developmental delay

·  are from a family experiencing challenges

·  are struggling in their current child care or school placement.

The ECL team works closely with parents and carers to identify goals for their child and how they might be achieved through:

·  delivering integrated, responsive and flexible services to families

·  using a strengths based, family-centered approach that provides access to a team of professionals

·  facilitating links with and between other services

·  building the knowledge, skills and capacity of families and educators.

Family goals might be supporting children to start school, playgroup or child care, or take part in sports or leisure activities.

To date, the program has supported over 50 children and their families to access and participate in mainstream child care centres, outside of school hours care (OOSHC) and the community.

Initiatives such as Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs) and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) have been introduced into child care centres, giving families greater choice and control in the way their children are supported, particularly where multiple services or professionals are involved.

The SDN ECL team has linked children and families with swimming lessons, assisted them to attend assessments and other appointments, and supported their involvement in play groups where they may have felt isolated or ostracised.

Training and reflection on practice sessions has been provided for staff at child care centres and the OOSHC centre, covering issues such as accidental counselling and difficult conversations. Many of these centres have stated that they feel better equipped to include more children with disability.

Outcomes of the ECL program in this area include:

·  development of partnerships with a range of organisations, including (but not limited to): SDN Brighter Futures and Inclusion Support Agency, Barnardos, Tumbatin Clinic, Lifestart, Kogarah Diagnostic and Assessment Service and Plumtree (formerly Pathways Early Intervention Centre )

·  group therapy at mainstream child care centres and the OOSHC centre, as well as training for centre staff to support inclusion

·  increased enrolment of children with disability into mainstream child care centres and confidence to continue enrolling more children with additional needs

·  flexibility in service delivery at centres to better support children with disability, e.g. allowing a family to bring special food from home

·  children attending a full day at school where they had previously had their attendance restricted to just a few hours per day.

All the centres involved have provided positive feedback on their participation in the program and the strong relationships with families and children that it promotes and builds.