Early Childhood Disability Services
Connect offers a suite of early childhood intervention programs to children with disabilities and their families. The suite includes:
Screening and Assessment
Connect offers developmental screening and assessment for children 0-6 years. Parents or Early Childhood teachers can request a developmental screener when they have concerns about a child’s development.
The screening process includes a parent interview to share concerns and other relevant information; play-based observations of the child to see how the child communicates, moves, socializes and learns; feedback and any necessary referrals to other community services. Children found to have a delay after assessment are eligible for our early intervention programs.
Home Visits
Home-visiting involves an Early Childhood Special Educator visiting families at home. It provides an opportunity for families to talk about goals for their children and to develop strategies to assist their children's development. These strategies include role modelling play, brainstorming ideas of how best to support their skills, observations and discussions.
The focus is usually on play, social skills, communication, sensory and motor skills. Therefore, visits are flexible and individualized. Each visit can last for up to an hour. The home visitor can also assist parents with accessing other community support services.
Early Learning Program
The Early Learning Program offers a specialised preschool class that prepares children for integration into other early childhood services or schools.
Activities and experiences are planned in response to the children’s needs and goals for their development. These goals are arrived at via a collaborative process focusing on family concerns and priorities and involving discussion between parents, staff and other involved services.
Emphasis is on building the skills necessary for a smooth transition to preschool or day-care. The focus is on communication skills, social and self-help skills and developing confidence and familiarity with regular preschool routines, using the supportive and often less threatening environment of a small group.Itinerant Inclusion Support
Itinerant Inclusion Support offers professional advice and support to staff working with children with disabilities in early childhood services. Support can include:
- Identifying the child’s needs, strengths and interests in the setting
- Collaboration with other agencies and professionals in relation to the child
- Individualized Education Programs with specific goals, objectives, teaching strategies and evaluation
- Embedding a child’s therapy programs into the centre’s curriculum
- Staff training and mentoring focusing on communication systems, fostering social skills and addressing sensory processing skills
- Modelling positive behaviour management strategies
- Securing additional funding to enhance the child to staff ratio of the centre
- Access to professional development
- Access to Resource library
- Access to equipment through the Toy Library
- Facilitating the transition to school process
Autism Consortium
Connect is the Lead Agency for a consortium of therapists that provide services to children with Autism across the greater Nepean area. This program is funded under the federal government’s ‘Helping Children with Autism Package’.
Early Days
Connect presents workshops that assist parents/carers in raising children with autism.
Positive Partnerships Facilitator
Connect is the Key Local Facilitator for the federal government’s Positive Partnerships Program. This program facilitates sustainable networks and access to resources for parents/carers of school-aged students with autism.
My Time
Support groups including grief support and the ‘My Time’ group for parents with children with a disability/chronic illness (in partnership with Playgroup NSW and the Parenting Research Centre Vic).
Aboriginal Traineeship
In partnership with the Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre, Connect supervises an aboriginal traineeship position across its early childhood intervention programs.
Kids on the Move (KOM)
‘Kids on the Move’ is a Nepean wide project that provides intensive transition to school assistance for high support needs children entering mainstream Kindergarten classes. It involves children visiting schools with staff members from their early childhood services, up to 11 times prior to and after school commencement.
The early childhood staff members work alongside children, their new teachers and support staff to pass on skills and knowledge. Children’s therapists also work with them in their early childhood settings in the year prior to and after school commencement. The early childhood staff members work alongside children, their new teachers and support staff to pass on skills and knowledge. Children’s therapists also work with them in their early childhood settings in the year prior to starting school as part of the transition program.
This project is a collaboration between Connect Child and Family Services, Department of Education, Catholic Education Office and members of the Early Childhood Intervention Coordination Project (ECICP).
