Governement funded Early intervention hours for your kid
Hi, I am a mum of kid with Autism.
Recently, In where we live, a proud nation capital of Australia Canberra, their Education department closed down their early intervention program (it was 9hours a week) and passed the job to new private early intervention operators.
The fund to have early intervention program with those private operators is given by new government scheme called NDIS National Disability insurance scheme. But we found out they only fund 3hours a week program for kid with autism with Category 3 of DSM5.(that is my son's case)
Could you give me some ideas how many hours of early intervention program is funded for your kid through government? Can you tell me the location and if you do not mind, Could you tell me your kids DSM diagnosis. If the information is available on the internet, please let me know the URL.
I am trying to gather information about hours of early intervention funded through public system in different countries to argue that kids including my son in our state/country needs more funding for early intervention.
Thank you.
When my daughter was in early intervention, she had a diagnosis of autism and she received about 25 hours of service per week (inclusive of behavior therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy). I am in the US, but not all areas are as generous as what I received. Even within my area, not all kids receive this much therapy. The feedback I got from her therapists is that well-spoken/educated parents often got more services. Possibly due to fear of lawsuits? Not sure.
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Mom to 2 exceptional atypical kids
Long BAP lineage
Thank you. InThisTogether.
I didn't know that you posted to answer my question. I did not receive any notification at all.
I think your daughter received wonderful support from your local government. But at the same time I was disappointed to hear that all kids in your area do not receive same amount of support. You said it depends on how the parents do or might do self -advocacy for their kids.
Sadly, our system in Australia getting similar too. Now our government is cutting all public funding towards disability and early intervention services. Instead, they claim they are going to fund the money directly available to individuals with disabilities. But in order to receive necessary support (money), the individuals need to substantiate their claims in what support they need. If the individual fail to do so, the government will not fund for support they need.
In order to receive 15 hours a week of early intervention, I worked so hard in researching, I had to read even past studies by universities and professors about early intervention. We used to receive 10 hours a week of early intervention without any efforts before the change. With the hard work, I finally got what I want for my son (15hours of ABA) but most of people missed out. WHY DO WE NEED TO WORK SO HARD FOR THE BASIC RIGHT TO RECEIVE NECESSARY SUPPORT FOR OUR KIDS. I think Australian government has their obligation to make necessary support available for all kids with developmental disabilities without forcing their parents to go through this process.
Forcing parents or family going through this process means the service is not reasonably accessible. It is more like unreachable.
I think New system is just their money saving practice.
