How can a Key Worker help me?
Current research from ECIA indicates that best practice in early childhood intervention centres on a family centred, inclusive approach delivered through the ‘key worker’ model. A Key Worker is an early childhood intervention professional who is the key point of contact for a child and their family. They have expertise in child development, learning and well being as well as professional qualifications in allied health or education and can provide general intervention that is common across a range of early childhood disciplines.
Our Key Workers are passionate early childhood specialists with experience working within trans-disciplinary teams, extensive knowledge in Early Childhood development, positive behaviour support and the NDIS Early Childhood approach.
Your Key Worker will provide you with coaching and mentoring to develop skills and strategies that promote your child’s development whilst fitting easily into your everyday activities and routines. We will work in your child’s natural settings; these may include your family home, child care/preschools, schools or activities they attend within their community. We provide a flexible, responsive service that changes over time to meet the changing needs of your child and family, we may work with you for a few sessions, fortnightly or weekly depending on the approach that will suit your family. We can also support you to develop attainable goals for your child’s NDIS plan and meet with your child’s NDIS ECEI Coordinator.
The role of the Key Worker can reduce some family stresses by focusing on five key areas that are important for families. These include:
- Information and advice to enable you to navigate services, understand NDIS terminology and access resources
- Opportunities to identify and address your needs in parenting through coaching, guidance and linking to services in your community
- Support and skill development in advocating for the needs of your child, communicating with other professionals and making informed choices about your child’s development
- Support to co-ordinate all of services who currently support your child and family
- Emotional support
Individual Sessions
The Key Worker model brings together a child’s therapeutic intervention into, one primary therapist. Your Key Worker will visit your child weekly or fortnightly in their natural settings wherever you need support. This can be at your home, child care/school and in the community. Your Key Worker will provide support across all the areas you require to reach your goals; they will work with, add to and compliment the learnings your child will receive through clinical therapy. We call this a ‘trans disciplinary’ approach. We can help you connect with therapists as needed or we can continue to work with the ones you have.
A transition to school that is well facilitated and supported can contribute to successful child outcomes, especially for children with disability/developmental delay. Our Key Workers can provide information, practical and emotional support to assist with making the transition to school as smooth as possible. This may include information about the range of school options available relevant to your child, planning for the transition, creating resources to support them, and how to advocate for your child.