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Speak Out
April 2016
Speech Pathology Australia
In our previous adventures
with Super Speech
Pathologist (SSP for short), she had been approached by her
very first NDIS participant, with their NDIS Plan in hand.
SSP knows that the NDIS plan lists the goals identified by the
NDIS participant in the meeting with the NDIS planner, along
with the ‘reasonable and necessary’ supports to achieve them.
The total funding available is included in the plan, and each
support item has a funding amount against it.
This particular NDIS participant is a child. One of the support
items on the plan is a transdisciplinary early childhood
intervention (see breakout box). As SSP looks through the
goals that are listed, she can see one that seems to clearly
sit within her scope (To be able to communicate my needs).
Others (To be able to self- regulate my emotions) she feels she
can contribute to in collaboration with other early childhood
intervention colleagues.
SSP had heard at a providers forum that the NDIS suggests
families identify a lead agency where there is more than one
provider involved in collaborating on the early intervention
supports.
She is aware that the lead agency is sent a ‘Request for
Transdisciplinary Service’ form which outlines the required
reporting, expected outcomes of the service in relation
to progress towards the participant’s goals, the reporting
frequency required, and includes a sample reporting tool to
record progress.
If only one agency was providing all therapy supports then it
would be expected that agency would report on all therapies.
In SSP’s case, a number of agencies are involved in
contributing to the transdisciplinary support for the participant,
so SSP follows up with the family to identify the lead agency.
As well as reporting on the participant’s progress and how
the services are working together, with service providers
contributing progress reports, the role of the lead agency may
include managing how information is shared within the team in
the ways that work best for them and the family (e.g. sharing
copies of reports, regular review meetings etc.).
Whatever arrangements are reached, the expectation is that
reporting will occur in a way that is consistent with family
centred practice, and recognises the central role of a child’s
family in receiving information and deciding how and to whom
it will be distributed. The typical expectation would be that
families would receive all progress reports and that they would
then provide these to the NDIS.
SSP ensures that as part of her early sessions with the family
she talks with them about the importance of communicating
with all the team members. She explains this makes it
possible for everyone involved to help achieve the goals, by
understanding and being able to support and implement the
strategies suggested by the team in a coordinated and holistic
way.
When talking through her service agreement with the family,
she discusses why it is important for her to know everyone who
is involved in providing early intervention supports. She also
arranges consent to communicate with other providers, and
gets clarification about how the family want that to work.
SSP is aware that the introduction of the NDIS has meant that
Adventures of
Super Speech
Pathologist
and the NDIS
Part 2
NDIS