Inclusion Support Program (ISP)
The Inclusion Support Program provides support to Commonwealth funded early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to address any barriers to inclusion for children with additional needs. The Inclusion Support Program supports the inclusion of all children and may be available for children with a disability, undergoing assessment, with serious medical needs or trauma-related behaviours. The Inclusion Support Program can also support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children and children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds or from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds.
Who
Inclusion Professionals are available to work alongside all Commonwealth-funded ECEC services to ensure that appropriate resources to support children’s inclusion can be identified and implemented. The Inclusion Professionals support the following settings:
- Long day care services
- Outside school hours care services (including vacation care services)
- Family day care services
- Occasional care services
- Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services (MACS).
Children who may need or require specific considerations or adaptations to participate fully in ECEC services and receive support from the Inclusion Support Program (ISP) may:
- have a disability or developmental delay
- present with challenging behaviours
- have a serious medical or health condition, including mental health
- present with trauma-related behaviours.
To ensure these children are able to participate fully in ECEC services and experience positive outcomes, the ISP also supports:
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children
- children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- children from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds.
The Inclusion Support Program can also support ECEC services offering a state funded kinder program once the Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS) program has been thoroughly explored as an option.
It is important to also consider NDIS eligibility for children with a disability or developmental delay.
What you can get
The Inclusion Support Program provides resources, guidance, and mentoring directly to the education and care services (ECEC) service to:
- build their capability in providing and embedding inclusive practices
- address barriers to inclusion experienced by children with additional needs.
How to access
The ECEC service will lead the application so set up a meeting between the parent/carer and their ECEC service to discuss support for a child's inclusion and participation in their program.
It can be helpful for other professionals working with a child, such as family service workers or allied health practitioners, to provide supporting evidence for the application process.
Resources
- The Association for Children with a Disability (ACD) has many resources available for families of children with a disability.
- ACD run a free support line, helping families to understand their child’s rights and support them to advocate for their child and family. The support line is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Call 03 98807000 or 1800 654 013 (regional) Or email acdsupport@acd.org.au Or text 0475577 997
