The Enhanced Early Supports Pilot provided individualised early supports in home and community settings to a group of children and their families in Melbourne’s west not accessing individual NDIS funding. A 12-month evaluation showed the model made a meaningful impact. The lessons from this pilot act as a potential model to be adopted nationwide and informs the future of the Thriving Kids program.

Key findings

• Children made significant improvements on key development measures.
• The service provided families the support they needed.
• Caregivers felt better able to support their child.
• Caregivers became more confident and were more satisfied with the supports they were receiving.
• Caregivers unanimously reported that the pilot was a valuable, high-quality service.
• Families made progress on their goals.

Recommendations

• Implement the Lead Practitioner model as part of an integrated early years approach.
• Within Thriving Kids, provide targeted foundational supports in natural settings, such as those provided by this trial, for children 0–6 with developmental differences.
• Explore the possibility of delivering the model via an expanded workforce to address workforce supply and demand pressures across the system.
• Build in linkages across a range of integrated services to strengthen families’ self-advocacy and improve engagement with community and mainstream systems.
• Strengthen peer support for caregivers through the model, as recommended by the NDIS Review.
• Complete longitudinal follow up to determine sustainability of outcomes.