Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and the NDIS. This is an area families across Australia are working hard to navigate hence it has landed on our radar. To support you with applying to participate in the NDIS we’ve created two resources: 1. A practical podcast, and 2. a practical guide for families. Read on to access both resources.
dld & the ndis podcast
This could be game-changing for Australian DLD families! If you’ve had challenges securing NDIS funding you can not miss Episode 3 of The Talking DLD Podcast. Listen to a very practical walk-through of how to apply for the NDIS with special guest Erin West, NDIS & Practice Advisor for Speech Pathology Australia.
Erin will step you through the types of information you will need to include in your application, and tips to try and increase the chances of success for you or a person with Developmental Language Disorder in your care.
Thank you Erin for sharing your expertise with us. This is why we created The DLD Project. To connect DLD experts and advocates with families, educators and therapists so we can make lives better today!
DLD and the NDIS | A Practical Guide for Families
If you are seeking to apply to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for yourself or a loved one with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) we have developed this practical guide to assist with preparing and submitting your application.
At the time of preparing this guide, we have heard too many stories of people diagnosed with DLD being denied access as a participant to the NDIS. Let’s work together to grow our knowledge about the NDIS and what we need to do to see more people with DLD accepted into the NDIS in Australia.
DLD and the NDIS - Why Are Applications being declined?
Feedback we have received from professionals working to advocate to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the peak body that makes decisions about whether someone is eligible to become an NDIS participant, has indicated there are potentially two reasons driving the number of unsuccessful DLD related applications:
- Applications do not contain the required details to prove a lifelong disability is present that significantly affects a person’s life. Evidence submitted must provide examples of ‘functional impacts’ on a person’s ability to interact with the community and live an independent life.
- The lack of awareness and understanding of DLD among NDIA and NDIS staff can mean they are seeing DLD as a ‘Developmental’ delay and not a lifelong disability.
What is The DLD Project doing to address these challenges?
To overcome these two barriers we have employed two strategies.
Firstly, we have created this guide based on the outstanding insights provided by Erin West, NDIS and Practice Advisor for Speech Pathology Australia. We highly recommend you take the time to listen to our FREE podcast with Erin when working through your NDIS application.
Secondly, to address why applications have been declined, we have written to the NDIA to provide information on DLD and offer our services to assist with educating their networks on DLD.
We're with you every step of the way!
By all accounts, applying to the NDIS is a challenging and a very emotional task at times. We encourage you to seek support along this journey to accessing the supports you or a person with DLD in your care rightfully deserve.
We’re behind you 100%. Do not hesitate to reach out if you need help finding resources and information to support your application.
Please let us know how you go and provide feedback on the information in this guide. We’d particularly like to hear how we can improve this resource for other families navigating the NDIS. Please send your feedback to: connect@thedldproject.com.
Together we can create a world where people with DLD are recognised, understood and empowered to live their best life.
Nat & Shaun | Co-Founders – The DLD Project
Disclaimer: While every effort has been taken to ensure this guide has universally useful information to help families to gain access to the NDIS unfortunately there are no guarantees. The information contained in this guide was last updated in December 2020.
UNDERSTANDING THE NDIS
Disability in Australia
According to National Disability Insurance Australia (NDIA) who oversee the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), there are around 4.3 million Australians who have a disability. Within the next five years, the NDIS is aiming to provide more than $22 billion in funding a year to an estimated 500,000 Australians who have permanent and significant disability.
The NDIS states that their main objective is to provide all Australians who acquire a permanent disability before the age of 65 which substantially impacts how they manage everyday activities with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to live an ordinary life.
NDIS - What does it Mean?
National: The NDIS has been introduced progressively across all states and territories. It is now fully rolled out in all states and territories in Australia.
Disability: The NDIS provides support to eligible people with intellectual, physical, sensory, cognitive and psychosocial disability. Early intervention supports can also be provided for eligible people with disability or children with developmental delay.
Insurance: The NDIS gives all Australians peace of mind if they, their child or loved one is born with or acquires a permanent and significant disability, they will get the support they need.
Scheme: The NDIS is not a welfare system. The NDIS is designed to help people get the support they need so their skills and independence improve over time.
Organisations Involved in Rolling out the NDIS
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA)
The NDIA makes decisions about whether someone is eligible to become an NDIS participant and, if so, how much funding they will receive. This is based on legislation called the NDIS Act 2013 which sets out what supports and services are considered reasonable and necessary for the NDIS to fund. You can read more about the NDIA at their website here.
NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention Partner Organisations
NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Partners are organisations appointed by the NDIA to:
- assist families to understand the role of the NDIS
- guide families to other appropriate supports and
- offer independent advice on providers of support most suited to each family’s individual needs.
The NDIS has engaged Early Childhood Partner organisations around Australia to deliver the ECEI approach. Early Childhood Partner organisations employ staff who have knowledge and experience in child development.
You can contact an NDIS Early Childhood Partner organisation if concerns about your child’s development have been identified and your child is aged between 0-7 years.
- Early Childhood Early Intervention Coordinators
ECEI Coordinators help children and their families access supports and services that are tailored to the child’s needs.
ECEIC Coordinators (ECEICs) help children aged 0-7 years who have a developmental delay or disability.
ECEIPs will also help with connection to other services such as community health services, playgroups or other activities available in your local area.
NDIS Local Area Coordination Organisations
NDIS Local Area Coordination organisations employ Local Area Coordinators (LAC) who help people understand and access the NDIS. They also work with NDIS participants to develop and use their NDIS plan.
- Local Area Coordinators
NDIS Local Area Coordination Partner organisations employ Local Area Coordinators (LAC) who help people understand and access the NDIS. They also work with NDIS participants to develop and use their NDIS plan.
For people over the age of 7, a NDIS Local Area Coordinator (LAC) will be their main point of contact for the NDIS.
An LAC connects people with disability to supports, services, activities in their community and other government services. LACs also work in communities to help them become more accessible and inclusive for all people with disability.
Find out more about LAC partners in the community at the NDIS website.
Visit the locations page or call 1800 800 110 to find your local ECEI Coordinator or LAC.
NDIS National Community Connectors Program
The National Community Connectors Program (NCCP) was developed for community groups who might need additional support to access the NDIS because of social, cultural and economic barriers.
The four identified communities are:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities
- people experiencing psychosocial disabilities and
- ageing parents or carers of people with disability.
Community Connectors play a critical role in identifying and engaging with people with disability and their representatives.
Collaborating with LACs and ECEI Coordinators, Community Connectors are able to help participants who require additional assistance to access the NDIS and use their plan.
DLD and the NDIS - The Challenge
DLD is a Relatively New Term
1 in 14 Australians have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), a hidden but common, lifelong communication disability. DLD has been previously known as Specific Language Impairment or Language Disorder, in addition to many other terms over the past 200 years. However, an international consensus study was published in 2017 with the recommendation to use DLD to describe language difficulties that occur for no known cause.
DLD is endorsed by Speech Pathology Australia, researchers and practitioners across the country. However, it is very likely that the NDIS Partner you meet with will not be aware of DLD, its severity and lifelong impacts.
Therefore, you must be prepared to explain DLD and provide resources to educate your NDIS ECEI Coordinator or LAC.
We highly recommend downloading this fact sheet and submitting it with your online application to the NDIS. You should also bring a copy to all future face to face interactions with your NDIS ECEI Coordinator or LAC to help educate them on DLD.
What is the Process of Applying to ACCESS the NDIS?
0-6 Years of Age - Early Intervention Plan (Under Developmental Delay)
- At this life stage you only need to show evidence of a ‘developmental delay’. You do not have to prove disability.
- You will need to show evidence of impairment in 1 area which includes communication – expressive or receptive.
- Really important!! You will need to prove the need for a sequence of supports, so that the child has received or will need a range of supports e.g. Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy.
HOW TO APPLY
- You do not apply directly through the NDIS website.
- Instead you contact a NDIS approved Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Partner organisation. Different organisations have tendered for the contract to be a ECEI partner organisation around Australia. Find your local partner here.
- They will most likely arrange a phone call due to COVID restrictions to talk through your application.
- Depending on the outcome of your initial call a Planning Meeting will be made where you can present your ‘case’ for support. We’ll get onto what to include later in this guide.
- After your meeting, your ECEI Partner will send all of the information to a NDIS planner who will review your application and a decision will be made.
- Early Intervention Plans may be short term supports offered over a 6 month plan, at which point the child’s needs will be re-examined to determine if the supports have made an impact and the child qualifies for another plan.
0-7 Years of Age - Early Intervention Plan (Under Disability)
- You will need to provide evidence of a disability that is attributable to one or more intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical impairments orto one or more impairments attributable to a psychiatric condition. This would usually need to be a diagnosis from a relevant medical or allied health professional.
- You will need to provide evidence that the child has a substantially reduced functional impact in
- communication;
- social interaction;
- learning;
- mobility;
- self-care; or
- self-management
- You will need to prove that the disability is permanent and lifelong
HOW TO APPLY
- You do not apply directly through the NDIS website.
- Instead you contact a NDIS approved Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Partner organisation. Different organisations have tendered for the contract to be a ECEI partner organisation around Australia. Find your local partner here.
- They will most likely arrange a phone call due to COVID restrictions to talk through your application.
- Depending on the outcome of your initial call a Planning Meeting will be made where you can present your ‘case’ for support. We’ll get onto what to include later in this guide.
- After your meeting, the ECEI Coordinator will send all of the information to a NDIS planner who will review your application and a decision will be made.
- Early Intervention Plans may be short term supports offered over a 6 month plan, at which point the child’s needs will be re-examined to determine if the supports have made an impact and the child qualifies for another plan.
7-65 Years of Age - Standard NDIS Pathway
- For people aged 7-65 years, you need to show proof of a permanent and significant disability as per the following criteria:
- A permanent disability means your disability is likely to be lifelong.
- A significant disability has a substantial impact on your ability to complete everyday activities. Examples must be provided.
- We’ll help you understand how to provide ‘proof’ to meet the above criteria further in this guide.
HOW TO APPLY
- Download and fill out an Access Request Form from the NDIS website and email it to NAT@ndis.gov.au. You can make a Verbal Access Request by calling 1800 800 110. If you require additional support with the application process you can contact your Local Area Coordinators LAC partners in the community.
- Submit supporting information (evidence) as attachments with your application. This can include copies of reports, letters or assessments from health or education professionals detailing your (or your child’s) impairment and the impact it has on daily life. For example:
- therapists reports which may include a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, and psychologist
- a letter from a general practitioner (GP) supporting a DLD diagnosis,
- a letter from a paediatrician confirming a DLD diagnosis,
- a letter from educators regarding impacts on learning, social interactions, ability to function independently, emotional wellbeing, etc.
- a letter from primary carers detailing ‘functional impacts’ DLD is having at home and in the community. We’ll help you understand what this looks like shortly.
- Your NDIS LAC will most likely arrange a phone call due to COVID restrictions to talk through your application.
- Depending on the outcome of your initial call a Planning Meeting will be made where you can present your ‘case’ for support.
- After your meeting, your NDIS LAC will submit your information to a NDIS planner to review your application and a decision will be made. You will generally be notified within 3 weeks of the meeting of the outcome, although the plan being put in place may take longer. Most plans will run for a 12 month period.
Top tip: The NDIS Access Request Form has very limited space to describe DLD and how it impacts each individual. That’s why it is VITAL that you create your own letter separately and attach to the form alongside the reports from therapists, etc. You can also take your letter into your Planning Meeting to guide discussions.
Assessments or reports to include in your ‘supporting information’
If you have undertaken one or more of the following assessments or reports in relation to your disability, the NDIS will ask you to provide a copy with your Access Request Form as attachments.
- The Care and Needs Scale (CANS)
- Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, 2nd Ed (Vineland-II)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Ed (DSM-5) – Autism Spectrum Disorder
- The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed (DSM-4) – Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
- Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS) • Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)
- Gross Motor Functional Classification Scale (GMFCS)
- Communication Function Classification Score (CFCS)
- Manual Ability Classification System (MACS)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Ed (DSM-5) – Intellectual Disability
- The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed (DSM-4) – Intellectual Disability
- Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 5th Ed
- Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, 3rd Ed (WPPSI-III)
- The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)
- IQ test Personal–In-Confidence when complete OFFICIAL DOCUMENT—DO NOT COPY Page 5 of 9 ARF: V 8.1 – 8 April 2020
- Hearing Loss (Measured in decibels in better ear)
- Disease Steps
- Expanded Disability Status Scale
- Level of lesion
- ASIA Score
- Modified Rankin Scale
- Visual acuity level
- Visual field loss (horizontal and vertical)
- World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0)
- Other
Share your story - iMPACT AT HOME ‘supporting information’
The NDIS will also want supporting information about your disability and the impact it has on your mobility, communication, social interaction, learning, self-care and/or ability to self-manage.
Write a letter from the perspective of yourself as a person with DLD or as a carer of a person with DLD providing examples of the daily impacts DLD has on your life and the adjustments you need to make to live independently.
Give evidence where possible to support your observations such as the person with DLD is struggling socially, and has trouble making friends or finding a job.
Focus on providing examples of where DLD is impacting inclusion, independence and participation in society.
EXAMPLE 1
- Challenge: Ability to self-manage
- Functional Impact: Can’t learn to drive
EXAMPLE 2
- Challenge: Self-care
- Functional Impact: Can’t tie his/her shoes at 7 years of age
EXAMPLE 3
- Challenge: Emotional regulation
- Functional Impact: Family has to undertake 30 minutes a day meditation about going to school.
EXAMPLE 4
- Challenge: Social Connection
- Functional Impact: Person with DLD is repeatedly excluded from birthday party invitations as language is holding them back from making friends.
DLD and the NDIS - What supports can you apply for?
The NDIS considers what is best funded by them and what sits with other government programs.
You need to think what is reasonable and necessary? There are things the NDIS do and do not fund. The NDIS will not fund educationally based supports such as a Teacher Aide. However, they may fund a resource recommended by your school for use at home. For example, a device such as an iPad to help a person with DLD engage in the community. Be sure to collaborate with therapists to understand how their services will support you or your child with DLD and use this information in your request for supports. Types of supports to consider applying for:
- Supports and services: Assistance or products that help a person in their daily life and help them participate in the community and reach their goals.
- Early intervention: Providing support to a person, either a child or an adult, as early as possible to reduce the impacts of disability or developmental delay and to build their skills and independence.
EXAMPLE 1
- Support: Speech pathology services
- How it helps a person with DLD: Speech pathology can help people with DLD to develop their language abilities to their maximum potential. Speech Pathologists will teach strategies to the child and those around them to reduce the impact of their communication difficulties and support them to access education and social activities.
- Support: Occupational therapy
- How it helps a person with DLD: Self-care routines like getting dressed (fine motor skills and motor planning) and writing and copying notes (fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination). Reacting to sensory input (self-regulation skills).
Other supports to consider include:
- psychologist support – DLD can impact a person’s mental health
- physiotherapy – low muscle tone due to DLD
- tutoring – Student with DLD needs support to access the curriculum
- private sports lessons – . For example you need to have individual swimming classes as you need more support and attention/low sensory. The NDIS may pay the gap between a normal class and the cost of a private class.
- Sign language training– to enable a family to communicate with a person with DLD
Always think about the community context. Will the ‘supports’ you are applying for help you or your child at home or in the community to succeed in life. Remember, if you are applying for ‘supports’ that will only have an impact in a school setting you are likely to receive a no from the NDIS.
Applying for equipment
All equipment must be able to prove that it will help the person with DLD to ‘participate’ in society and their community.
Preparing for the Meeting
Here’s some great things to know about meeting with NDIS Partners or LACs:
- You can take someone with you including your therapist. However, be aware that if you take your therapist they may charge you for their time and the NDIS will not cover this cost.
- You can also ask for a disability advocate to attend with you.
- If the date set for the meeting doesn’t work for you, ask for another date.
- If the reports you are providing as ‘evidence’ to support your application aren’t ready pre-meeting you can ask for extra time post-meeting to submit them.
- The NDIS is not allowed to do the planning meeting on the phone anymore unless requested by you the client. * This has changed slightly due to COVID, with more video calls occurring.
- You can choose the meeting location which can include:
- under 7 years – the Early Intervention Partner office
- 7 – 65 years – your home or office space
- You may also consider meeting at a school.
- Choose a location that makes you feel comfortable, calm and ready to state your case.
- Be sure to come to the meeting with dot points of the key examples of how DLD is impacting your life or the life of a loved one and details on the types of ‘supports’ you have been told will help. These meetings are often emotional and its easy to forget things. Remember the brain naturally shuts down under stress so its important to prepare as much as possible.
- We recommend bringing bottled water and tissues as well.
- You do have some power through the process if you feel this is not the case.
What happens after your meeting
Your ECEIC/LAC will submit the information for a planner to look at your case. The planner will:
- Review the evidence provided
- Determine what supports will be covered in your plan
If you do not hear from your LAC or ECEIC after 3 weeks you should touch base and ask for an update. You should expect to hear a decision about access within 3 weeks of your meeting, although actually getting the plan may take longer. Keep in mind there may be a delay if you are applying over the Christmas period and NDIS partners are on holidays.
What Happens if your application is approved?
How long does a plan last?
A short-term plan will usually last for 6 months. The standard NDIS plan lasts for 12 months.
How long till you’ll receive funds?
There’s a lot of variation and it comes down to the time it takes the planner to make a decision and the type of plan management you’ve chosen during the application process:
1. NDIA MANAGED PLAN - FASTEST OPTION
NDIA keep the funds in their portal and you use only NDIS registered providers. Providers will go into the portal and request payment.
When your plan is managed by the NDIA (sometimes referred to as Agency-managed):
- You are able to choose from a range of NDIS registered providers.
- Your providers claim payment electronically from your funding.
- You cannot use unregistered providers.
- You can look on the myplace portal to see what claims providers are making against your NDIS funding and keep track of your budget.
- The NDIA will manage your book-keeping and records of your spending. They will send you information regarding the funding left in your plan.
2. Self-MANAGED PLAN - 2nd FASTEST OPTION
This option gives you more freedom to choose your providers BUT you have to do the heavy lifting when in comes to administration, record keeping, receipting, etc. It could easily take over a big part of your already busy life but it will give your family more choices.
Essentially, you are encouraged to set up a separate bank account for NDIS funds to be paid into. You then go into the NDIS portal and submit either your invoice or receipt (if you have already paid for the service), the NDIA pays you, and then you pay approved providers directly.
The benefits of self-managing
Self-managing your NDIS funding gives you control, independence and flexibility in arranging and paying for your supports. If you self-manage your NDIS funding you will have:
- Choice in deciding what supports you purchase in line with what is included in your plan, who provides these supports and how they are delivered.
- Flexibility to use any provider that will best help you to meet your plan goals.
- Capacity to employ or contract staff directly, or have someone employ staff on your behalf.
- Ability to negotiate the costs of your supports so you get the best value-for-money and to use savings to buy more or better quality supports.
- Control over and responsibility for your NDIS funding so you can manage your own budget for the duration of your plan.
Responsibilities
If you are thinking about self-managing you need to understand your responsibilities as a self-manager. Your responsibilities include:
- Purchasing supports that link to the goals in your NDIS plan.
- Making clear agreements with your providers about the supports you will receive including how they will be provided and paid for.
- Managing your funding so the costs of the support give you value-for-money, and can be met within your budget.
- Claiming and paying for supports by making payment requests and paying for your supports on time.
- Keeping invoices and receipts to show you have paid for your supports using your NDIS funding.
- Meeting your obligations as an employer if you choose to employ staff directly.
- Showing how you’ve used your self-managed funding towards reaching your goals at your plan review. You will need to keep records of how you have used your funding.
- Advising the NDIA of any significant changes in your circumstances that may result in you being unable to meet your responsibilities as a self-manager.
- Participating in any payment auditing where you will need to provide invoices, receipts or other evidence to show you have spent your funds in-line with your NDIS plan.
3. PLAN-Managed - 3rd FASTEST OPTION
The NDIA will provide funding in your plan to pay for a Plan Manager who pays your providers for you, helps you keep track of funds and takes care of financial reporting for you.
Why use a plan manager?
A plan manager can help you:
- increase your financial and plan management skills
- learn how to self-manage your plan
- pay providers
- increase your choice of providers
- get NDIS plan budget reports and greater budget oversight.
How can I have plan management?
At your planning meeting you can tell NDIS staff that you would like a plan manager to support you.
The NDIS will include funding in your plan to pay for your plan manager. This is separate from your other services and supports in your budget.
If you are mid-plan and want to change, contact us on 1800 800 110 to discuss how you can include plan management in your plan.
How do I find and connect with a plan manager?
You can find and connect with a plan manager through:
- your Local Area Coordinator, Early Childhood Partner or support coordinator
- the Provider Finder tool on the NDIS myplace participant portal
- your friends and family
- other online resources and websites.
Annual Plan Review
Review meetings can be called early after 9 months. You can ask for the review meeting to be held closer to the 12 month mark however it must be held at least 6 weeks prior to the end of your plan.
- You will most likely meet with a different person for your review meeting
- If you get to a month out from the end of your 12 month plan and no date has been set for a review meeting, make sure you chase it up
- You will need reports for your meeting that detail the impacts of the ‘supports’ funded by the NDIS
What Happens if your application is unsuccessful?
If you think a decision the NDIA has made about you is wrong, you can request an internal review of a decision. Any person directly affected by a decision of the NDIA can request such an internal review.
There is a list of ‘reviewable decisions’ in the NDIS legislation. If the NDIA makes a decision about you that is on this list, you can request an internal review of that decision. Many decisions made by the NDIA are reviewable, including things like being accepted as a participant, the provision of reasonable and necessary supports, and becoming a registered provider of supports.
When you are told about an NDIA decision, you will be told how to request an internal review. A request for internal review of a decision must be made within three months of receiving notice of the decision from the NDIA.The staff member who works on the internal review will not have been involved in the earlier decision. They may want to talk to you directly as part of this process.
How to request an internal review of a decision
You can make a request for internal review of a decision by:
- submitting a written request to:
Chief Executive Officer
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601 - talking to someone at an NDIA office
- calling 1800 800 110
- sending an email to: enquiries@ndis.gov.au.
When you ask for a review, explain why you think the decision is incorrect.
Visit the Review your access decision page on the NDIS website to download the application form. You don’t have to use this form but it can help you describe why you want an internal review of the decision.
What happens next?
A NDIA staff member, responsible for the internal review, will make a decision to confirm, vary or set aside and substitute the earlier decision. This decision will be made as soon as reasonably practicable.
What if you are still dissatisfied after the internal review of the decision?
If you are still not happy after the internal review of the decision, you can apply for a Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) review. The AAT is an external independent tribunal.
You cannot ask the AAT to review a NDIA decision until the NDIA has internally reviewed it.
For information about applying for an AAT review, visit the AAT website or call 1800 228 333.
What if YOU have concerns about the decision-making process?
If you are not satisfied with the way the NDIA carried out its decision-making, or how the NDIA dealt with you during the review process, you can make a complaint.
Permanent and lifelong is the reason many of my students are getting rejected from the NDIS – despite qualifying for school funding support.
The fact sheet that you recommend attaching to applications does not say that DLD is permanent and lifelong – how do we overcome this barrier?
Hi Sarah, thank you for your feedback. Our factsheet states that DLD is an invisible, lifelong disability. We’ll get in touch with the NDIS to see if ‘permanent’ is necessary as we do have lifelong in there already. We also have other resources coming to help with NDIS advocacy. Watch this space!
I just got my child Diagnosed as a family we don’t understand her eg feeling she doesn’t talk much I can’t gage how she feeling
Would she be best support by having a support worker?? I am on ndis had neck fusion and other Disabilities But Ndis kept putting on me that I’m the mother and that’s a part of my mother duties
And I also suffer from brain function My daughter is on NDIS but didn’t give any large amount of funds for core support can you please advise me on how my support coordinator can advocate from my daughter I actually thought about sign language so she could express how she was feeling but it’s so frustrating because I’ve also got two other children with autism and I’ve also passed down a rare connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
My son has just been approved for the Early Years intervention after a big battle. He has a phonological speech delay and history of delayed language. Does this come under the DLD umbrella? What paperwork do I need in the next 12 months to apply to NDIS to continue his supports once he is off the Early Years funding in 12 months? I found out about the Early Years Intervention just before his 6th Birthday by pure luck talking to another parent. We had previously been seeing a speech pathologist in the public system which he got kicked off once starting school. I was told by them that he didn’t qualify for any funding under NDIS because he doesn’t have a permanent disability. I found out by pure luck about the Early Years Intervention. (If only I knew about this earlier!).
Hi Lea,
Some children with language difficulties before 7 years of age will meet criteria for diagnosing DLD. Have you seen our page for families on DLD and NDIS? https://thedldproject.com/dld-and-the-ndis-a-practical-guide-for-families/.
We’ve stepped out key information here.
If you’ve found a new speech pathologist to work with since accessing the Early Intervention funding, then they will be able to support you with the diagnostic process.
Kind regards, Shaun
Thanks so much!
This blog is a game-changer for families trying to understand how DLD intersects with the NDIS. Your practical guide is a true asset. Well done!