The Early Intervention Service Provider Panel (the Panel) was established in October 2008 by FaHCSIA as the mechanism to provide increased access to services for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families and carers. To date, the Panel consists of more than 150 multidisciplinary teams across Australia delivering services at over 540 locations.
To be eligible for membership of the Panel, providers must be:
- A multidisciplinary early intervention provider; or
- A consortium of early intervention providers that collectively and collaboratively provide multidisciplinary services.
- Sole Providers (speech pathologists, occupational therapists and psychologists) subject to quality requirements.
Individual early intervention providers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and child psychologists can form consortia to deliver services through the package. A consortium must include a lead agency. Providers must demonstrate that they provide one or more of the eligible interventions and that these interventions are delivered by qualified and/or experienced staff including at least one or more allied health professionals from at least two of the following disciplines – speech pathology, occupational therapy and child psychology.
FaHCSIA will also consider panel membership from sole providers who must be from the professional groups of speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology. FaHCSIA reserves the right to determine where there may be a need for sole providers based on gaps in available services, particularly in regional and remote areas, and will make every effort to assist sole providers to join a consortium where possible.
Sole providers will be required to make every possible effort to include multidisciplinary practice into their interventions and are required to have membership of one of the following professional boards.
- Occupational Therapists in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory must be registered with the Occupational Therapists Board in the State or Territory in which they are practising; in other States and the Australian Capital Territory, they must be a ‘Full-time Member’ or ‘Part-time Member’ of OT AUSTRALIA, the national body of the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists.
- Psychologists must be registered, without limitation, with the Psychologists Registration Board in the State or Territory in which they are practising. Psychologists must identify themselves as providers of Autism services and be on the APS Autism and PDD Identified Practitioners List.
- Speech Pathologists must be a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (under Speech Pathology Australia’s Professional Self Regulation program). Speech Pathologists practising in Queensland must be registered with the Speech Pathologist Board of Queensland. In all other States, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, they must be a ‘Practising Member’ of Speech Pathology Australia.
Providers are required to have the experience, expertise and capacity in delivering the evidence based multidisciplinary early intervention services required under the Helping Children with Autism (HCWA) package. This includes children living in rural and remote areas, and children from Indigenous and CALD backgrounds.
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1.1 What will families receive through the early intervention component of the HCWA package?
The early intervention component of the HCWA package provides eligible families with options for accessing evidence-based early intervention services. Families and carers of eligible children will have access to a funding package of up to $12,000 (up to $6,000 per child per financial year) to assist with the financial cost of accessing early intervention services. This means that the funding package can be accessed across a number of financial years. For example, a family might access $3,000 in the first financial year, $6,000 in the second financial year and the remaining balance of $3,000 in the third financial year.
The funding package will support the provision of structured and intensive early intervention services, such as one-on-one intensive activities and tailored group and individual programs that can be delivered in a range of settings. Families will use their funding package to choose the early intervention services that best suit their child from FaHCSIA’s Panel. As services are delivered to eligible children, FaHCSIA will make payments in arrears to service providers on the Panel on behalf of families. Further information is in Section 9.
Families who reside in an outer regional area or beyond, according to the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) classification, may also be eligible to access a one-off Outer Regional and Remote (ORR) Payment Outer of $2,000 per eligible child to cover the additional expenses associated with accessing early intervention services.
Following a review FaHCSIA supported an enhancement to the business rules around the ORR payment to include special consideration criteria such as:
- more than one child eligible for funding though the HCWA package;
- no suitable service provider delivering services within 100kms of their residential address (one way);
- difficulty accessing transport or the road network;
- excessive waiting times to access a local provider (over 3 months);
- family or other support available in another location.
This funding will provide these families with additional options for accessing early intervention services as well as training, respite, resources (such as computers to access online information and books), and accommodation and travel to and from support. This payment is in addition to any outreach services available to regional and remote areas and is also in addition to the funding package of up to $12,000 per eligible child.
FaHCSIA will make payments in arrears to the provider on behalf of the family, as services are delivered, up to a maximum of $6,000 per eligible child per financial year (up to a maximum of $12,000). Further information about payment of service providers is in Section 9.
To be eligible for the early intervention component of the package children must meet the criteria for each of the following:
- Age;
- Diagnosis; and
- Residential eligibility.
Within the context of the Operational Guidelines, eligible children are children who have satisfied each of the eligibility criteria as outlined in this section.
Age
The Australian Government has revised the eligibility criteria for children accessing the early intervention funding via the Early Intervention Service Provider Panel. The expanded criteria will allow access to funding up to a child’s seventh birthday, replacing the currently eligibility criteria issued on 2 February 2009, including the special consideration process.
The revised eligibility criteria for children accessing the early intervention funding through the HCWA package is as follows:
- To be eligible for the early intervention funding package a child must have been seen by an Autism Advisor and deemed eligible to access the program before their sixth birthday. The $12,000 in funding under the early intervention component can be used until the child’s seventh birthday to a maximum of $6,000 per financial year.
- All eligible children up to the age of six years will now have access to the early intervention funding of up to $12,000 (up to $6,000 per financial year) regardless of whether or not they have commenced school.
- Once a child turns seven years of age they are no longer eligible to access funding under the early intervention component of the package.
Eligible children are those aged zero to six years who have been diagnosed in Australia with an ASD.
Diagnosis
The Advisor must sight a written conclusive diagnosis made by or through any one of the following:
- the new Medicare items through the Helping Children with Autismpackage; or
- a State/Territory Government or equivalent multidisciplinary assessment service; or
- a private multidisciplinary team; or
- Paediatrician; or
- Psychiatrist
A multidisciplinary assessment team must consist of a psychologist and speech therapist but may also include an occupational therapist.
An acceptable diagnosis is one of the following as listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM) IV under Pervasive Developmental Disorders:
- Autistic Disorder
- Asperger’s Disorder/Syndrome
- Rett’s Disorder
- Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
Please note that having “similar characteristics” to autism is not a conclusive diagnosis.
An acceptable form for a diagnosis to be received by the Advisor should include either:
- letter-head paper, which includes the signature and position of diagnosing person;
or
- as an email with ‘approved for transmission’ in the email by the appropriate diagnosing person
Residential eligibility:
Residential eligibility for access to funding under the package is the same as that for Carer Allowance (Child). That is, both the carer and the child being cared for must be:
- an Australian resident - this means they are living in Australia on a permanent basis and they are either:
- an Australian citizen, or
- the holder of a permanent resident visa, or
- the holder of a Special Category Visa - someone who arrived on a NZ passport and who is not affected by the changes to residence requirements, AND
- have lived in Australia for long enough to satisfy qualifying residence periods or the newly arrived resident's waiting period (whichever applies to the payment being claimed). Note: there are some exemptions.
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1.2 How will families access the package?
Access to the funding package is through the Autism Advisor Program. Following diagnosis, the child’s medical practitioner or diagnosing clinician will provide the family with information about the package and how to contact their local Autism Advisor.
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1.3 Role of the Autism Advisor
Autism Advisors provide a central point for advice, information and linkages to service options for families and carers.
Autism Advisors provide information about local early intervention programs that would best meet the particular needs of their child. This includes up to date information about Panel providers in the family’s area, including the interventions the providers deliver, their schedule of fees and their availability (i.e. whether the child will need to be placed on a waiting list). The information provided by the Autism Advisor will assist the family to choose the provider they would like to access. Once they have made the decision, the Autism Advisor will provide the family with the provider’s contact details.
Autism Advisors confirm eligibility for the funding package and provide printed confirmation to the family or carer of the child’s eligibility. This printed confirmation is known as a Letter of Introduction and must be presented when a family or carer first visits a service provider on the Panel. Further information on the Letter of Introduction is in Section 7.1.
Autism Advisors also support families from rural and remote areas to apply for the Outer Regional and Remote payment.
Autism Advisors can be accessed in a number of ways, including face-to-face, phone and email contact. There are Autism Advisors located in each State and Territory of Australia and can be accessed on the FaHCSIA website.