Children with a disability given a better start
Bill Shorten,Jenny Macklin,Julia Gillard
posted Thursday, 29 July 2010
The Gillard Labor Government will provide new access to early intervention services to help give more children with disability a better start in life.
The Better Start for Children with Disability initiative will ensure children with disabilities that affect their development have access to intensive early intervention therapies and treatments from expert health professionals.
In the first year, around 7,880 young children diagnosed with sight and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome will be eligible for services under the program.
Children under six with a diagnosis of one of these disabilities will be eligible to receive up to $12,000 for early intervention services.
From 1 July 2011, children will be able to access critical early intervention services like speech pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology.
A maximum of $6,000 can be spent in any financial year and families will have up to their child’s seventh birthday to use the funding.
A panel of approved service providers will be established covering a range of services such as occupational therapists, audiologists, speech pathologists, orthoptists and psychologists.
In addition, about 20,000 children will also be able to access new Medicare services for diagnosis and treatment under this program.
A Medicare rebate for the development of a treatment and management plan will be available for children under the age of 13.
Medicare rebates will also be available for up to four allied health diagnostic services and for up to 20 allied health treatment services per child in total with relevant allied health professionals.
Treatment items could be used by children up to the age of 15, provided they received a treatment and management plan before they were 13 years of age.
Federal Labor knows that early intervention works, delivering real benefits to children which last for the rest of their lives. It also eases the isolation faced by parents bringing up a child with severe disability.
Many families of children with severe disability cannot afford to access early intervention for their children or bear a huge burden in paying for therapies and treatments from their own pocket.
The Gillard Labor Government wants to relieve this financial pressure and make vital early intervention services more affordable and accessible for families.
The Better Start for Children with Disability initiative builds on a similar program for children with autism that has been successfully implemented by Federal Labor. That program has provided more than 8,500 children with autism spectrum disorder with early intervention funding since 2008.
Under Federal Labor’s new program, more children with disability will be entitled to the same benefits as under the Helping Children with Autism Package.
This total package will cost $122 million over four years.
Funding for this commitment will be fully offset over the forward estimates, consistent with the Gillard Labor Government’s commitment to return the budget to surplus in three years.
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Tags: Bill, Children, disabilities, Disability, Gillard, Government, Labor, National, Shorten, Strategy