Specialised Training and Advice

What is Specialised Training and Advice?

Specialised Training and Advice projects provide training or advice to enable services to meet the specific needs of a particular child or children. Specialised Training and Advice projects may focus on training regarding specific medical and/or care procedures (e.g.: PEG feeding; administration of medication) or providing advice regarding management of a specific condition.

Specialised training and advice is a short-term form of support and usually involves a small number of sessions in a short period of time. It is often required prior to a child commencing at a service in order to ensure that educators can appropriately meet the child’s needs.

If a service requires ongoing support to meet the inclusion needs of a child or children, then Guided Practice support may be more appropriate.

Specialised Training and Advice Projects support educators to address immediate Barriers to inclusion for:

• Children with a disability or developmental delay
• Children presenting with challenging behaviour
• Children with a serious medical or health condition
• Children presenting with trauma related behaviours

A Guided Practice Project may be more appropriate if educators require skills, knowledge and confidence to address ongoing Barriers to support a cohort of children with additional needs.

Specialised Training and Advice supports services to up skill their educators in regard to specific medical conditions and/or disabilities. It should be applied for where there is a need for specific training in order to implement a particular procedure or where educators do not have experience working with a particular condition that requires substantial changes to practice.

It is not available to provide training or advice in relation to conditions for which services are expected to have already undertaken training under the National Regulations and for which there should be existing policies and procedures in place. e.g.: Asthma, allergies or anaphylaxis; routine administration of medication. For more information about this see The ISP Guideline Series: No. 3 Including Children with Serious Medical and Health Conditions.

In some cases, the medical and/or other professionals working with a child may be able to provide suitable training, instruction or advice to educators free of charge (or through an NDIS plan), as part of their work with the child and their family. This option should be explored prior to applying for funding to provide Specialised Training and Advice in order to meet the requirement that funding for proposed Innovative Solutions Support Projects is not available elsewhere.

Support Providers are required to hold specific qualifications and/or experience related to the condition/s for which the service is applying for support. Where applicable they should be appropriately accredited to deliver the training or advice required.

Routine Applications

Before commencing a Specialised Training and Advice Project application, the service must have a current Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP), documented in the IS Portal, which includes a SIP Care Environment Plan for the Care Environments who will be involved in the Project.

Urgent Applications

Specialised Training and Advice Projects applications are only considered urgent where a child’s enrolment or continued attendance is dependent on the service being able to access Innovative Solutions Support.

A SIP is not required for urgent Projects, however, after the assessment and outcome of the application the service is required to develop their SIP, including a SIP Care Environment Plan for each Care Environment participating in the Specialised Training and Advice Project.

Please refer to the Innovative Solutions Support Guide for Services for additional information regarding SIP requirements when apply for a Specialised Training and Advice Project.

Inclusion Professionals (IP) play an important role in supporting services to access and implement Innovative Solutions Support Projects. Before beginning the Specialised Training and Advice Project Application Process, services should consult with their IP to determine if Innovative Solutions Support, and a Specialised Training and Advice Project are the best fit for their specific needs.

Individual ECEC services, including specific care environments within a service, individual Family Day Care educators, Family Day Care Services or groups of services can apply for Specialised Training and Advice.

IPs are required to endorse the services application before it can be submitted to the Inclusion Development Fund Manager (IDFM) for Approval.

Developing an Innovative Solutions Support Project requires the service to:

• Consult with their Inclusion Professional (IP)
• Have a current Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP)
• Complete an Application Form including developing a Project Plan
• Select a Support Provider and obtain a financial quote
• Create and submit an IS Case on the IS Portal

Please refer to the Innovative Solutions Support Guide for Services for additional information regarding SIP requirements when apply for a Specialised Training and Advice Project.

Application Outcomes

If funding is approved

The service will receive an email with a Letter of Offer attached, providing the details of their approved Innovative Solutions Case. This will be sent to the Service Provider email address listed on the services SIP. This letter must be signed and returned to the IDF Manager at idfminnovative@ku.com.au. Once the agreement is executed, payment will be made directly to the service from the Department.

If funding is not approved

The service will receive an email with an Application Declined letter attached. This will be sent to the Service Provider email address listed on the services SIP. The outcome of the assessment will be available as an ‘Assessment Outcome’ note on the IS Case.

• The Specialised Training and Advice Application includes an Application Guide and interactive Application Form

• The Innovative Solutions Support Projects - Guide for Services contains a copy of the Specialised Training and Advice Guide