What is Support Co-ordination

What is Support Coordination?

Some NDIA plans include funding for support coordination. Sometimes families are unsure what this means and how they can use it. Read on to find out more about support coordination and how it can help you and your child.

What is support coordination? The NDIA states “Support coordination is a capacity building support to implement all supports in a participant’s plan, including informal, mainstream, community and funded supports.”

  • Informal supports are supports that are a part of your daily life such as family members who can help you with caring for your child.
  • Mainstream supports are things that are accessed by all children of your child’s age such as school, preschool, child care and your local doctor.
  • Community supports are things such as sporting clubs and community groups such as scouting.
  • Funded supports are the things paid for through your NDIA plan such as speech therapy and occupational therapy as well as equipment and paid carers or respite services.
  • A support coordinator can help with all these aspects of your support needs.

How do I know if I have access to support coordination? If you have been allocated funds this will be listed on your plan. If you have not been allocated funds for support coordination but feel that you need it you can contact the NDIA and ask for this to be added to your plan or you can request funds for this at your next plan review meeting.

What can a support coordinator do? Support coordinators aim to help you access the support you need to meet your goals. They can also assist with any issues you may be having regarding your plan or services. Your support coordinator should have an extensive knowledge of service providers and supports available in the community.

When you first meet with your support coordinator, you may:

  • Discuss with you, your child’s current needs
  • Discuss the range of service providers available, their services and prices
  • Guide you to choose your preferred services
  • Discuss any mainstream services that you may need such as for support with housing, transport, education or health

Following this your service coordinator will:

  • Negotiate services provided with providers on your behalf, discuss costs, develop service agreements and create service bookings. This means they will work out how much of your funding will be allocated to each service you chose, how often you will attend and how long your appointments will be so that funding is used in the way you choose across the whole of your plan.
  • Negotiate any assessments needed and any quotes for equipment.
  • Devise a budget and send provide this to your plan manager if you have one.
  • Help you to access any community services that you may need
  • Support you to understand the NDIA system and how to access the portal
  • Help you to have choice and control over your services
  • Increase your independence in managing your services
  • Help you to manage your funding in a cost-effective way

Throughout your plan your service coordinator will:

  • Help you with any problems that arise regarding your services
  • Assist you to request a plan review if your plan or funding is not meeting your needs

Towards the end of your plan your support coordinator will:

  • help you with planning for your NDIA review meeting by discussing progress on your goals so far, any changes with relation to current needs and any changes that need to be made to services you are currently accessing
  • inform NDIA of the progress you have made in achieving your goals and your needs for your next plan.

How is a support coordinator different from a plan manager?

  • Plan managers manage the financial aspects of your plan, such as making payments from your funding to your service providers.
  • Support coordinators manage your support needs, making sure that you have access to everything you need to meet your goals including therapy needs and supports within the community, such as respite and recreation needs.

How can Talking Matters help? If your child has NDIA funding Talking Matters provides speech pathology, occupational therapy, psychology and group programs such as social skills groups and groups to support fussy eaters. To find out more about Talking Matters and our services and resources check our website or call our office on (08) 8255 7137.

What if my child is not yet on the NDIA? Talking Matters services are available to privately funded families also. If your child is likely to be eligible for NDIA services your Talking Matters clinician may be able to assist you to apply for support through the NDIA.

If you are concerned about your child's development including speech, language, play skills, social communication skills, social skills or learning check our website to see how Talking Matters may be able to help. For more ideas and resources check the resources section on our website and our extensive Pinterest page. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter so you don't miss out on what's happening.

Talking Matters Team

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