Kia Reilly, manager at Wyndarra Children’s Centre: Discussing Developmental Delays and NDIS
Access for ECEI participants.
Sarah Eldridge: Hello everyone. Today we start our conversation with our guest, Kia Riley, owner, manager and educator at Wyndarra Childcare Centre and Kindergarten located in Hoppers Crossing. Kia’s been in the childcare industry for over 20 years and holds an Advanced Diploma in Childcare. She’s got tons of experience—hi Kia. Thank you for coming today.
Kia Reilly: Thank you, Sarah, look forward to our little meeting today.
Sarah Eldridge: Me too! Let’s begin with the main focus of what we want to talk about, which is developmental delays, the NDIS and also what childcare centres like yours can do to assist parents. Can we just talk about what happens in an early childhood centre like yours to monitor developmental milestones for children?
Kia Reilly: Yes, so a lot of our records come from observations and conversations with families and you gain a lot by positive relationships and open communication between us and the parents on what’s observed at home and also what’s observed here at the childcare centre. Then we do documentation on the child. We’re recording their milestones, how they’re achieving it, where they are with their development.
Sarah Eldridge: Oh yeah. And how do you record and pick up on these milestones? Do you have a document that you go through? Do you have questionnaires, that sort of thing?
Kia Reilly: There’s a few different ways. On initial enrolment, there is a form that is given out to families and on that form is a bit of a checklist of where their child is at the age of entering the service and what their little milestones are.
Is your child already walking? Are they engaging in conversation using one word? Two words? A little bit of a checklist is gathered right from day one. After that we use our general observations, of course, but then we use a program called Early Ables and that is a series of questions where we can gauge where the child is at, what are the things they’re doing etc and a report is then developed. This report will show where the child is at and what we can do to get the child to reach their goals, or help them to get where they need to be. So, you speak with educators in the child’s class.
Sarah Eldridge: How old would you say most children are when they first enter into your centre?
Kia Reilly: The normal age is around about six months. However, we start really making notes of the child’s progress and using the Early Ables report when the child turns two. Yeah. So, there is an age span, it’s two till six years old when we really use the Early Ables report.
Definitely open communication is needed during this time. And if there are some concerns, especially with our new little babies, then we do refer them to people like the health nurse. But as they progress and get a little bit older, we can start identifying some milestone delays and support the families so they can best achieve them.
Sarah Eldridge: Thank you. Kia. What sort of supports do you provide once there is identification of some developmental delays? Could you tell us about that?
Kia Reilly: So, we make subtle changes within the environment with the use of visual aids, for example. We cut our terminology back down. We use shorter sentences, shorter words that are very clear and crisp to the child. We might put a stop sign on the door. So visually the child is seeing “stop”. I can’t go out. And then with the educator using hand gestures, the visual aid, the child will then learn, that’s the boundary that they need to fall within.
So little things like that, even with drinks and nappy changes, we might use the card so they know what’s coming. That takes away the anxiety. We ensure our environment is a very predictable one. So, we stick with the routine. So, the children know what’s coming next and that’s very important—children really like structure and a predictable environment.
We make sure that’s available for the child. And we get to know the individual children. If we know a certain child is very happy and calm and engaged, we’ll provide lots of activities to support that child. And then we’re able to really engage with their learning. So that’s the basics that we start with, within the environment.
And then of course we need to have conversations with families as well. What we are introducing in our childcare services is really important that the family also supports at home and vice versa. So, we are working together to provide continual care for the child. If we use visual aids with the child, we’ll provide them for the families as well.
So, at home they’re using the same things: the same “stop” card, the same, “please don’t hit” card. It’s going to be very much the same, even when it comes to our emotional regulation stories. We have one that we read in group time, and then we provide it at home as well. So, the parents can continue on with that story at home, so they can identify the feelings and emotions that they’re feeling at home.
That’s the first step in providing support within the room. The next step would be having conversations with the families. And this sometimes can be very tricky. It can be very tricky to hear that your child might need a little bit of support in different areas. Everyone wants the best for their child.
Of course, it can be difficult for the families and it can be difficult for the child experiencing frustration and so forth as well. And just not being able to communicate, it’s very hard for the child.
Sarah Eldridge: Yeah. And so there would be supports outside of the childcare centre that families can access.
And earlier when you were talking to me you mentioned red flags. What are red flags?
Kia Reilly: So red flags is a document that was designed by the Queensland Government. It is very clear about where the children should be—what they should be achieving by a certain age.
So maybe six months would be holding a bottle. One year could be learning to say one or two words. And this is a bit of a checklist. So, if a parent or an educator was looking at a child, they could have a look at these five areas of development and then say, “Oh, is my child achieving that?” Yes, they are, or no, they’re not.
Maybe they’ll be achieving things in three areas and not two. Maybe there’s an additional concern there as well. If it’s identified that the child’s not quite reaching these milestones, maybe additional support is required and that’s where we can have conversations with the families. So we can sit with them and openly talk: Do you see your child achieving this at home? Oh, that’s fantastic. What about this step? Unfortunately, we’re not seeing it here. This is what we are seeing here. So it’s not sitting there saying your child can’t do this. It’s more along the lines of let’s see what your child can do and how we can support them in different avenues.
Sarah Eldridge: That is nice for families. Yeah, for sure. And so now we’ve identified that there is a delay. How does NDIS then fit into the conversation with the families and at that point?
Kia Reilly: It’s getting together with the families again and having that second conversation. We used that Early Ables report. Now that report has been designed by Monash University and sets a very good benchmark of helping the children to achieve that document. Can’t be accessed by families. It needs to be accessed by children’s services. However, they can have it printed and that can be there in the conversation with you.
It’s a great document that visually shows where your child is at, and gives you goals to help you get them where they need to be. You’ve got where your child should be on the very next page. It’s what you can do to support your child, to reach that milestone, which is fantastic, but it also is a good time to speak with families about the NDIS and how they can support their child as well.
And I think it needs to be for a child with a form of delay diagnosis. And that’s what scares parents, unfortunately. Yeah. And so the funding comes from the NDIS itself, but there’s a different program for it, for children under the age of six, called the “early childhood early intervention”, or now it’s called the “early childhood approach”.
And as a plan manager, I know that the funding that’s available is for capacity building and to help the child achieve those goals. And the money then is available for a therapist that. parents can use with other organizations—like the childcare centres—to see how we, they, can build the capacity for the child and raise them up to come to those standards and reach those milestones.
Sarah Eldridge: How can you then get on to this sort of funding and what do you do to assist?
Kia Reilly: Okay. So, the NDIS funding can be a very lengthy process. So, we try and get the parents on board and lots of support really early, because they can be waiting. So, we get together with the room educators who spend the most time with the children and we write a supporting document.
We outline what the child is really good at. And where extra assistance from therapists like a speech therapist, occupational therapist, would really benefit the child. And clearly, we write down in point form how they can provide support and we sign off with our name. And of course we’re always available for follow up phone conversations if they choose to contact us.
But that’s all that is required to make an NDIS application. And of course, including what the parents are experiencing at home that is all that’s required to get your referral looked upon.
Sarah Eldridge So don’t they need a doctor’s report as well?
Kia Reilly: They don’t, they don’t need it, but any report will strengthen their case. However, no it’s not required. And sometimes it’s a really lengthy wait getting to the paediatrician as well. If you can get your foot in the door with this application, and let’s say a paediatrician referral form comes, two months later, then you can add it. It’s never too late to add your evidence and add your support.
Sarah Eldridge: Perfect. So now that you’ve got the NDIS plan, what happens at the childcare centre when they do finally get the plan? I understand that it takes a bit of time and it can take months, but when they do get the plan, what would you do then, as an educator?
Kia Reilly: As an educator, we like to sit with the families again and go through their NDIS report and the goals. And we like to discuss their goals with them as well, to see what we can help them with and implement at the centre as well, to support and keep their care continued from home to care life.
For example, with some of the children that have these struggles, let’s say toileting. A child that I’ve known was not toileting at home. Wouldn’t sit on the potty. Had outbursts! Mum and Dad were like, no, he’s never going to be toilet trained, way too hard. They spoke about it with the childcare educators. They said—Let us embed something here. Let’s try him on the potty here. Within two weeks, he was toilet-trained. He needed to learn that skill in an environment that was structured, that was very black and white.
At this time, all the other children were going potty. And that was something very clear to him because it was the way it was, a very set routine. There it was—that’s what I do. So, when home time came around—here’s your potty, this is what we do—the child was toilet-trained in two weeks. Wow.
Sarah Eldridge: Very different. So, some things can be embedded in the childcare centre before the home life.
Kia Reilly: Yeah. Even with younger children with learning to feed themselves. Parents come in. It’s a goal that they’re going to learn to feed themselves. They’re not at home. They stand there and they scream with their mouth open, like a bird!
We get them into the childcare setting. When we’re all around the table together, we encourage them to use their spoon. The child now can feed themselves. They might not do this at home for a few more weeks, but they’ve got the skill and eventually it continues on in home life. So, the early childhood education is really valuable to try and embed practices as well. That will support the child in their learning.
Sarah Eldridge: Yeah. I have a personal story about that. My daughter, when she was little, she’s in her twenties now, but when she was little, I found it so hard to feed her. She would not eat! But then when she started going to the childcare centre, she came back and she was eating and I was like—I’ve been trying all this time and it just wasn’t working.
What sort of magic have they done? I was really happy with that outcome. I can tell you because it wasn’t a struggle. It wasn’t a fight every day when it came to dinner time. We all want the best for our children and having much support is great. You know how they say something about it takes a whole village to raise a child.
Kia Reilly: Isn’t that fantastic that we live in a country and in a community where we are able to do that through services like the NDIS, through childcare centres, through other maternal health and other supports that the council can provide and so forth.
Sarah Eldridge: So that’s fantastic. Thank you. Anything else that you would like to mention to families who are struggling in this area of developmental delays, Kia?
Kia Reilly: Speak up is a good piece of advice. Reach out to people who are willing to support you. There is definitely help available there. There’s lots of knowledgeable people around and as soon as you find them, you’re going to just grab onto them and never let them go. I’m sure your child will do very well.
Sarah Eldridge: There’s lots of support. Thanks Kia, thank you for all your time.
Isn’t that
Kia Reilly: fantastic
Sarah Eldridge: that we live in a country and in a community where we are able to do that through services like the N D I S through childcare centers through other maternal health and. Other supports that the council can provide and so forth. So that’s fantastic. Thank you. Anything else that you would like to mention to families who are struggling in this area Kia of developmental delays?
Kia Reilly: Speak up is a [00:15:00] good one. Reach out to people who are willing to support you. There is definitely help there. There’s lots of knowledgeable people around and as soon as you find them, you’re gonna just grab onto them and never let them go. I’m sure your child will do very well.
There’s lots of support at. Thank
Sarah Eldridge: you. Thanks ki thank you for all your time.
