- o reduction in the early childhood intervention workforce if o reduction in the early childhood intervention workforce if generalist services recruit a large number of current early childhood intervention workforce members to work as Early Childhood Partners.

A preferred approach is for the NDIA to put in place mitigation strategies to manage perceived and real conflict of interest issues. These may include and are not limited to organisations managing separate service delivery teams such as Early Childhood Partners and NDIS service delivery teams, reporting on number of children providing NDIS support plans and number of children supported by other NDIS early childhood intervention support services.

The current ECEI approach delivered through the Nepean Blue Mountains has demonstrated an excellent return on investment by the NDIS supporting children with developmental delay and disability appropriately. The approach has supported numerous children to link successful into mainstream support services such as early childhood and preschool services.

Numerous issues have emerged during transition from state delivered support services to the NDIS. However, these issues should not be confused or rolled into the evaluation of the effectiveness of the ECEI approach.

## Supports for children in the school age years

Lifestart is pleased to note that the Productivity Commission Position Paper has acknowledged that there is a need for more to be done in supporting children and young people aged 7 and over in the school age years. Given that 44% of current participants are in the 7-14 age range, it is imperative that there is scope within the NDIS to ensure that adequate funding is made available to support action research and implementation of some innovative approaches.

There are many learnings from the rollout of the ECEI approach that can be applied in the school age years space in terms of inclusive practice. The School Age Years (SAY) Inclusion Support Program, funded by the NSW Government as an innovative pilot, is an initiative developed by Lifestart to support the inclusion of children and young people with disability aged 6 - 18 years during their school years. It has been put forward by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, Strengthening Supports for Children and Families 9-18 years as a way of building capacity of non-government organisations and mainstream services.

The program builds the skills of children and young people and their families to make decisions about their interests and goals, including the activities they want to be involved in, and supports them to participate in mainstream settings and environments. The supports target key life stages and events, including transition to primary school, high school and life after school.

The program has been implemented throughout the regions in which Lifestart operates, and involves supports such as:

- • and coaching to empower families to manage their own planning and • and coaching to empower families to manage their own planning and

packages of support

- • behaviour support, including resources, training and support for key • behaviour support, including resources, training and support for key

partners in inclusive services