Early Years Engagement Support (EYES) Program

Supporting children aged 0–7 with disability or developmental delay

0 – 7 years
Early childhood window
Children, Families & educators
The different support streams
NDIS access support
Early childhood funding

What is the EYES program?

The Early Years Engagement Support (EYES) program supports children aged 0–7 who may be eligible for early intervention or NDIS funding and the families and educators around them

The Early Years Engagement Support (EYES) program supports children, families and educators through a collaborative and holistic approach to curate individualised targeted strategies and plans to support children within their home environment and early learning setting. The EYES team support families and educators with identifying the right pathway of support that focuses on the development of children’s key developmental milestones that may present as emerging or delayed.

The program operates from within the Y Whittlesea children's services, collaborating with childcare centres, kindergartens and early learning providers in the Whittlesea and Melton region. Our team includes dedicated EYES coordinators who are experienced in early childhood development, NDIS access, and inclusive education practice.

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Who We Support

Children, families and educators:

Supporting families to access what their child needs

We work alongside families to reduce the confusion and stress of navigating early intervention support, so children get the right help at the right time.

Connect families with early intervention and NDIS eligibility support
Help families understand the NDIS in plain language
Link families to external agencies providing further support
Apply best practice principles to meet each child's individual needs
Deliver tailored, child-specific inclusion support plans
Support referrals through to allied health professionals and/or medical and healthcare professionals
Provide resources to support children developmental needs in the home environment

Building inclusive, well-supported learning environments

We work with our educators to ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their needs or abilities.

Develop and monitor inclusion support plans for children in their early learning service
Apply for and manage inclusion support funding within the early learning settings that may include specialised equipment, training for staff, additional educator, minor building works
Provide educator training and source appropriate resources
Build productive internal and external agency partnerships
review and implement appropriate environments and resources

Support worker and child playing with blocks

"Funda and Maxine are supportive, and with their help, we can better support children with special needs. Funda always listens carefully and gives constructive feedback. When we got several rejections from one application, Maxine helped us contact the service again and again. They try their best to support us educators."

Yishan Educator, Orchard Road Early Learning Centre

"The assistance provided by the Early Years Engagement Support team in navigating the NDIS system has been so amazing. As a parent who is feeling the effects of burnout, having this assistance and support has been very helpful. The team has relieved a lot of pressure and stress that would otherwise be shouldered solely by the parent."

Parent, Mill Park Heights Childcare Centre & Kindergarten

The Early Intervention Pathway

Here's how the EYES team typically supports a family from first contact through to ongoing NDIS support.

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Step 1: First contact
Family, educator or childcare service contacts EYES. The EYES team have an initial conversation about the child's development, needs and challenges.
Step 2: Assessment & planning
We assess the child's needs alongside the family, gather relevant evidence and identify early intervention supports if required.
Step 3: Early intervention access support
We guide the family through the early intervention pathways by facilitating referrals and providing supporting documentation and discussing outcomes.

Step 4: Plan & connect
Should the applications for NDIS be approved, we support families in understanding their plan and how to utilise it, as well as guide families to access support providers.
Step 5: Ongoing support
We provide an open door communication to discuss your child’s ongoing progress with their therapist through their time at The Y.
Step 6: Connection to Inclusion Services
If your child is granted ongoing NDIS funding for a permanent significant and ongoing disability, EYES team can support with connecting to our Inclusion Services team.