Report reveals rural children miss out on early intervention funds

A new report into therapy services for children with disabilities and autism has found that rural children access up to 60% less funding than their urban peers under two key government programs that provide help for families to cover the cost of early intervention. The report, conducted for Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH) as part of an Australian National University (ANU) research project, was based on a survey of advisors and registrants with Australia’s two early intervention programs, Helping Children with Autism (HCWA) and Better Start for Children with a Disability (Better Start). Under the programs, children with a diagnosis of disability or autism can access federally funded therapy services of up to $12 000 per child up to the age of seven. However, the research found a serious shortage of allied health professionals in country areas, especially psychologists, meant that the majority of children living in rural and remote Australia could not access as much therapy as city-based children. Although HCWA and Better Start include a $2000 travel allowance for families living in outer regional, remote or very remote areas, the programs do not include travel allowances for therapists. The research also looked at the registration data for clients of HCWA and Better Start and found that rural children were 23% less likely to be registered – which means they cannot access the funds they are entitled to for therapies such as psychology, occupational therapy and speech pathology. All three of these allied health services are regarded as best practice for children with autism to maximise their potential for improving speech and behaviour prior to starting school. Report author Maximiliane Hanft, a Masters student at the ANU, concluded that ‘the individual funding model that lies at the heart of HCWA and Better Start, which is based on the idea of choice and empowerment of clients, fails in rural Australia’. Ms Hanft conducted the research under the ANU’s Internship Program while on a 12-week placement at SARRAH, which administers the National Rural and Remote Support Service – a federally funded program that aims to extend early intervention therapies across rural and remote Australia by tackling the barriers to practising allied health services outside of the cities. Her final report maps the areas with the greatest service deficits, which include Charleville, Emerald, Pilbara, Kimberley, Deloraine, Warwick, Roma, Gayndah, Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Alice Springs, Young, Moree, Griffith and Bega. However, one city has not escaped the problem, with Darwin listed as needing more speech pathologists. Louise Pemble Communications Officer, Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health Louise@sarrah.org.au Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health piece for December issue From the Journal Associates FIGURE 1: Allied health early intervention therapist with child in rural Australia. bs_bs_banner