Touchstone Winter 2011 - Cerebral Palsy League

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Why Touchstone?
Touchstone means a benchmark,
reference point or measure of quality.
We like to think our magazine is a
benchmark for our industry and a
single point of reference for everything
you need to know about CPL.
Visit us at cplqld.org.au
55 Oxlade Drive
New Farm QLD 4005
PO Box 386
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
Editor – Lesley Slade
Communications Executive
P: 07 3358 8084
F: 07 3358 2495
E: lslade@cplqld.org.au
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Patron
Governor of
Queensland
Her Excellency
Ms Penelope
Wensley AC
what’s
inside?
HAVE YOUR SAY
Tell us about the issues you’d like to
read about in Touchstone!
P: 07 3358 8084
E: marketing@cplqld.org.au
READ US ONLINE
Download Touchstone at
cplqld.org.au/touchstone
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2 REGIONAL INSIGHT
Gold Coast Youth CCC
2 THE CUTTING EDGE
Better Start program
4 SPECIAL FEATURE
The NDIS
6 ALL ABOUT YOU
Rachael Dodds
7 BEHIND THE SCENES
Brooke Shaw
8 FACES & PLACES
10 IN BRIEF
10 CLIENT Q&A
James Peters
12 WHAT’S NEW
13 THE GRAPEVINE
14 P&G UPDATE
14 STATE CCC UPDATE
15 CEO MESSAGE
Gold Coast
From 1 July 2011, children who
are aged under six who have
been diagnosed with cerebral
palsy, down syndrome, sight and
hearing impairments or fragile
X syndrome can be registered
to access funding of up to
$12,000 as part of the federal
government’s new Better Start
program.
A maximum of $6,000 funding
can be spent in any financial
year and families will have until
their child’s seventh birthday to
use the money to access early
intervention services such as
speech pathology, audiology,
occupational therapy, orthoptics,
physiotherapy and psychology.
In fantastic news for many members of the CPL
community, it seems there is finally some light at the
end of the tunnel for families who are struggling to
afford critical, yet costly, early intervention services
Not only does the program
promise to help ease the
financial burden for many
families, but it also means
families can decide exactly how
and where to spend the money
to best suit their child’s needs.
It’s also important to note that
money does not replace any
existing services or funding, but
works in conjunction with other
state and federal programs.
The initiative also promises
to provide support for families
that have older children, with a
Medicare rebate available for the
development of a ‘treatment and
management’ plan for children
up to the age of 13. Medicare
We all know the old saying
‘children should be seen
and not heard’, but the Gold
Coast’s new Youth Client
Consultative Committee
(CCC) isn’t having a bar of it
The Youth CCC is a group of
Queenslanders aged between 8 and 18
with a physical disability, who would
like to help shape the way people with
disability participate in the community.
The committee aims to harness the
incredible creativity, enthusiasm and
energy young people have to change
the way disability is viewed.
Members discuss the challenges
associated with being a young person
with a disability in today’s society,
develop networking and advocacy
skills to meet those challenges, and
their feedback is used to help shape
CPL’s service delivery.
rebates will also be available
for up to four allied health
diagnostic services and for 20
relevant allied health services (in
total) per eligible child. The items
will be available for children until
the age of 15, provided the child’s
treatment and management plan
was in place before they reached
13 years of age.
CPL families who live in
regional and remote areas
will also be able to apply for a
$2,000 one-off support payment
that aims to assist with expenses
such as travel and home visits.
CPL looks forward to the
implementation of Better Start
funding so we can extend
Regional Insight
Regional Manager Kirsty Austin
says “young people can make a real
difference to their own lives and also
improve the services they receive”.
Kirsty argues consultation isn’t just
important for CPL, it’s also great to
encourage advocacy amongst our
youth so they can learn skills which
are transferrable into everyday life.
“Most attendees are non-verbal and
each teen uses a different method of
communication,” she says.
“At our last meeting one of the boys
shared his iPad with one of the girls,
who uses signing to communicate – it
was great to see this kind of sharing
and exploring.
“I think it’s this sort of interaction
that shows how we’re building a
support network here on the coast
and creating opportunities for
genuine advocacy engagement.”
For more information, please
contact CPL’s Southport office on
07 5665 3000.
Better Start program to
give families a helping hand
The Cutting Edge
the services we provide to
our current clients and begin
providing services to those who
are currently unable to access
our services. The organisation is
currently reviewing staffing levels
and administration processes
to ensure when the program
launches, we will continue to
offer service at an expert level
in the most helpful and efficient
way possible for families.
Registration for funding under
the Better Start program will be
available from 1 July 2011.
For further information
please visit www.fahcsia.
gov.au/betterstart or email
Better.Start@fahcsia.gov.au.
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Touchstone Winter 2011
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