Early Start Intervention Program (ESIP)

The ESIP program is specifically targeted towards children displaying signs and symptoms of significant developmental delay and/or developmental regression, as well as risk factors associated with rare disease.

To be eligible for the ESIP, children must meet the following criteria:

• Abnormal muscle tone including hypertonia, hypotonia, ataxia, dystonia and/or spasticity
• Congenital malformations or anomalies including craniofacial anomalies
• Diagnosed hearing and/or visual impairment • Feeding difficulty/Failure to thrive (FTT)
• Hydrocephalus
• Microcephaly
• Musculoskeletal anomalies i.e. tall or short stature, limb deformity, spinal deformity
• Proximal and/or distal significant muscular weakness, muscle atrophy or myopathy
• Prenatal Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)
• One or more birth defect
• Systematic illness i.e. cardiovascular problems, metabolic disorders
• Abnormal brain MRI findings

Children who do not meet eligibility criteria for ESIP, may still be eligible for our Rocky Bay Early Intervention Service.

The ESIP program provides children accepted into the program with multidisciplinary therapy services including a combination of individualised physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and group based aquatic hydrotherapy.

The aim of the program is to:

Provide evidence based care and therapy supports across the home and community

• To provide comprehensive community based, intensive, multidisciplinary, family centered services and support to at risk children and their families
• To provide evidence-based multidisciplinary early intervention within critical periods of development to improve motor outcomes and quality of life
• To advocate for children and their families to obtain adequate services and if appropriate, provide evidence to assist in meeting eligibility criteria for longer term funding and support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
• To work collaboratively with key stakeholders, community organisations and referrers to enhance communication and support surrounding at risk children and their families

Therapy services will take place within the home environment or other natural settings appropriate to the child and family. Our aim as therapists is to upskill caregivers to embed therapy into each child’s every day routines and encourage activity and participation to create opportunities for practice of skills to aid motor development. In addition, each participant will be invited to attend community-based group hydrotherapy and playgroup sessions throughout the year run by our highly skilled ESIP therapy team to enable families to develop their own informal support network.

Yes. The program is based on numerous peer-reviewed studies into the benefits of therapy for children in the specified age group and diagnoses.

The program will run once per week for a 12 month period, plus hydrotherapy sessions (daily, one week per month).

The ESIP program is based on the framework outlined by the National Guidelines for Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention (ECI).

There are no costs associated for eligible participants as out ESIP program is funded by Telethon. Children with NDIS funding packages are not eligible for ESIP, however can access Rocky Bay’s therapy services at our hubs across the Perth metropolitan area.