Early Intervention Services (EIS)
Support is available for the early learning services, family and whānau of children who have additional learning needs.
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This guidance provides early learning services, family and whānau with information about the supports that are available for children who have additional learning needs. Accessing support is not mandatory, though children with additional needs would benefit from assistance.
About the services
Early Intervention provides support for children with additional needs from birth, until they transition in to school.
Services are available to parents, whānau and kaiako to support a plan for a child’s participation and learning.
Early intervention teams work with families and early childhood educators who ask for help when they are concerned about the learning and development of young children. This may concern a child’s developmental delay, disability, behaviour and/or communication difficulties.
Supports available
Early intervention services can be provided by Ministry of Education teams or by contracted Early Intervention providers. These specialists include:
- Early Intervention teachers
- Kaitakawaenga (Māori cultural advisors)
- education support workers
- psychologists
- speech-language therapists.
Support for children who are blind or low vision is provided by the Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ (BLENNZ).
Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ website(external link)
Other early intervention providers include:
- CCS Disability Action(external link) (Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin)
- Ohomairangi Trust(external link) (Auckland)
- McKenzie Centre(external link) (Hamilton)
- Conductive Education(external link) (Hamilton, Christchurch and Taranaki)
- Wellington Early Intervention Trust(external link)
- Champion Centre(external link) (Christchurch)
- Autism NZ(external link) (Auckland)
How to get support
Parents can contact us directly to request support.
Educators, or other professionals can also request support, provided they have the permission of the parents.
- Other professionals could be paediatricians, GPs, audiologists, or Plunket nurses.
- ‘Permission’ requires the full agreement and understanding of the parents/guardians.
A child does not need a diagnosis in order to access our support.
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