What is an Inclusion Support Program?
A federal program providing grants and professional development to help mainstream childcare services, schools, and early education facilities include children with disabilities and additional needs alongside their peers.
Inclusion Support Programs are federally funded initiatives designed to help mainstream childcare services, kindergartens, and early education facilities accommodate children with additional needs. They provide financial grants to cover the cost of supporting children with disabilities, developmental delays, autism, and other additional support requirements within regular care and education settings rather than requiring separate or specialist facilities.
The program typically funds support workers, training for educators, therapeutic services, and necessary equipment or environmental modifications. This allows mainstream providers to employ inclusion specialists or fund additional staff time to work alongside each child's existing educator, making genuine inclusion possible within mixed-age, mixed-ability groups.
Inclusion Support Programs matter because they create pathways for children with disabilities to access mainstream early childhood education and care alongside their peers. Rather than facing barriers to entry or being turned away, children benefit from both specialist support and social inclusion from their earliest years. For families in Perth Metropolitan, these programs remove financial obstacles to accessing mainstream services and help ensure that disability is not a barrier to participation in community-based childcare and preschool.
Services receiving inclusion support funding commit to training their staff and adjusting their practices to support children with diverse needs. You can find participating providers offering inclusive care through the directory.