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Disability support at preschool and kindergarten

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    Support is available for preschool children with disability. Preschools, kindergartens, children’s centres and early learning centres all provide preschool services.

    Eligibility

    To be eligible for support children must be enrolled at their local preschool and have any of these conditions:

    How to get support

    You can ask for support by contacting your child’s preschool director. They can help to organise:

    • support from the education department’s student support services team
    • a preschool support program for children with developmental delay or disability and their parents.

    Support can also be arranged by:

    Inclusive preschool programs

    Inclusive preschool programs (IPP) have expert staff for children with disability who need a lot of support with their learning.

    These programs operate in the following preschools across South Australia:

    Talk to your preschool director to discuss how your child can get into one of these programs.

    Speech and language programs

    Speech and language programs (SLP) support children with severe language or speech impairment. SLPs target speech and language development with individual and small group work. Children also take part in the general preschool program.

    There are programs in these metropolitan preschools:

    Talk to your preschool director or speech pathologist to discuss how your child can get into one these programs.

    Referring speech pathologists and psychologists should read the referral information for preschool speech and language programs to assist with the referral process.

    Early Intervention Service – Deaf and Hard of Hearing (EIS-DHH)

    This service offers a support program for children up to 5 years old who are deaf and hard of hearing. Teachers of the Deaf provide individual support at home or in preschool. Staff are from the education department’s Special Education Resource unit and also work in the Klemzig and Warradale preschool programs.

    Special Education Resource Unit

    The Special Education Resource Unit (SERU) provides a range of learning and teaching materials and specialised services which support children and students with disabilities and learning difficulties such as:

    • equipment for use in preschools
    • special supports for children at preschool
    • resources and publications.

    Contact the Special Education Resource Unit for more information.

    Specialist preschools for children with disability

    There are some preschools that offer more specialised support. Talk to your preschool director to discuss how your child can get into one these programs, or contact these preschools directly.

    The Briars Preschool

    The Briars is a preschool for young children with significant disability who use complex communication systems.

    Kilparrin Early Learning Centre (KELC)

    Kilparrin Early Learning Centre is part of Kilparrin Teaching and Assessment Schools and Services. This program supports children who are vision impaired, or deaf and hard of hearing, with additional disability.

    Klemzig Auslan Bilingual Preschool program

    This program supports children who are deaf and hard of hearing, or children from Deaf families. It is part of the Klemzig Centre for Deaf Education and connected with the Early Intervention Service – Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the Special Education Resource unit.

    Warradale Kindergarten Inclusive Preschool program

    Warradale Kindergarten supports children who are deaf and hard of hearing, or children from Deaf families. It is bilingual and uses both English and Auslan (Australian Sign Language). It is connected with the Early Intervention Service – Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the Special Education Resource Centre unit.

    Inclusive Teaching and Learning

    Phone: 8226 0521
    Email: education.itl [at] sa.gov.au

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