Using Sensory items to calm and ground are recognized evidence based strategies.
Yet some people in the NDIS scheme are having NDIS Plan Managers refuse to fund sensory items
This blog provides a rationale for the NDIS to make changes to their website and price guide based on two guidelines.
1. The Disability Guidelines for Trauma –Informed Practice: Supporting people with disability who have experienced complex trauma
2. NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (2020) Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide
The Disability Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Practice: Supporting people with disability who have experienced complex trauma were developed in response to the disability royal commissions findings of high numbers of cases of abuse against people with disability. In response, the government provided funding for the project to develop the Disability Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Practice:
“The Morrison government is backing the creation of a best-practice guide to help the disability sector better support people with disability who have experienced complex trauma.
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the government was investing $267,760 in the project to ensure Australia leads the way in supporting people with disability who suffer violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation.
“The Morrison government will fund Blue Knot Foundation to guide organisations and practitioners on how to better understand complex trauma and deliver trauma-informed care to the disability community,” Ruston said.”
(Probono Australia) https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2020/08/new-guide-to-help-build-a-trauma-informed-disability-sector/
Within the Disability Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Practice , there is a section on developing comfort kits:
“Before the person needs grounding and if the person is able:
• Locate something that the person finds calming to look at.
• Locate something that the person finds calming to listen to.
• Locate something that the person likes to touch.
• Locate something that the person likes to smell.
• Locate something that the person likes to taste.
Place all of these items in a box. When triggered encouraged the person to access their box and use the five senses to explore each item until they can return to the Window of Tolerance.”
If a person is in the Window of Tolerance it means that they are able to concentrate and engage in activities. (Being outside the window of tolerance includes being stressed or shutdown)
Another guideline which is also supportive of developing comfort kits and sensory items is the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (2020) Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide.
Examples of using sensory items to calm include:
Participant “having a quiet space in her home with sensory and relaxation items”. P 38
Participant having a sensory room that was designed for her sensory needs. “this included different items and activities, some of which were portable and could be used within the community when she needed them……The sensory room was to be used proactively to assist Emma to feel calm when she was beginning to show early signs of distress. P 55 and 56
Despite these guidelines having clear support for the provision of sensory items for people with disabilities, it is something that many participants find that it is difficult to obtain funding for.
Solution: NDIS to change the " would we fund it page" and/or develop a line item in their price guide to support people with disabilities and trauma