Over 22% of Australian children enter school developmentally vulnerable.
Despite the number of children entering school with social and developmental delays, parents and caregivers frequently find it challenging to access early intervention services across their communities.
Provision of accessible, targeted supports in the early years are critical to reduce the rising number of children entering school with social and emotional delays, including undiagnosed neurodevelopment disorders and co-occurring mental health problems.
The Flourishing Child is developing and testing a Flourishing Assessment and Pathway Tool for parents to identify ways to support flourishing in their child's early years.
Through extensive community, researcher and participant consultation, including those with neurodivergent children or those with chronic conditions, ORIGINS defines 'flourishing' as a measure of child wellbeing that refers to the extent to which a child experiences love, safety, positive lifestyle, fun and happiness.
By providing pathways to navigate how to access services when searching for advice and support, parents can be be empowered with new skills, resources and capabilities that support their child's flourishing.
The first stage of this project is the development of the Flourishing Assessment, which will be co-designed by ORIGINS existing community in the Joondalup and Wanneroo area. The assessment will provide information on an individual child’s flourishing to the people who need it the most: parents and carers of young children.
By developing a brief, digital, easily accessible and consumer-informed assessment, it will allow parents and carers to understand their child's needs better and may prompt them to seek suitable support should it be required.
The second stage of this project is the development of a Pathway Tool which will direct parents and carers to a wide range of information such as links to evidence based digital applications, standard community services, tip sheets and websites.
The Flourishing Child study aims to:
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Improve parental efficacy to identify childhood flourishing, and improve parental condience in knowing when and how to seek help.
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Identify children who may benefit from targeted interventions or supports, and increase the uptake of existing services such as universal health checks at two and four years of age
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Engage the community with new technologies which can be used as a base for further research opportunities.
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Advocate for prevention and early intervention in the early years, with a focus on areas of unmet need and targeted inclusion of disadvantaged populations.
Investigators
- Dr Jackie Davis at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Professor Desiree Silva at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Zenobia Talati at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Suzanne Meldrum at Edith Cowan University
- Dr Lisa Gibson at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Professor Raghu Lingam at the University of New South Wales
- Professor Susan Prescott at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Vincent Mancini at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Poonam Pannu at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Dr Jacinta Saldaris at The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Natasha Bear, PhD Student at the University of Melbourne