Interprofessional work in early childhood education and care services to support children with additional needs: two approaches

Abstract

In Australia, over 900,000 children attend some type of early childhood education and care service. Many of these children have learning difficulties and early childhood teachers play a significant role in identifying children’s needs and working with other professionals to instigate and/or implement appropriate interventions. When educators and allied health professionals work collaboratively in interprofessional ways, they are in a better position to support children and their families. Drawing on findings from a sustained body of research, this short paper shares our reflections on some of the benefits and challenges of two different approaches to working in interprofessionally in Australian early childhood education settings, and provides some suggestions for supporting this work.