If you have a Key Worker leading your child’s team, you may have heard them talk about the ‘Zoom In, Zoom Out’ Approach. But what does this mean?

Key Worker Support for Your Child’s Goals

When you have a key worker, they will be able to work with your child on many of their goals. This means your child may not need multiple therapists. Depending on your key worker’s background and career experience (which can be teaching, social work, psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and a range of other diverse fields), it may be within their scope of practice to work on goals relating to communication, social skills, gross and fine motor skill progression, emotional regulation, transitions, school readiness and more. Having one person to support you and your child makes things easier and simpler.

Having one person to support you and your child makes things much easier.

The Right Support at the Right Time

When a family accesses a key worker, they access a whole team around their child. At times, there may be a need to 'zoom in' on a specific service or type of support for a precise reason then 'zoom out' when the need has been addressed. Key workers can call in other team members when required so the child and family have access to discipline-specific and specialised supports. The idea is that they will receive the right support at the right time.

What Might This Look Like?

As an example, your key worker may notice your child has a need for a speech pathologist and their specific skillset that is out of the key workers scope, such as requiring assessment for an AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) system. The key worker will consult with a speech pathologist who will then zoom in. The speech pathologist would assess, make recommendations, and liaise with the Key Worker. The key worker would then communicate with the parents and work together with you to implement the recommendations and monitor progress in consultation with the speech pathologist.

Or...your child may be preparing to start school and not yet be toilet trained. A key worker would talk to one of the occupational therapists on the team and bring them in to discuss your child with you. The occupational therapist would then put together a program of strategies that could be implemented at home. The key worker will collaborate with you to implement these in consultation with the occupational therapist.

Early Childhood Early Intervention Approach (ECEIA)
and the Key Worker Role

Stepping Out

So, the ‘Zoom In, Zoom Out’ Approach is when the key worker organises for specialists to come in for a short time with specific intentions and interventions, then step out again. Their intervention could be for a few sessions or a block of 6-8 weeks. Another way this could work is when the key worker presents your child’s case to a specialist through consultation, then applies the recommendations suggested without the specialist needing to come in. This could work for issues such as toileting, managing anxiety around haircuts or when a child is having some trouble sleeping.

A Helpful Analogy

What general practitioners are to the healthcare system, are what key workers are to the ‘early childhood intervention’ approach. Key workers bring a broad knowledge and understanding of child development. They are not a specialist in one area but a 'jack of all trades.’  They have their own skillset and will outsource when reaching the limits of their scope. They ensure follow-up and monitoring of day-to-day life. In the same way that a general practitioner would reach out to a cardiologist or lung specialist, a key worker reaches out to other specialists (e.g. occupational therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist etc). They can help you jump the queue and access other supports quicker.

Why is the Zoom In, Zoom Out Approach Best Practice?

This approach is super flexible and efficient with time and budget. It avoids duplication of services and overlapping goals, which makes the most of your NDIS funding. It also keeps things simple for the family because there is one clinician leading a multidisciplinary team, which ultimately leads to better outcomes for participants.

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