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About our team

Vision Australia supports children and young people who are blind or have low vision, and their families, to build practical skills for everyday life.

We work in partnership with families using a family-centred multidisciplinary approach. You are the experts on your child, and are best placed to make decisions about your child's development. Your family can be at the centre of all decision making and your needs and aspirations will drive the support you will receive from us.

Our multidisciplinary team includes:

  • primary service provider (PSP) (more below)
  • occupational therapists
  • speech pathologists
  • physiotherapists
  • psychologists
  • orientation and mobility specialists
  • access technology specialists
  • orthoptists

We focus on early development, participation in home and community life, and inclusion in education.

A primary service provider (PSP) is your family’s main point of contact with Vision Australia. Having a PSP ensures you receive coordinated advice and support, greatly simplifying your relationship with the specialist team.

Your PSP will partner with you, your child and any other significant people in your child's life to:

  • help you to complete a family questionnaire and develop a service agreement that addresses your hopes and aspirations for your child
  • support you to develop and implement strategies into:
    • your family's existing daily routine
    • your home and local community
    • other places of significance for your child.
  • give information and advice which allows you to coordinate services, understand professional terminology and practices, and access resources
  • support you in advocating for the needs of your child and family
  • be the point of contact between your family, the team and any other services that may be involved (e.g. medical specialists, school, community agencies)
  • coordinate and share information about your child's development, success and achievements with the team and other services
  • provide a flexible and responsive service to meet the changing needs of your child and family.

About our services

Your initial consultation will be with one of our family support practitioners or senior service providers. In this consultation, we will seek to learn from the family's knowledge of their child, including:

  • your child and family's unique strengths, needs and priorities
  • contact information, preferred communication and language needs
  • consent, terms and conditions, any relevant risk assessments
  • your child or young person’s vision history and health background
  • hearing information if relevant
  • assistive technology currently used or needed
  • other services currently involved
  • education or childcare setting details and key contacts
  • family situation, key people and priorities
  • funding details and how supports might be planned.

We will also talk about your child or young person’s communication, motor skills, sensory needs, play and learning, self-care and behavior, along with their strengths, interests and what matters most to your family. In short, this initial consultation is a great opportunity to start setting your child’s goals.

Many children learn best in natural learning environments. They need exposure to communication, movement and play activities to build independence in self-care, and to have nurturing interactions with their families in their everyday places.

We provide our services in these everyday places: in the home, community or education settings where your child will develop and learn everyday skills. If you live near one of our many offices, we also encourage you to consider having your sessions in-clinic, where you will have access to a broader range of services, technology, aids and equipment, that we cannot bring with us to home visits.

Additionally, we also offer a flexible range of services over video or via phone, which will help to make the most of your funding while ensuring a high-quality service, and may mean you can access an earlier appointment.

Regardless of where your session occurs, the frequency of support can be individualised, based on the plan which outlines your goals and aspirations.

Services can be tailored and scheduled around the needs of your family. The duration of your transdisciplinary service is based on the goals that you set and you may come into and out of service as you choose.

We believe that well-coordinated and consistent services result in the best outcomes for children. If external expertise is required, we will help you to source these services and will work collaboratively with those agencies.

After your initial consultation, your service provider will tailor a service plan for your child, which will outline the services they will receive.

While the specifics of each appointment will depend on your child's needs, appointments with your service provider typically include:

  • 30 minutes preparation and follow up. This may include reviewing goals, adapting resources, planning the session and communicating with other providers when required.
  • One hour therapy or specialist appointment time. This may be at our clinic, your home, your child or young person’s education setting, a community location or via telehealth.
  • If your therapist is required to travel to you, this travel time is charged at half the hourly rate and usually covers up to 60 minutes return.

Most appointments are one hour. Appointment time may be extended up to two hours to make the best use of your funding if travel is required or an assessment is being administered. We always consider your family’s availability, your child or young person’s capacity and fatigue levels, and any other factors that affect comfortable participation.

You can choose weekly, fortnightly, monthly or targeted blocks of support.

Appointments can be in our clinic, at home, at your child or young person’s education setting, in the community or by telehealth.

We can adjust the plan as your needs change.

Funding information

If your child or young person already has NDIS funding, we will need to know which impairments are officially listed in their plan. This determines the range of services we can provide.

If “Sensory Impairment: Vision” is listed, all of our services can be accessed under the plan.

If “Sensory Impairment: Vision” is not listed, only occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy and psychology can be delivered.

We will need a copy of your child or young person’s eye condition report from their eye specialist before any Functional Vision Assessment can be booked.

Please note, if your child is under the age of six and accesses the NDIS because of developmental delay, you can access all our services regardless of whether the sensory impairment is registered or not.

Many families find it helpful to plan in quarters. For example, $5,000 for a three-month period supports around 17 one-hour appointments at $290.99 per session at the standard allied health rate without travel. If travel is needed, this would cover around 14 to 15 appointments depending on location and duration.

When planning, it can help to think about where sessions happen.

Attending appointments at a Vision Australia centre avoids travel charges and can help stretch your funding further.

Telehealth appointments by phone or Teams video can also minimise costs and make access more flexible. These work well for families who live further away, have busy schedules, or when your child or young person is more comfortable at home.

Telehealth supports a coaching approach where your therapist guides you to use strategies in everyday routines. This builds your skills and confidence, supports carryover between sessions and often delivers strong outcomes while making efficient use of your budget.

Medicare Chronic Disease Management

Families can speak with their GP about Medicare Chronic Disease Management referrals, which may help with costs outside NDIS funding. 

Medicare Better Access to Mental Health

The Better Access initiative provides Medicare rebates for psychological support and mental health care. This can help reduce costs for psychology services where appropriate. 

Direct private payment

If families don’t have external funding or prefer not to use their funding for certain services, they can still choose to access support by paying directly for appointments. This simply means covering the cost themselves, similar to how you might pay for other professional services like music lessons or sports activities.

Additional resources

We work with the state-based education departments across the country. Schools can request support for students with vision impairment, and we plan visits to discuss priorities and how supports look in the school setting.

If you would like your child or young person’s school to be approached with information about Vision Australia’s school services, please let us know and we can make contact with the school team directly. This can help build consistent support between home and school.

Vision Australia Library

A national accessible library with audio books, braille, large print and digital formats for children, young people and adults. Membership is free and books can be borrowed and returned by post or accessed online.

Feelix Library

A free postal library of tactile picture book kits containing braille and large print. The kits are designed to help children who are blind or have low vision build early literacy skills and a love of reading. Families can sign up online and receive kits delivered to their home. 

Vision Australia Learning

Vision Australia Learning offers a collection of practical resources for families of children and young people who are blind or have low vision. It focuses on everyday skills such as communication, movement, sensory exploration, self-care, play, social connection and participation in education.  

It includes information about the Expanded Core Curriculum, strategies to adapt home, kindergarten, school or community settings, and tips from specialists and families for building everyday independence and confidence. 

Just ask and we’ll sign you up.

Events

Vision Australia runs a variety of group programs and events for children, young people and families throughout the year, including Future Me Family Fun Day, Making Waves, Back to School Reboot and more. Event details and registration links can be found on the events page.

Parent community

Vision Australia’s family Facebook page offers an online space for parents to connect, share experiences and access practical resources. Families can join to receive information about upcoming sessions and parent-focused events.

Access Technology Helpdesk

A free service providing information and guidance about assistive and adaptive technology to support learning, communication and independence for people who are blind or have low vision. 

Call 1300 847 466 and ask for the Access Technology Helpdesk.

Our ‘Children with vision loss, what can they see’ brochure

A practical resource that explains how children use their remaining vision, with strategies for contrast, lighting and reducing glare in daily life.

Stand up for your rights

Information and education to help families understand their rights, navigate systems confidently, and advocate for their child or young person’s needs. 

Blind Citizens Australia

A national organisation representing people who are blind or have low vision. Provides advocacy, peer connection, information and support.

Classification through Paralympics Australia

Information and support for children and young people interested in sports classification pathways and opportunities to participate in Para sport.

Next steps

If you are applying for NDIS funding, please let your PSP know once your plan is approved.

If you already have funding, we can begin scheduling supports.

If you have any questions about fees, travel, frequency or planning supports, we are happy to help anytime. You can call us on 1300 847 466, or email us at: