The Family Voices Podcast is a new series featuring casual conversations with families of children with disability and/or developmental delay and the professionals they work alongside. This podcast aims to support and build families’ knowledge, skills and confidence when navigating the early childhood intervention (ECI) landscape. It is also an avenue for parents to share their individual stories of everyday life in a family with a child diagnosed with disability and/or developmental delay. Bought to you by Early Childhood Intervention Australia - Victoria/Tasmania (ECIA VIC/TAS) - a membership-based not-for-profit organisation proudly working alongside families, practitioners and other organisations that provide supports for young children with disability and/or developmental delay for over 35 years. To learn more about the podcast and our organisation please visit: www.eciavic.org.au
Episodes
Oct 13, 2022
Oct 13, 2022
39 min
In this episode, our host Dr Kerry Bull talks with Lisa (Sean's mum). Putting friendships at the top of the list among the busyness of family life, Lisa shares practical strategies with us like using structure and shared interests, and also what she called sealing the deal, not leaving opportunities to chance. She acknowledged that this took perseverance and even courage at times, but we found her description of Sean's ordinary and extraordinary life now as a young man really uplifting and we think you will as well.
Download the podcast transcript here >>
Sep 26, 2022
Sep 26, 2022
35 min
In this episode, our host Dr Kerry Bull talks with Kate Strohm from Siblings Australia. Kate discusses the complex and ever-changing relationships between siblings, including added complexities when one sibling has a disability. She shares ways practical ways parents can help children feel listened to and understood, and thoughts about how parents can help build strong relationships between siblings.
Download the podcast transcript here >>
www.eciavic.org.au
Apr 29, 2022
Apr 29, 2022
38 min
In this episode, our host Dr Kerry Bull talks with Stacey (Alex's mum). Stacey paints a vivid picture of her two very different experiences with early childhood intervention programs, describing the paths her family has travelled and the different approaches along the way.
Stacey uses words and phrases like 'family-centered', 'embedded learning in daily routine', 'natural opportunities for learning', 'incorporating the strengths of their family', 'building their capacity' and 'having a partnership with therapists'. These elements of early intervention are all part of our national best practice guidelines. The guidelines provide an overview of the latest research and advice on services and supports for young children with a disability or developmental delay.
Download the podcast transcript here >>
National Guidelines: Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention
Mar 29, 2022
Mar 29, 2022
33 min
In this episode, Dr Kerry Bull talks to Sam about her growing confidence in navigating systems. Sam also talks about her increasing sense of agency in terms of developing the ability to make good choices and being empowered or energised to take action, to achieve the results her family needs. Sam speaks so strongly about the choices she makes, and how her choices change over time to meet her son's needs as he grows up.
Download podcast transcript here >>
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Feb 28, 2022
Feb 28, 2022
30 min
In this episode, Dr Kerry Bull talks with Debbie about the expectations others had of her. As an infant, the prevailing thoughts at the time focussed on what was seen as her deficits, anticipation that she would be unable to walk, talk, and learn, and be part of family and community life. But her family had other ideas. So did a teacher who gave her the opportunity for an education alongside her siblings and the other children in the neighbourhood. These high expectations in part enabled Debbie to thrive.
Download podcast transcript here >>
Dec 22, 2021
Dec 22, 2021
24 min
In our final podcast for 2021, ECIA VIC/TAS' Sarah and Trish sit down with our host Dr Kerry Bull to look back and reflect on the inspiring conversations we've had on our podcast throughout the year.
Sincerest thanks to all the parents and professionals who have shared their experiences with us. We've been truly humbled by our amazing community's strength, honesty and willingness to participate.
Although each family's situation is unique, we know sharing and hearing these real-life stories helps others in similar situations relate, reinforcing they're not alone. We know truth-telling is a critical element in helping support and build families’ knowledge, skills and confidence when navigating the early childhood intervention landscape.
If you've previously tuned in to The Family Voices podcast and have a spare two minutes, in an effort to continually improve, we are asking our community for feedback on the podcast via a short survey. To take part, please click here >>
Download podcast transcript here >>
Dec 2, 2021
Dec 2, 2021
37 min
In this episode, Dr Kerry Bull talks with Bec. Hearing Bec share her family story made us think about the changes we all have to make in our lives, and the ways we adapt.
Bec talked about being a young mum who not only needed to adjust to being a parent, she also had to adjust to being the parent of a baby with significant health concerns. To gather information, Bec used the internet, spoke with professionals she trusted and talked through things with her family who were also important to her for emotional support as she moved from a position of uncertainty to having a clearer understanding.
Download podcast transcript here >>
Nov 15, 2021
Nov 15, 2021
42 min
In this episode, Dr Kerry Bull sits down with Alicia to talk about how she has approached advocating on behalf of her son. Alicia thinks about advocacy in terms of teamwork - learning together, understanding each others' perspective and finding common ground.
Download podcast transcript here >>
Oct 13, 2021
Oct 13, 2021
38 min
In this episode Dr Kerry Bull talks with Nena, Yasmin and Lucy to discuss how they work together as a collaborative and integrated team to support Nena's daughter. The goal is to build the knowledge, skills and abilities of the people who spend the most time with the child in order to have as great an impact as possible on the child's learning and development.
Download podcast transcript here >>
Aug 30, 2021
Aug 30, 2021
36 min
In this episode Dr Kerry Bull talks with Rahima. Rahima shares her family's story through the lens of diversity of cultures, experiences, values and belief systems that impacts our attitudes and understandings.
Download podcast transcript here >>