Early Intervention Melbourne
Guiding young children through critical developmental milestones to set them up for long-term success.
What you can expect:
Support during the most critical early years of life (ages 16 months to 9 years)
Collaboration with families to incorporate strategies into everyday routines
Individualised therapy plans with a focus on communication and play development and relationship building
Evidence-based techniques tailored to your child’s specific developmental needs
Progress tracking and regular updates to ensure continuous improvement
Early intervention is proven to make a significant difference, and we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
Who Is Early Intervention For?
Families with children experiencing developmental delays or challenges
Children with a diagnosis of Autism
Families who have Concerns about their child or have been referred by your paediatrician or other clinician
Families who want to see meaningful growth in their child’s skills and confidence
Families who want to give their child the best start possible during their formative years
Our Early Intervention Service Focuses On:
Early Start Denver Model (ESDM therapy): Specific for 1-6 year olds, empowering children though a Play based approach that combines principles from ABA therapy, developmental science, and relationship-based approaches for whole-child care.
ABA therapy: For any age group – personalised behaviour therapy to teach functional skills. Help improve your child’s social, communication, learning skill, emotional regulation.
Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment (PFA-SBT): For any age group – a holistic and adaptive approach based on principles of ABA to reduce behaviours of concern and promote empowerment and resilience.
Inclusion support: Providing support to children within their educational settings (Kindergarten or Schools) by working alongside teachers and staff to create a positive, inclusive environment.
Essential skills: Daily living skills to help your child increase their independence around everyday routines such as dressing, brushing teeth, or mealtime habits
Toilet Training: In-home toilet training support focuses on the therapist working directly with your child to achieve the initial steps of toilet training, ensuring they build confidence and progress towards independence.
Our Early Child Support Approach
Early support can make a big difference. At The Little Co, our early intervention approach is warm, flexible, and focused on helping young children build strong foundations in the areas that matter most.
Partnering With Parents
You know your child best. We work closely with you to understand what’s working, what’s tricky, and where support is needed.
Personalised For Your Child
Every plan is based on your child’s unique strengths, goals, and how they learn best.
Caring & Consistent
We build strong, trusting relationships with each child so they feel safe, supported, and ready to learn.
Everyday Learning
Support happens in real-life routines and play, so learning feels natural.
With open communication and regular updates, we adjust the plan as your child grows and develops new skills.
Ready to Take the Next Step With Early Intervention?
Whether you’re looking to start early intervention or need support with a specific challenge, we’re here to help. Let us guide your family toward positive, lasting change.
Early Intervention FAQs
How much early intervention support does my child need?
The amount of early intervention support varies for each child. It depends on their current strengths, areas of need, goals, and what works best for your family. Some children benefit from a few hours a week, while others may need more intensive support (up to 20 hours per week) to make meaningful progress.
We work with you to figure out what’s realistic, what fits with your routines, and what will be most effective for your child’s learning. We can always scale up or down based on how your child is progressing and what support feels right for your family.
How is ABA used in early intervention?
ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) in early intervention uses the principles of behavioural science to teach new skills in a structured, practical, and meaningful way. We break down complex skills, like communication, self-care, play, or emotional regulation—into smaller, manageable steps that are easier for your child to learn.
These steps are taught using strategies that are fun, engaging, and tailored to your child’s interests. For example, if a child is learning to request items, we might start by teaching them to point or use a communication device during play with their favourite toys. If a child is working on independence, we might teach dressing skills step by step using visuals, prompts, and lots of reinforcement.
Therapy sessions are individualised, often play-based, and follow your child’s lead. Therapists create lots of opportunities for your child to practise targeted skills throughout the session. We collect data to track progress, adjust strategies when needed, and ensure learning is happening.
ABA doesn’t just support your child, it also equips you and your child’s team with strategies you can use in everyday routines, making sure the skills your child learns in therapy carry over to real life.
Can early intervention be done at home or childcare?
Yes, absolutely! Sessions can happen at home, childcare, kinder, or even in the community. These are the places where your child spends their time, so it makes sense to teach skills in those real-life environments.
One-to-one sessions in the home or at kinder focus on building strong foundations – like communication, following routines, play, and independence. These settings allow us to practise skills in a familiar and low-pressure environment where your child feels comfortable.
Once those skills are strong, we support your child to use them in other places – like at the shops, on playdates, or at the park. This is called generalisation, and it’s really important. It means your child can apply what they’ve learned in different situations, with different people, and in everyday life – not just in therapy sessions.
We also work alongside educators or family members so they can use the same strategies, making sure your child gets consistent support across all settings.
What’s the difference between ABA and other therapies?
ABA early intervention focuses on how a child learns across all areas – communication, play, social interaction, self-care, and more using evidence-based behaviour strategies tailored to each child.
While Speech Pathologists, OTs, and Psychologists each support specific developmental domains (e.g., speech, sensory processing, emotional regulation), ABA provides a comprehensive framework that ties it all together, often working alongside these disciplines to support whole-child learning.
Speech Pathologists, OTs, and Psychologists will often work in a consultation model weekly or fortnightly providing tailored practice in the sessions as well as specific specialised recommendation for practice for families and other important people.
ABA Early intervention focuses on providing intensive practice of the focused goal areas for the child. Practice can be anywhere for 2 hours per week up to 20 hours per week, depending on the support the child needs.
How do we start early intervention for my child?
After your initial consultation, we begin with an assessment and planning phase. A Behaviour Analyst will meet your child, observe them in familiar settings (home or kinder), and talk with you about priorities. From there, we develop a therapy plan with clear goals and strategies based on a skills assessment. The Behaviour Analyst presents the outcomes and discusses goals to decide the program together.
The therapy sessions with your ABA Therapist can begin while this is happening, usually starting with developing rapport and building the relationship between the therapist and your child.
What does a typical ABA early intervention session look like?
Sessions are play-based, child-led, and individualised. The therapist will prepare the environment, ensuring that it is set out with your child’s interests and preferences. The therapist will follow their lead to what they want to do, or offer choices of activities.
The therapist is responsive to all communication to what your child wants to do, how they want to do it, and what they don’t want to do.
As connection builds and develops, the therapist will present learning opportunities – whether communication, a fine motor, or following a routine, within the play and interest of your child and provide helpful guidance to ensure that your child is successful.
They collect data on the outcome of the learning opportunity – and do this for every opportunity throughout the session. This data is reviewed by the Behaviour Analyst to ensure progression, effectiveness and a fun and happy session!
The therapists adapt each session to your child’s interests and energy on the day.
Sessions may also include daily living skills like dressing, toilet training, meal times, out community skills like road safety, fun at the park, or social with peers. This depends on the goals set up with you.