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Kirralee’s consultancy, Footprints Advocacy, has achieved some incredible results and she consistently receives glowing testimonials from the parents she has helped. Below are a couple of examples of the ‘reasonable and necessary’ plans Kirralee has supported her clients to access:
There are so many reasons why I help families with the NDIS. I know that you as a parent are also trying your hardest.
As an NDIS Advocate I know and understand the NDIS and how best to support each family – each individual family.
Ayaan’s parents came to me in December 2021. He had received his diagnosis in mid 2021 and was finally having his planning meeting with his ECEI Coordinator. As the planning meeting was only a week away, there was no time to work with the family to help produce any further evidence.
The family purchased my Starter Package and watched the webinars and downloaded the NDIS Planning workbook which I have created specifically for children with an ASD or Developmental Delay diagnosis. Ayaan’s parents now knew what their first planning meeting was all about and what their next steps were to be able to access an intensive therapy plan.
Ayaan commenced ESDM therapy at a centre in the Eastern Suburbs once he received his plan. However, as the parents were well aware, the standard plan of $20,271.96 which he received was not going to last long and they needed to apply for an internal review.
In early 2022, Umi contacted me, and she upgraded her package with Footprints Advocacy to the Premium Support Package. I was now there to hold her hand and help her prepare all of her evidence to apply for an internal review. I even wrote the final email to the NDIS and her coordinator with the application and evidence attached!
Ayaan received a total of $66,829.56 through his review process. He is now accessing ESDM in Western Sydney (they moved house, just to access intensive supports) for 7 hours per week. Umi and her husband are confident that the funding will last the full year and that Ayaan will be able to gain functional outcomes and build on his strengths.
Read Umi’s review below or check out other reviews on Google and Facebook
Dear Kirralee,
Thank you so much for all your support. Ayaan’s autism diagnosis threw us into a world of uncertainty but the moment we found you, things started to get better because you helped to lift off a huge burden of our shoulders. Your dedication, empathy and commitment to hold our hand through the NDIS process is something that stood out at a time where we needed someone to guide us through it. You have provided us with so much information on how to navigate through this journey, we frankly couldn’t have done it without you.
Kirralee, you really do an amazing job and thank you for creating the opportunities for Ayaan to reach his potential by getting him the funding he dearly needs. We cannot thank you enough.
All the best to you.
Umi
Parents who could use my help and expert knowledge can choose from the 5 different packages I offer. These range from the ‘starter package for $139, right up to the supporting them through the AAT process..
Details for my packages can be found at footprintsadvocacy.com.au/our-services/ With my years of experience and deep knowledge of the NDIS decision making processes I am confident that I can help any of your clients who may be feeling overwhelmed, anxious or frustrated with their NDIS journey. 5 NDIS Support Package Please pass on my details to families who could benefit from my support – I can offer a free 20 minute phone consultation to help them work out what level of support would best suit their circumstances. Their child’s life could change as a result My number is 1300 556 780.
Theo is almost 6 years old and has started school in 2022. He has a Diagnosis of ASD Level 3, Intellectual Disability, severe global development delay, extremely low adaptive functions across all domains, among other diagnoses. Although almost 6 years old, developmentally he is 18 months to 2 years and he’s a BIG boy.
Theo’s mum, Stacey came to me for help with her NDIS way back when Theo was 3 years old. He already had a good NDIS plan to support his needs. It provided him with 6.3 hours of therapy per week. Theo was accessing Speech, OT and intensive ABA. But as he was growing and developing, it was clear to his Allied Health Team and Stacey that he needed more.
Whilst helping Stacey prepare for her planning meeting, we gathered up all the evidence and wrote an amazing Family Impact Statement. Preparation was the key as Theo’s coordinator was already aware of his needs from the previous year’s planning meeting – but this year, it was recommended that he required more. More therapy and now also a Support Worker. Theo was getting bigger and harder to manage with just one parent and a younger brother.
Theo’s evidence ticked all the Reasonable and Necessary boxes and he received a plan with a total of $125,417.25 for the 2021-2022 year. This included therapy supports of 6.4 hours per week and the balance in Core Funding for the much-required Support Worker.
Towards the end of 2021, Stacey came back to me, and we started preparing for the 2022-2023 plan. Theo was 5.5 years old and starting school in an SSP in 2022. As he was growing, his supports needed to grow with him – most importantly his core supports. Theo continues to be incontinent, requires an AAC device to communicate, has interesting behaviours and requires the consistency of routine with his therapies. Much required respite for his mum was also needed as it would also provide Theo with community access which he cannot access with only his mum and brother with him.
Again, we complied the evidence. Wrote the family impact statement and submitted prior to the planning meeting. Theo was successful in receiving a Life Changing Plan for himself and his family. His therapy budget increased to 7.8 hours of therapy per week and the balance in Core Supports. His fund is for a total of $239,977.48
In March this year, I received this email from Stacey
“Thank you so much for all of your help and support to achieve this for Theo, it will undoubtedly be life-changing for both of us.”
Theo’s story is a challenging one. He has very high needs and behaviours which are growing as he grows. Although almost 6 years old, he now must have 2:1 support always.
Without the support of Footprints Advocacy, Stacey would be in a very different ‘place’ as would Theo. The benefits of supporting the family through the NDIS, outweigh the negatives.
Stacey accessed my Premium Support Package for each planning meeting. She is currently applying for a Change in Circumstances, again with the support of Footprints Advocacy. Stay tuned for that update in the near future.
Arabella is 8 years old and in Year 2 at school. She has a diagnosis of ASD Level 1 / 2. Prior to moving from the EC Approach to the LAC system, Anna was accessing intensive supports. Her first plan with her new LAC provided her with the therapy supports which she required and we were very grateful that she was able to access the Speech and OT intensively whilst starting school. As therapists worked with Arabella she was able to successfully achieve her goals, but new areas of concerns raised their head!
My wife and I had Arabella’s most recent planning meeting in late 2021 and Arabella was funded with a 2 year plan the following February. Not only did she receive a 2 year plan, but she also received a 60% reduction in therapy. I was gobsmacked with the level of funding that the Delegate / LAC believed was appropriate for an 8 year old. It appeared that they had not read any of her detailed reports. Her new plan only allowed for 1.35 hrs of therapy per week.
We immediately applied for an internal review with updated reports – but it was declined. My wife and I spoke with her Speech Therapists and they recommended that I apply to the AAT. How was I going to do this alone? Our Speechie recommended that I get in touch with Kirralee at Footprints Advocacy.
I got in contact with Kirralee and after a long phone call, realised that I wanted to work with her for this application. She understood the process and was able to break it down into chunks I could digest in my time of high anxiety. She had experience and made me feel at ease talking to her.
We started work and as Kirralee once said to me ‘we will become best of friends’ – and we did. Kirralee helped me prepare my family impact statement, budget and weekly schedule whilst she also spoke directly with my therapists to explain to them the process and what they are likely going to have to report on.
The result was that my anxiety was reduced as I knew that I had a strong advocate in my court. I could not have achieved the result which we did for Arabella without Kirralee’s assistance. After 2 case conferences and 2 different offers from the NDIS, we were able to get what Arabella’s Allied Health Team were recommending for her. I cannot wait to be able to report back to her in a year what Arabella has achieved.
I know that I will be calling on the support of Footprints Advocacy again – the investment I spent with Footprints Advocacy was worth every dollar and more!
2023 Update: Arabella’s plan was rolled over for a second year. She has changed schools and is doing extremely well.
Peter’s Story:
Peter is 2.5 years old, is non verbal and hardly eats anything – but drinks a lot of watered down almond milk and that is just the tip of the iceberg from behaviours of concern. He received a diagnosis of ASD Level 3, in May 2022. Prior to his diagnosis he was already accessing Speech (privately) and OT through community health. Peter’s received his first NDIS plan in late June 2022. His first plan provided him with 2.1 hours of therapy per week. His parents initially thought – ‘this sounds like a great amount of money’ until they started looking around for alternative therapy options. Peter’s mum was not happy with the OT centres they had tried and gave the Child Development Institute a call after doing some research. After speaking with Bev, she realised that she needed to apply for a review as she desperately wanted Peter to commence intensive ESDM therapy. Once Peter was offered a 1:1 clinic position, she knew that it was time to prepare for the internal review. Footprints Advocacy was recommended to help support her through this process as requesting an additional 7 hours of weekly therapy per week is not easy for any parent.
I started working with Peter’s mum and through my guidelines, templates and videos she was able to start getting her head around what needed to be created as part of her evidence. Peter now has an amazingly detailed Family Impact Statement along with all of the other evidence which I helped her create over the past month of working together. The final email to the NDIS / Coordinator was typed up and submitted by myself on behalf of Peter – by doing this, I was taking away the additional stress and anxiety of making sure that all of the evidence was submitted correctly.
Peter’s mum would often comment to me that it was ‘groundhog year’ in her household and she was looking forward to being able to move past this point. With the application finally submitted, a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She knows that now it’s a waiting game, but whilst she waits, Peter has started at the CDI and is settling into their program. Bigger and better things are just around the corner for Peter and he is very lucky to have a mum who is prepared to put in the hard yards to be able to secure the right level of funding.
I have CMT, my son (9 years old) has CMT, my brother, niece and father all have diagnosed CMT. We suspect that my sister also has CMT. When my niece who was only 6 years at the time was being diagnosed, I looked into the NDIS and how it could help her. It was at this time, that I discovered that CMT was on List B.
CMT is a heredity disease which affects our nerves, particularly in our feet and then later in life our hands and arms. With luck, I had been to see my specialised only a few months before and had an updated nerve conduction test (which demonstrated how slow and ineffective my nerves were – particularly in my hands). I also had a blood test which was conducted in 2010 – so I effectively had all of the evidence to support my application into the NDIS.
As I work within this scope I knew the importance of additional evidence to show the degenerative side of my disease as this is one of those ‘invisible’ diseases which people just don’t see or understand.
I wrote a powerful statement of lived experience, added in reports and quotes from my physiotherapists and podiatrist (both of whom I have been seeing regularly for many many years) as well as a full family schedule to show how busy I am, yet supporting how tired I get.
The hard work of collating this evidence paid off and I was accepted into the NDIS and held my first planning meeting. As my LAC didn’t know anything about CMT, other than what she had read from my evidence and what she had investigated herself, I had to spend some time educating her on the impact of the disease. Between my planning meeting with a great LAC and the delegate, I was funded exactly what I requested.
I am extremely grateful to the NDIS for being able to support my disease as I had been paying thousands of dollars per year out of my own pocket, just to be able to continue to be mobile and support my family.
By being an advocate and a participant of the NDIS, I now have even more experience and knowledge to be able to pass onto my clients.
Oliver is my 9 year old son. He was diagnosed with CMT in early 2023. With my knowledge of my own CMT and access to the NDIS, I was able to easily apply for Oliver and to have his planning meeting with the same LAC as I have (I had to request this through the Senior LAC), thus reducing the need to re-educate the LAC as to what CMT is and how it affects us.
Oliver now sees a physiotherapist weekly and although he tells me that he doesn’t enjoy the sessions (its because it hurts him as his muscles are just not strong enough in the right areas), he survives and ends up smiling through each session. He also now has orthotics to support his feet, ankles and muscle development.
I know as his mother, who had no intervention and support until I was 16 years old, that he is so very lucky to get this level of support at such a young age. I would never have known what to do to access and obtain the right supports for Oliver had I not been in the industry. I hope that I will be able to help you access and receive a ‘reasonable and necessary’ plan for your CMT or diagnosis.
The Comprehensive NDIS Support Package provides 2 phone consultations and tailored advice specific to your circumstances, as well as expert review of your evidence. Designed for clients who have accessed the Premium Package.
The Premium NDIS Support Package is highly bespoke, providing value of 16 hours of work, evidence review and assistance to write your family impact statement.
Footprints Advocacy is run by our Principal Consultant Kirralee Tapp, who has been supporting families of children with ASD for the past 4 years. Let me help you identify which Footprints Advocacy Package will suit your needs best