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Lifestart is an organisation providing early childhood services for children aged from birth to 6 who have an intellectual disability or developmental delay. It was established in 1996 by eight families who wanted to create a service that gave their children, all of whom had special needs, the best possible start in life.
Lifestart today has grown to a flourishing organization with seven centres across Sydney and a head office at Putney.
Lifestart provides early childhood support to a range of intellectual disability and developmental delay: from those more widely known conditions such as Down Syndrome and Autism, to rare genetic disorders.
The Lifestart Program today continues to reflect the goals of the founding families. It is a community-based program where professionals and parents work in partnership to respond to the specific physical, cognitive and motor development needs of their child.
Lifestart staff include:
• Occupational Therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Special Educators
• Speech Pathologists
• Social Workers
The heart of the Lifestart Program is the ‘play group’. Play-based learning is the most effective means by which pre-school children can learn: about themselves, the world around them and what they can achieve in it. And play groups also enable parents to develop and practice strategies for responding to their child’s special needs, strategies they can then take outside of the centre for use in the home and community.
The core philosophy of Lifestart is supporting the whole family … and this includes the parents. Raising children is exhausting at the best of times, but having a child with special needs places extra demands and is exhaustive, expensive and can be isolating. Play groups provide opportunities for parents to provide mutual support, while specific parent-to-parent support groups and family education courses for extended families are provided.
Finally, Lifestart has an extensive program given to preparing our special kids for transitioning to school. Once in school, in some areas there is also a School Aged Services program which can help provide support for home and the community.
Lifestart is a not-for-profit charity. It receives funding from the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability & Home Care and the NSW Department of Education & Training. To meet the full cost of its service however, Lifestart must still raise $1,000,000 annually. This is partly generated through parent fees, the support of individuals, community organizations and business. The greatest part of this amount, however, is generated through fundraising events like Kayak for Kids and centre-based parent fundraising events.
For more information on Lifestart visit www.lifestart.org.au
Lifestart Co-operative Ltd
PO Box 3277
Putney NSW 2112
Ph: 02 9807 9700
Fax: 02 9807 9600
ABN 43 073 450 316
CFN 15767 (Certified Fundraising Number)
DGR 444769 (Deductible Gift Recipient)
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