The Inklings pilot program is available to Western Australian parents and caregivers of babies and toddlers aged 6-18 months who are showing early developmental differences or delays.
The Inklings pilot is funded by a grant from the NDIA to The Kids Research Institute Australia (The Kids, formerly The Telethon Kids Institute).
The WA pilot program is being delivered in partnership with WA Child and Adolescent Health Services (CAHS) and WA Country Health Service (WACHS).
Inklings is a program for babies aged 6-18 months. It helps those with early developmental differences or delays.
It focusses on building parents’ skills in recognising, interpreting and engaging with their baby’s unique communication behaviours. This helps parents better understand and respond to their child's needs.
The NDIA will evaluate the pilot.
This evaluation will assess if Inklings can be delivered at scale, and how it should be adjusted for different settings.
The evaluation will focus on:
- adoption of the program
- acceptability to families and delivery partners
- reliability of consistent delivery and feasibility at scale in a real-world service context.
The evaluation will inform decisions about how the program might contribute to the NDIS in the future.
You can find out more about the WA Inklings pilot on the Inklings website.
How can families participate?
For more information on how to participate in the Inklings pilot in WA, Western Australian families should ask their local CAHS or WACHS office for more information or contact Inklings directly.
- Child and Adolescent Health Service
- WA Country Health Service - Contact us
- Inklings - Check My Eligibility
How will the NDIA evaluate the Inklings pilot in WA?
We will evaluate the Inklings pilot in WA. The evaluation will inform decisions about how the program might contribute to the NDIS in the future.
The evaluation aims to:
- evaluate how well the Inklings program can be implemented and delivered as intended
- identify the benefits Inklings can deliver for infants showing signs of developmental differences, and their caregivers identify lessons and approaches for promoting integration between the NDIS and mainstream health services in early childhood intervention.
The evaluation will occur in 3 phases.
In 2024 we will look at:
- the number of people accessing Inklings
- how Inklings is delivered using different approaches for example, telehealth
- the experiences and satisfaction of parents, clinicians, and providers with Inklings.
- how consistently different practitioners and service providers deliver Inklings to caregivers and their children
- whether Inklings could be delivered successfully on a larger scale.
From 2025 we will consider:
- whether Inklings delivers better outcomes for families and children than other currently available supports
- the best way to deliver Inklings
who could deliver it.
In the final phase we will look at:
- how Inklings can work with the NDIS and mainstream early childhood intervention services.
The final evaluation report for the Inklings pilot is planned for release in late 2026.
Funding
The pilot funding is $13.8m (inclusive of GST) over three years. The pilot is managed through a Grant Agreement between the NDIA and The Kids Research Institute Australia.
Inklings pilot in South Australia
In January 2024, the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP, announced funding for an Inklings pilot in South Australia in partnership with the South Australian Government.
The NDIA has no direct involvement in the Inklings pilot in South Australia . This is being coordinated by the SA Government’s Office for Autism.
Inklings is an initiative of The Kids Research Institute Australia.
The Institute may make independent decisions about the application and operation of the initiative outside the currently funded pilots.