Repositioning: New Storylines for Preschool Teachers and Children With Developmental Delays

In Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was rolled out in pilot sites in 2013. This article reports a formative study conducted with qualified preschool teachers in one site in a context of change. The NDIS has been hailed in the media as a bold move to deliver more choice of services to people with disabilities and incorporates the delivery of early intervention (EI) services into its portfolio. As established EI agencies became providers for the scheme, local referral networks changed substantially. Children needed to establish eligibility for the scheme prior to families’ entry. Fourteen preschool teachers responded to an online survey, and four opted in for this study, which used positioning theory and a constructivist approach. Online surveys and interviews were conducted in 2 months at the end of the 3-year pilot phase. Findings suggest that teachers detecting developmental delays (DDs) in 4-year-old children needed to reposition themselves away from the rights and duties of the developmental expert to develop timely collaborative relationships with parents if the dominant storylines of early detection, medical confirmation, and the benefits of EI for families were to remain in the foreground.