In October, Meg Wilson presented at the 2025 Early Childhood Australia National Conference. Her presentation entitled ‘Learning about early childhood intervention in Australia from young people’s experiences’ focused on the perspectives of young people in their experiences with early childhood intervention, and learning from them what best practice involves. Findings from the same study were presented by Professor Christine Imms at the international conference, 8th ISEI Early Childhood Intervention Conference, held in Lisbon in September 2025.

Six themes are visible in the findings.

Two were identified as the foundations that are needed for children and families to receive good quality ECI:

• Upholding of children’s rights
•  The core need for children to develop an understanding of themselves and to be understood by others

The next three themes built on these two foundations:

• Help to find the supports we need
• Getting it right – making it functional, meaningful and individualised
• Holistic, family-centred and collaborative supports

The final theme related to the outcomes of ECI programs:

• ECI has big impacts on the lives of children

The identification of these themes outlined the overall message of the presentation: “The insights and experiences of young people with developmental delay or disability who received ECI services need to be at the forefront of planning for future services.”