Service Co-ordinator, Ohomairangi Early Intervention Services

While the Ministry of Education, Special Education (GSE) supports whānau and their tamariki and rangatahi with special education needs; there are also other service providers around the country, accredited by GSE, who provide a service to tamāriki and their whānau.

Service co-ordinator, Elaine, says that South Auckland-based Ohomairangi Early Intervention Service provides a service to the entire Tamaki Makaurau region. The service meets recommended practice guidelines, and evolves within a kaupapa Māori framework.

One of the service's main aims is to help young tamariki with special education needs learn and develop. Tamariki, depending on their specific needs, can learn a range of skills vital to their development. For example, they might work with specialists to develop their fine and gross motor skills, their coordination and balance, or their cognitive and thinking skills.

Tamariki and their whānau might also receive support to make the transition from an early childhood education service to a kura or school. Ohomairangi staff will help whānau decide which kura or school is best for their tamaiti by ensuring they have the right information. They'll also help whānau complete all the necessary paperwork and take part in the formal processes involved in transitioning their child from an early childhood education service to a kura or school.

"E hara taku toa i te toa taki tahi engari, he toa taki tini - our achievements are not ours alone but belong to the many," says Elaine.

Elaine, who is Ngāti Kahungunu and Te Aupouri, says: "Our name, `Ohomairangi', speaks of the gathering and reawakening of potential and spiritual essence that is utilised to initiate and sustain indigenous systems of working, living and well-being".

Her team consists of four diploma of early intervention teachers, a registered educational psychologist and a registered speech and language therapist.

"We are contracted to work with children who have been identified with having a high to very high level of developmental learning need," says Elaine. "A high learning need is determined as having a need in three or more domains of development, ie, physical, cognitive/intellectual, communication and hearing/vision".

Elaine says Ohomairangi staff work alongside other agencies to overcome challenges that whānau may face in helping their tamariki to access and receive culturally-appropriate services.

Ohomairangi Early Intervention Services acknowledges whānau as paramount in all aspects of intervention, and views the child in the context of whānau, hapū and iwi. Elaine says this whakaaro is shared by all Ohomairangi staff and board of trustee members.