ABA step-down model
Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,
The NDIA sometimes includes funded supports in participants' NDIS plans which are called 'ABA step-down' supports.
The NDIA also sometimes includes 'ABA step-down' supports in settlement offers to participants who are engaged in Administrative Appeals Tribunal proceedings with the agency.
These supports might be variously referred to as 'ABA step down' or 'ABA support step down', 'ABA step down model', or 'ABA support step down model' (with or without a hyphen between 'step' and 'down').
I seek all information held by the NDIA since 1 January 2023 containing reference to ABA step-down. I am particularly interested in any documentation that:
1) Describes the ABA step down model.
2) Explains under what circumstances this model is or should be included in NDIS participant plans, or offered to participants in AAT settlement offers, and why.
3) Any reasoning or rationale for why ABA supports in NDIS plans should be 'stepped down'.
Please note that I am not requesting copies of any NDIS plans containing reference to 'ABA step down' supports, as I understand that these documents contain personal information about NDIS participants.
I also understand that you will potentially need to search a large volume of documents in order to uncover this information. However, I suspect that because 'ABA' combined with 'Step-down' (or 'Step down') is quite a specific search term, this should not be considered too onerous for conducting your electronic search of documents.
Yours faithfully,
David Wright
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Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [11][NDIA request email]
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11. mailto:[NDIA request email]
Dear David Wright
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement
Thank you for your request of 2 October 2024, made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), for information held by the National
Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
“ I seek all information held by the NDIA since 1 January 2023 containing
reference to ABA step-down. I am particularly interested in any
documentation that:
1) Describes the ABA step down model.
2) Explains under what circumstances this model is or should be included
in NDIS participant plans, or offered to participants in AAT settlement
offers, and why.
3) Any reasoning or rationale for why ABA supports in NDIS plans should be
'stepped down'.”
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 3 October 2024. This
30-day period expires on 1 November 2024.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests. I am therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day
extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the new due date for us to decide on your request will be 1
December 2024.
If you do not agree and we are unable to process your request within the
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Regards
Mykal
Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
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The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
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Dear Mykal,
Yes I confirm that NDIA staff members’ surnames and contact details are irrelevant to my request and that I agree to a 30-day extension of time, making the new due date to decide the request 1 December 2024.
Yours sincerely,
David Wright
Emily Lacey left an annotation ()
Hi David,
There is a NDIA Technical Advisory Branch Research document called "Reducing ABA over time" that sounds like it might be of interest to you. It's been requested by someone here the other day but it hasn't been released yet: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/t...
The original TAB Research document list referred to is from this request: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/a...
If you want to put in a request for any TAB research documents yourself, I think these are the last of the documents that are ASD related (or I assume could be ASD related) that haven't been requested/received yet. I recommend asking for them using their specific titles:
- Applied Behavioural Analysis
- The scope of Applied Behaviour Analysis
- Gemiini Program
- MeRT Therapy
- Rapid Prompting Method
- Facilitated Communication
- Facilitated Communication update
- Lifespan of communication devices
- Auslan as a communication method for non hearing impaired children
- Treatment for Hyperacusis in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Frequency modulation systems for Autism and Auditory Processing Disorder
- FM systems for central auditory processing disorders in children with autism
(I'm also assuming that your interest in ABA is about ABA for people with ASD, feel free to ignore that part if it's not relevant!)