Developmental Educators - What Do They Do?
- Dee McCulloch
- Jul 5
- 3 min read
When navigating the world of disability support, many people are familiar with professions like occupational therapists, psychologists, or speech pathologists. But there’s another highly skilled professional who plays a crucial role in helping individuals achieve meaningful, daily life outcomes—the Developmental Educator.
Developmental educators are qualified disability specific professionals who specialise in understanding the whole person, across all life stages from toddlers to seniors. Rather than focusing on one aspect of support, they consider the person’s strengths, environment, relationships, health, communication, behaviour, goals, and rights—bringing all of this together to deliver practical, tailored interventions. Their work is grounded in person-centred practice, evidence-informed strategies, and the social model of disability.
At their core, developmental educators are problem-solvers and capacity builders. Whether supporting someone to learn new skills, improve their emotional regulation, reduce behaviours of concern, or engage more fully in their community, a developmental educator works with the person and their entire support network to identify goals and remove barriers to participation, always looking for ways to improve quality of life.
One of the key strengths of developmental educators is their flexibility and breadth of scope. They are trained to provide:
Functional assessments that explore how disability affects daily life, and make practical, goal-oriented recommendations.
Skill-building programs, including social skills, independent living, and decision-making.
Behavioural support, including developing and implementing positive behavioural strategies, functional behaviour assessments, interim and comprehensive plans, working with implementing providers, carers and families, all with the central person being the client to increase quality of life.
Therapeutic interventions, such as emotional regulation and adaptive coping strategies.
Communication, looking at how the client communication and how others can more effectively communicate with them.
Support for families and carers, including training, guidance, and system navigation.
Case management, including highly complex cases, program development and monitoring, bringing together a multi-disciplinary team to ensure common goals, defining roles and focusing on outcomes.
Importantly, developmental educators are not restricted to clinic-based work. They are often mobile, responsive, and highly adaptable, offering support to the client, their carers and wider support network, including school, work, volunteering, community supports and case management so that all professionals have common goals, each role and purpose is defined, focusing on outcomes and the individual needs of the client. This makes them a vital resource for people who may otherwise experience disjointed services, long waitlists or reduced access to allied health services.
Their training combines disability theory, human rights, developmental psychology, behavioural science, and inclusive practice—meaning they are uniquely positioned to work across the lifespan and across multiple domains of functioning. In the NDIS context, developmental educators align well with goals around capacity building, community participation, and building supports that are both individualised and sustainable.
What truly sets developmental educators apart is their knowledge of and commitment to upholding the human rights of people with disability. They listen first, support choice and control, and focus on outcomes that matter to the person—not just what's clinically measurable.
In short, a developmental educator is your disability detective, coach, therapist, and strategist—all in one. Whether you're a participant, family member, or support coordinator, engaging a developmental educator can be a powerful step toward building a more independent, empowered, and connected life.
Weather you
AHEAD, Your NDIS Experts, have development educators available, who can hep with:
Behavioural supports
Individualised programs
Therapy, assessments and recommendations
Psychosocial recovery coaching
Case management, for when it's complicated
Skill development and training, decision-making and budgeting
Parent / carer training
General and employment related counselling
Website ┃ www.adheadsupports.com.au
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