About Aiming High
Aiming High for Disabled Children, launched in May 2007, is the Government's transformation programme for disabled children's services in England. The vision behind Aiming High for Disabled Children is for all families with disabled children to have the support they need to live ordinary family lives. The key developments in the programme are Short breaks, Childcare, Transition support, Palliative care and Parent Children and Young People Participation.
Aiming High Medway seeks to ensure that our disabled children:
- will have the same opportunities to develop and fulfil their potential as all other children.
- Families with disabled children will get the support they need, when they need it.
- Universal children's services will be more genuinely inclusive of disabled children, including those with complex needs.
- Disabled children will be at the heart of the ongoing change programme for children's services.
Eligibility criteria for short breaks
Parent's and carers tell us that regular, meaningful short breaks give them the opportunity to re-charge their batteries and can prevent family breakdown.
The aim is for all disabled children and young people (under DDA 1995) to be able to access and benefit from services and support available to everyone with ease.
Children and young people are eligible for support if they have a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long term effect on their ability to carry out day to day activities. This may include a physical or learning disability, a hearing or visual impairment. It includes children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome and children who may have challenging behavior as a result of their learning disability. It also includes children who have complex health needs and who may have palliative, life limiting or a life-threatening condition.
Not all children will need the same level of support and short breaks; some will need more than others because of the nature of their disability and its severity. This is why we will need to assess your child and family to ensure that we provide the right amount of support and short breaks. This assessment will be carried out by the individual services.