Education support services and returning to school
We’re here to help you get your life back on track after your transport accident. To help you after your accident we can pay for education support services.
What are education support services?
Education support services help you get back to your education at a level that is the same, or as close as possible, to the level you were at before your accident. These services are designed to be part of your overall rehabilitation program. The services need to show learning and development outcomes that can be measured.
The education support services we pay for are:
- Inclusion programs in preschool and childcare
- Integration programs (including integration aides)
- A special education consultant
- Special school funding
- Tutoring
- Specialist professional providers (such as speech pathology, psychology or physiotherapy), and
- Adaptive equipment recommended by your treating health professional.
A special education consultant works with the school, family and treating team to:
- Assess the education status of a student
- Help develop an individual education plan
- Identify the supports needed to help the student to take part in the education program
- Establish the school’s capacity to provide suitable support for the student
- Develop strategies to help the school to modify and monitor a student’s workload
- Provide briefings, in-services, workshops and classroom training to educate staff in effective teaching and learning strategies.
How these services are paid for
We pay for these services:
- Directly to the service provider we have referred you to, or
- If you have to pay, use myTAC to send a copy of your receipt to us and we will repay you.
To get the best outcome for you, we will only ever pay for:
- Services needed because of your transport accident injuries that are provided in Australia
- Services that promote your independence at school and have defined and measurable learning and development outcomes
Your educational institution or treating health professional will request that you receive education support services.
When it’s needed, the TAC will work with your treating team to make sure you get the education support services that you need because of your transport accident.
We pay for your services in line with our responsibilities under the Transport Accident Act 1986.
How much we will pay
There is a limit to how much we will pay for each service. If your service costs more than the TAC rate you will need to pay the difference. For a list of TAC rates, please refer to the TAC fee schedule for:
What we won’t pay for
We can’t pay for education support services that:
- Are not needed because of your transport accident injuries
- Are not reasonable, necessary or appropriate
- Are not clinically justified, safe and effective.
Examples of education services that we can’t pay for are:
- Any type of schooling or pre-school program not required as a result of the transport accident injuries
- School modifications, as all schools are responsible for ensuring that school buildings and facilities are accessible to all students
- Services and programs to which you are already entitled, including general study skills development services and support accessed through the Disability Liaison Office such as tutoring, lecture notes, dictaphones and notetakers
- Education expenses including school fees, fees for excursions or school camps, stationery and uniforms.
For providers
If you are a provider of education support services, please refer to our TAC Provider Guidelines.