Knowledge of an individual and their internal and external family situation can take a significant amount of time to assess. It may happen over months or over years. Being able to keep track of where someone is up to requires regular assessment or simply regular interaction so that the factors that are impacting are taken into account. Differences in experience level that occur from daily interaction as a parent can be challenging to sum up for a shorter assessment that can happen over a few hours or once a year. Ongoing consultation is necessary to provide an accurate picture of what is happening. Internal assessment of details may not be appropriate at the time of that particular NDIS review and may need to be held off whilst other issues are being managed.
Clarification of the qualifications of those performing any independent assessments is recommended as per the NDIS documents the environment will be being assessed, as will each area of functioning. Professionals with the appropriate qualifications need to be recruited to perform any assessment based on APHRA standards, ethics and area of focus for each type of professional who is able to complete an assessment as per NDIS criteria. (E)