Purpose
The Specialist Disability Support in Schools (SDSS) Program supports schools by providing funding to approved organisations to deliver services to improve access to and participation in curriculum and the educational outcomes for eligible school-aged students with disability.
Organisations are funded under service agreements for 1 or more of the following funding categories:
- School support services
- Resource centre services
- Specialised equipment
Information regarding the application process for funding can be found at the
how to apply for funding page.
Eligibility for funding
An eligible applicant must be either:
- a registered charity or incorporated not-for-profit entity
- a local government entity.
When 1 of the 2 above eligibility requirements are met, then the organisation must also meet all of the below criteria:
- has a registered office in Queensland
- provide programs or activities designed specifically for students with disability
- not be a school. Where the organisation is associated with a school or is co-located at a school site, the applicant must be able to demonstrate they operate as a separate entity.
Student eligibility
To be eligible to receive a SDSS service, a student must be enrolled in a Queensland school (state or non-state) and be identified in 1 of the following ways.
- A student who was recorded in the latest submission of the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) as receiving supplementary, substantial or extensive adjustments.
- A student where the school requires assistance to address a barrier to the student’s physical access to the school environment.
- A
student who is new to the school (including Prep students), where the school has evidence of a diagnosed disability and has confirmed by the end of Term 1 that the adjustments provided are consistent with any of these descriptors in the NCCD guidelines (please refer to the 'NCCD selecting the level of adjustment' matrix)
- Supplementary: The student receives adjustments supplementary to the strategies and resources already available for all students within the school for particular activities
at specific times throughout the week.
- Substantial: The student has substantial support needs and receives essential adjustments and requires considerable assistance to the usual educational program
at most times, on most days.
- Extensive: The student has very high support needs and is provided with extensive targeted measures and sustained levels of intensive support
at all times.
It is recognised that a small number of students with disability require support to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers without disability as soon as they commence school.
For Prep students or new students to a school, where the student has a diagnosed disability and documented ongoing complex needs, schools can apply for SDSS Program services to commence at the start of the school year if the student requires immediate support to access and participate in learning and/or for their safe attendance at school.
The important distinctions between the department's SDSS Program and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are available in the
schools, the SDSS Program and the NDIS video.
Please note the Non School Organisations (NSO) Program was replaced by the SDSS Program. The same distinctions apply regarding the NDIS.
Find out more about the program