Autism Information and Support Service

Since 2008, Amaze has provided the Autism Advisor Service as a gateway into the Helping Children with Autism Package and an Information Support line to provide free, independent, evidence-based, accessible autism-specific information and support for autistic people, their families and carers. With the transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the operating environment for these services changed, but there was an ongoing need for autism-specific information for those navigating a diagnosis and beyond.

Amaze contacted ARTD to support the development of a service model suited to the new operating context, and then to strengthen the evidence base for the service to achieve ongoing funding.

Transformation Project

In 2017, ARTD worked with Amaze staff to:

• conduct an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for the Autism Advisor Service and Autism Information Line in the NDIS ecosystem
• map a place for a new integrated Autism Information and Support Service in the NDIS ecosystem
• develop a theory of change and logic model for the Service
• develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the new service, with links to the NDIS ILC Outcomes Framework and NDIS Participant Outcomes Framework, and pilot new data collection measures
• conduct an initial review of the Service covering December 2017 to February 2018.

This project supported Amaze with a successful NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity (ILC) Building Grant to implement the revised model.

The Integrated Autism Information and Support Service pilot

ARTD worked with Amaze to establish a consumer advisory group to guide implementation and review of the new multi-channel service. We also supported Amaze to strengthen ongoing monitoring data collection, supplemented by additional evaluation data collection to build the evidence base for the service and identify potential improvements to the service. This process was enabled through sense-making sessions with staff and consumers.

This project supported Amaze’s successful application for an NDIS ILC Building National Information Program Grant to take the service national.

The National Initiative

Since 2019, ARTD have been supporting Amaze with the evaluation of the national service. This has involved working closely with Amaze staff and the Autism Connect Consumer Advisory Group to:

• monitor service user outcomes
• conduct initial and follow-up interviews with service users to understand satisfaction with the service, immediate outcomes and longer-term needs and outcomes
• analyse and interpret data and implications for service improvement
• create Tableau dashboards to enable automated monitoring and reporting beyond the evaluation.

The evidence of need and impact provided through monitoring and evaluation supported Amaze’s funding applications and scale-up to a national service, and continues to inform ongoing improvements to service delivery to ensure the service is reaching and meeting the needs of autistic people and their families nationwide.