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EC PEC - NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream

Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE.

This article provides guidance for an early childhood partner and planner delegates to:

• complete the Personal and Environmental Circumstances (PEC) case for children who are likely to meet the NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream (priority hearing stream) criteria using the Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream – evidence of hearing loss
• understand the areas of daily supports to consider in relation to the priority hearing stream
• understand the capacity building questions for children in relation to the priority hearing stream
• understand a child’s requirement for equipment and consumables in relation to the priority hearing stream.

Recent updates

7 April 2026

Linked article name updates

Before you start

You have:

• opened a Personal and Environmental Circumstances Case (PEC)

You have read:

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• article EC Guide – Supports for children younger than 7 who are deaf or hard of hearing (including under the priority hearing stream)
• article EC Early childhood intervention supports overview
• article EC PEC – Capacity building – How to complete early childhood intervention supports questions
• article Deafness and hearing impairment snapshot.

Complete the PEC questions using Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream – evidence of hearing loss

To complete the PEC questions for children likely to meet the priority hearing stream criteria, use the information recorded by Hearing Australia audiologists in Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream – evidence of hearing loss.

Early childhood partners will prioritise children younger than 7 who are likely to meet the priority hearing stream criteria. They will gather all the relevant information to answer the PEC questions in PACE to support the Access Request case.

Daily Supports

Refer to article EC Guide – Supports for children younger than 7 who are deaf or hard of hearing (including under the priority hearing stream).

To answer Does this person require daily living support in one or more of the following areas?

• Select the appropriate boxes where the child needs daily support to make sure the Total Support Package (TSP) generates appropriately. The options are: Auslan language development – Select this option if a child, their family, carer or their community supports require training to use Auslan in their everyday life.
• Auslan interpreting – Select this option if the child requires funding for an Auslan interpreter.

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• Specialised school transport – Select this option if the child needs specialised school transport. This option won’t typically be selected for a child with hearing loss.
• Personal care in schools – Select this option if the child needs supports to help with personal care in school. This option won’t typically be selected for a child with hearing loss.
• Specialised swimming lessons for water safety due to disability or high risk – Select this option if the child needs specialised swimming lessons for water safety. This option won’t typically be selected for a child with hearing loss however would require a further discussion with the family or carer and mainstream swim school.
• Other – Select this option if there are other reasons that the child requires daily living supports due to their hearing loss. Select this option for children with additional support needs outside their hearing loss.
• Not applicable – Select this option if none of the above options are needed.

1. Answer any of the other mandatory questions in this step by selecting the appropriate answer from the drop down option.
2. Select Next to complete the Carers step of the PEC case.

Capacity Building

Developmental domains

Gather information about the child’s capacity building needs across all developmental areas in preparation for completion of an access request case.

Review article EC Early childhood intervention supports overview and article EC Capacity building – How to complete early childhood intervention supports questions to determine selection of either high or medium to low.

To answer For each developmental area below, what level of early childhood supports (capacity building) are needed to build capacity of the child and family?

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1. Select each of the developmental areas needed to build the capacity of the child and family or carers. Select all the relevant areas of concern to support the planner delegate in their understanding of the child’s needs and their reasonable and necessary decision making. The developmental area options are:

   • Cognitive
   • Social Skills
   • Self-care skills
   • Language and communication
   • Emotional development
   • Vision
   • Hearing

2. For each developmental area selected, indicate the level of early childhood supports needed to build the capacity of the child and their family or carer. The options are:

   • High
   • Medium to low
   • n/a.

3. A free text field will appear when you select the level of support needed from the drop down. This free text box is mandatory. Please use this section to describe information relating to a selected developmental area of concern and why you have selected the level as high or medium to low. Note: the free text fields have character limits and where additional information is available, you should also add this in the internal notes section within the activity log tab.

4. Repeat the above steps for each of the developmental areas identified.

5. Answer any of the other mandatory questions in this step by selecting the appropriate answer.

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6. Select Next to complete the Capacity Building step of the PEC case.

Confirming permanency of hearing loss diagnosis

To answer Does the child have a newly diagnosed permanent hearing loss OR are they at a high risk of auditory/language deprivation related to significantly delayed diagnosis of a hearing loss?

1. Refer to Part B of Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream – evidence of hearing loss question: Is the hearing loss permanent or is there a definitive diagnosis of Auditory Neuropathy (AN)?

2. Select the corresponding answer in the PEC drop-down options:

   • Yes
   • No
   • Unsure/unanswered.

Unilateral/bilateral hearing loss

To answer Does the child have a confirmed unilateral or bilateral hearing loss?

1. Refer to Part B of Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream - evidence of hearing loss question: ‘Is the hearing loss’

2. Select the corresponding answer in the PEC drop-down options:

   • Unilateral
   • Bilateral
   • Unsure/unanswered.

Confirmed level of hearing loss

Hearing Australia have calculated the 4 frequency average hearing loss (4FAHL) and used the classification table to describe the degree of hearing loss in the child’s left and right ear.

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Use the described degree of hearing loss for the poorer ear (higher degree of hearing loss) to complete this PEC question.

To answer What is the child’s confirmed level of hearing loss in the poorer ear?

1. Refer to Part C of Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream - evidence of hearing loss.

2. Select the described degree of hearing loss in the poorer ear in the PEC drop-down options:

   • Mild
   • Moderate
   • Severe
   • Profound
   • Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD).

Note: there is no option to select for a description of Severe to Profound. For a child that has a hearing loss between 81- 90dB, select Profound in the PEC.

Equipment and Consumables

The early childhood partner will determine the low-cost assistive technology needs from conversations with the family or carer and evidence provided. There is no corresponding question in Form: NDIS Pathway Hearing Stream – evidence of hearing loss for this section of the PEC case.

The early childhood partner will indicate whether the child requires any equipment for their hearing loss (that is not funded under the Hearing Services Program) or for any additional developmental areas of need.

To answer Are low cost assistive technology supports currently required or likely to be required in the next 12 months?

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1. Select Communication - to generate the Hearing Service Program Co-contribution fee (batteries and maintenance for a hearing device). Note: this is only required to be selected if the child is, or is likely to be, fitted with hearing aids by Hearing Australia.

2. Enter more information into the free text field to support this selection. The free text fields have character limits. If more space is needed, add the information to internal note in the Activity log tab.

3. Select Confirmed once you have uploaded all of the relevant documents.

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