Dolly’s Book On How to Help

Opinion / 3 January 2020

Over the past year, specialist speech pathologist Dolly Bhargava has been on a mission to help people with disabilities and complex needs get the health care they require.

Convinced the key to transforming their lives is equipping the people who assist them with better support strategies, Dolly has dedicated her time to a capacity building project aimed at empowering everyone involved in these roles with greater knowledge, skills and practical plans to deliver more effective service.

Working in collaboration with staff, participants and families at Intelife, the result of this combined effort is a booklet: ‘A Guide to Using Visual Communication Systems to Support People with Developmental Disability and Complex Needs Access Medical Services’.

Produced with funding from the Department of Communities Disability Services, it is available as a free download from the following link:

A Guide to Using Visual Communication Systems to Support People with Developmental Disability and Complex Needs Access Medical Services (PDF)

Dolly’s experience

For over 17 years, Dolly Bhargava has worked with children, adolescents and adults who have a range of Emotional and Behavioural Disorders (EBD).

In family homes, childcare centres, preschools, schools and prisons, she has seen first-hand how individuals with developmental disabilities like behaviours of concern and severe communication issues, next extra support especially visiting medical professionals and receiving healthcare.

Dolly’s helpful new booklet details a range of support strategies that can be used in various settings to promote better communication between individuals with developmental difficulties and healthcare providers, to improve the quality of care they receive.

Witnessing how hard it can be for parents, teachers, support workers and other professionals to effectively help individuals with intellectual and/or multiple disabilities, and realising that despite trying their very best, helpers are often not equipped with the necessary skills or tools, Dolly has also been inspired to develop Behaviour Zen, a web-based app, book and training series on how to provide positive behaviour support to individuals with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

This project is an NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) initiative. For more ILC events and resources please visit

About Dolly Bhargava

Holding a master’s degree in Special Education (Sensory Disability), Dolly provides national and international consultancy and training services on a range of issues relating to communication, behaviour management, literacy, emotional literacy, vocation and social skills. For more information visit.

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