SHE may only be two years old, but little Sophie Pritchett's life is busier than that of many adults.

The youngster has cerebral palsy and spends her days visiting a raft of professionals who help her cope with the condition which has left her unable to speak, eat, walk, or even stand on her own.

Like other pre-school children with disabilities, Sophie has so many experts involved in her wellbeing, it can be a nightmare for those trying to co-ordinate care.

But a new project aimed at making life easier for such families is now being tried in Poole.

The Early Support Programme is a government scheme being piloted in 45 sites across the UK and was created to provide more "joined-up" services for disabled pre-school children.

Dorset project co-ordinator Pam Shults explained: "It's about having multi-agency assessments and reviews of the child's needs and one family action plan so that the parents aren't trying to co-ordinate it all themselves.

"They produce a tool kit for parents. There's a file to keep all the paperwork in and information for the parents about a variety of things that might be available for their child.

"There's also a family file. They can keep their own records in it, talking about their child, the family background, so they can take it with them wherever they go."

Government funding is also paying for a key worker system so families have just one person they can go to who can help co-ordinate services for that family.

Sophie's parents, Sharon and Ian, are one of the 200 families who will eventually be included in the programme.

Sharon, 39, fought her way through the maze of professionals and treatment when Sophie was diagnosed at eight months, but said the Early Support Programme would help new parents facing a similar situation.

"There's a lot of information there," added the mum-of-three, from West Moors.

"Sitting there filling it in just clarified in our mind what the problems are.

"I think for new parents it will help clarify in their mind who each of the professionals are, what each of them do and give them a guide as to who to go to if they have a particular problem.

"When Sophie was younger we were in hospital quite frequently.

"There's quite a change of staff so it would be useful for them to read about Sophie's background, so you're not explaining it twice a day.

"All you can do with cerebral palsy is take one day at a time, but it can be quite wearing and the Early Support Programme is definitely useful."

First published: August 25, 2005