New scheme to help children with autism and developmental delays outside the NDIS
Updated ,first published
Parents will no longer have to spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours chasing autism diagnoses for their children as they struggle to qualify for government disability support under the new Developing Children program, which will help children with lower support needs outside the NDIS.
After the federal and state governments signed a long-awaited health and disability funding deal last week, Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler unveiled the Developing Children model on Tuesday, explaining it would be driven mainly by states and territories.
The Albanian government rejected the advisory group’s suggestion that children would access therapies through new Medicare plans and instead give money to states to run the plan their own way. “We will not fund services directly. We will provide that money to the states,” Butler said.
“[They] It will greatly benefit from many of the programs they already have in place… This will not be a traditional Medicare-funded allied health care provider visit that may be bulk billed or charge a gap fee. “This will be a very different model, especially what state governments are asking of us.”
Each jurisdiction will design its own system to support the tens of thousands of children aged eight and under with autism or developmental delays; many of these now have individual packages through the $48 billion NDIS.
State systems would be expected to follow the same model, with four basic functions: detecting when children have developmental delays or differences; providing easy access to information on where to get help; providing programs and tools for parents to develop their own skills; and providing targeted support, including therapies and equipment, to children in need.
The federal government will support Thriving Kids with national components such as information campaigns, online resources and a hotline, but otherwise this support will be provided by states and territories that will scale up their existing services and create new services. The Albanian government will finalize individual agreements with each jurisdiction by the end of this month.
Tuesday’s launch of the Developing Kids model comes after Butler’s task force took over the design last August because states and territories were too slow. They first agreed to help run new services for children in late 2023. The taskforce, led by Professor Frank Oberklaid, consulted with health, disability and education stakeholders for five months.
Oberklaid said the current system is broken. “Pediatricians were receiving requests from inexperienced teachers such as: Please confirm the diagnosis of autism so this child can receive services. This completely distorted clinical practice,” he said.
Autism diagnoses have increased rapidly in Australia over the last decade; This is a trend some experts attribute to NDIS requirements. 16 per cent of six-year-old Australian boys now rely on the programme.
Under Thriving Children, families will no longer receive individualized funding or packages as is currently available under the NDIS. However, children will not need any formal diagnosis to access services, eliminating long waiting times for NDIS support.
“The thing people complain about the most is the time it takes to get a diagnosis, the need for a formal diagnosis before parents can get any support for their child, which can take years to get and can cost thousands of dollars,” Butler said Tuesday.
“This will be easy to access. It will not require a formal diagnosis. And more importantly, these supports will be child and family centered.”
Butler said he expected Thriving Kids to meet the current number of children currently using the NDIS for low or intermediate supports – there were 120,444 children in this category on the NDIS in the last financial year, this imprint reports, and they receive around $1.8 billion annually.
The Minister also said he expected other children who had fallen through the cracks of the NDIS to start using Thriving Kids.
State and federal governments have so far committed to spending $2 billion over five years to set up and run the plan. Butler said the Commonwealth would give $1.6 billion of its share directly to the states and territories, and estimated $4 billion in total funding would be sufficient.
How will the Successful Children model work?
The first layer of the Successful Kids plan will involve improving the ways children’s developmental support needs are identified, whether through community workers, GPs or early childhood educators and teachers, so this happens early.
There should then be a variety of access points that allow parents to seek further help. This should include a national website and phone line where parents can ask questions and be directed to local services and support. There may also be physical entry points such as family and children’s centres, or GPs can refer families to further support.
The third leg of Developing Children will be the “Universal Parenting Supports” program. This should include online courses, webinars and workshops to help parents understand their child’s needs and how they can help. Peer support groups for parents should provide another environment in which they can build community.
Supported playgroups also fall into this category, where parents can connect and allied health professionals offer guidance as they develop their children’s social skills. Family programs that assist children with positive play, communication and emotional regulation will be delivered by trained facilitators.
The fourth element of Kids Success will be “Targeted Support”, which most closely reflects the services currently available through the NDIS. This will be offered to children who need further occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, psychology or other therapies.
Unlike the NDIS model, which gives each family annual funding packages to spend on therapists, these supports will be limited in time and focused on specific targets. A diagnosis will not be necessary, but a healthcare professional or Thriving Kids provider will perform a mild needs assessment.
While some children may only need one type of support, children with multidisciplinary needs will be connected to a variety of health professionals and support services. For the second group, a “key worker” will help coordinate their care.
Thriving Kids should also ensure that essential equipment currently accessed through NDIS funding is made available, for example through loan pools or equipment libraries. Must provide access to tools such as laminated cards and communication cards; sensory pillows, calming aids, and emotion regulation charts; velcro shoes, adapted cutlery and non-slip mats; and modified high chairs or simple standing frames.
Next steps will test capacity
But delivery details are still being worked out, and last week’s deal postponed the launch date: Thriving Kids will be available from October this year and will be fully available in January 2028.
Opposition NDIS spokeswoman Anne Ruston criticized the delay and lack of detail.
“It has been 167 days since Secretary Butler first announced Kids Achievers and all she has delivered is broad guidelines and delayed time frames,” he said.
“Parents were promised certainty and support for their young children. Instead, they are wondering what services will be available to support their children, who will provide them, and when these services will actually be available.
“The Minister still cannot explain how this program will work in practice, how support will be provided on the ground.”
There are still significant uncertainties about how supports, particularly targeted treatments, will be financed and delivered, a group of disability organizations said on Tuesday.
They said all governments should commit to a nationally consistent set of standards and publish clear implementation plans. “Without these commitments, people with disabilities and their families risk facing fragmented systems, inconsistent access, and widening service gaps,” they said.
The review said “targeted supports” should be provided in places where children live, learn and play, such as schools, childcare, homes or community centres.
However, he said running Developing Children in schools or child care centers needs to be carefully designed to ensure it does not involve their primary purpose of providing education.
The task force also predicted teething pains as the workforce adapts and services are delivered. “There may be waiting periods for access to some supports,” the report said.
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
