New disability system an ‘urgent priority for all governments’, review says

The one in five children with a disability or developmental issue need better access to support and much of it should be provided by government outside the NDIS.

Australian children with disability should receive support where they “live, play and learn”, the NDIS review says.

Those one in five children in Australia with a disability or developmental issue need better access to support “where they live, play and learn”, and much of this should be provided by federal and state governments outside the NDIS, the scheme’s review says.

The NDIS review calls for a fundamental recasting of the disability system as it relates to children as “an urgent priority for all governments.”

“They are the future of our ­nation and their needs must be met better as early in life as possible,” it says.

The review notes the pressure on parents to try to secure NDIS funding for a child with autism or developmental delay, given the lack of support anywhere else, a pressure that sees 145,000 children under the age of nine, some 5 per cent of all under-nines, currently on the scheme, most with a primary diagnosis of autism.

It recommends a new push to identify emerging developmental concerns in children as early as possible so intervention might mean they never to have to enter the National Disability Insurance Scheme at all.

Given widespread anecdotal evidence that parents are “doctor shopping” to secure a diagnosis of autism to secure an NDIS place, the review calls for “a more ­consistent and robust approach to assessing developmental delay”.

“There is too much focus on diag­nosis, and not enough on support needs,” it says.

The review says national cabinet must commit to supporting more mainstream support in schools and childcare settings.

Parents also need support, it says, especially on how best to navigate their child’s needs.

National cabinet on Wednesday agreed to split the costs of new “foundational supports” for people with less severe disabilities that don’t require an individual NDIS package.

This would include ser­vices for children within school and childcare settings, though state and federal leaders left the details, and costs, to be determined by bureaucrats in coming months.

The review says children with a developmental delay face barriers to their care and education that other children don’t.

“We have heard about the fraught experience in transitioning to school, securing necessary adjustments, and the fragmentation between the NDIS and the education system,” the review says.

“Others told us that progress is lost when their child started to ­attend school.

“Children with disability or developmental concerns often face suspensions, expulsions and restrictive practices at higher levels compared to other children.”

NDIS review co-chair Bruce Bonyhady. Picture: Alan Barber

The review also calls for a new approach to assessing developmental delay.

It proposes comparing the severity of the delay “through measuring standard deviations from the mean.”

Children and Young People with Disability chief executive Skye Kakoschke-Moore said the review’s focus on younger Australians was heartening, given more than half the 630,000 NDIS participants are younger than 25.