To whom it may concern,

I am the child representative for a participant recieving NDIS funding. My son got diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in August 2020. He is currently recieving NDIS funding. We were asked to participate in the independent assessment pilot and declined.

So far at the very young age 4, he has been seen by the child health care nurse, 2 different General Practitioners, a developmental pediatrician, a psychologist, 5 speech therapist, and 3 occupational therapist.

He has been assessed each time by each professional. I also note a lot of these assessments are very similar and repetitive.

According to the ndis, after this poor by has been subjected to assessment after assessment from 13 doctors/allied health professionals, he still needs to complete an independent assessment. Why?

I have a report from each doctor/allied health professional. Why is more needed?

I’ll give you my son has seen quite a few therapist. But most children with ASD have seen at least 4. You need a GP or a child health care nurse to refer to the developmental peadiatrician. Then you also need a speech therapist (or occupational therapist) and a psychologist to agree on a diagnosis.

Most times before accessing the NDIS, we get reports from the therapist that will provide the ongiong therapy as well.

Another concern is what qualifications the independent assessor has.

Are they a doctor or an allied health professional? In my opinion, the assessor should be a medical or allied health professional to carry out the assessment properly.

Why after so many reports and results and assessments, why do we need more? I simply cannot fathom it.

Also, applying to the NDIS itself is difficult. We are required to jump through so many hoops and fill out so much paperwork. Why do we need one more hoop? One more barrier?

The NDIS is also a deficit model. Look at all the things my son is failing to do. Does one more

• person really need to come into my home to see my son not be able to put on his shoes?
• communicate properly?

In my opinion, this independent assessment is not needed.

I am thankful to the NDIS, I was able to access therapy, I could not have otherwise. I have already seen improvement in my child. Why make this already very difficult process of accessing the NDIS more difficult? Why subject our children or differently abled adults to even more assessments?