NDIA Accountability Project

Submission 103 — Learning Links — Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

‹ PrevPage 1 of 27 · Source p. 1Next ›

Submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative

Learning Links

Contents

Learning Links is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in 1972. Our team believes that every child deserves the opportunity to learn, develop and thrive. It’s the reason why we have been dedicated to supporting children who face difficulties with learning to reach their full potential at school, and in life.

We envisage a community where these children, regardless of their challenges, are understood and defined by their strengths, not their weaknesses. And that they have access to the supports that can help them to build confidence, learn alongside their peers and reach their goals. This is especially vital for children with learning difficulties who too often miss out, particularly those from low socio-economic backgrounds, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, First Nations families, and children living in regional or remote Australia, where barriers to access remain greatest.

Learning Links’ multidisciplinary team of passionate professionals is the heart of the organisation, working tirelessly to make this vision a reality. Our people are dedicated to providing high-quality, evidence-based support for literacy, numeracy, social-emotional skills, and speech and language development, and fostering inclusive early learning and school environments where every child can thrive. Together with families, early childhood settings, schools, professionals, organisations, communities, funders and government, we seek to create a powerful network of support that drives meaningful change – now and into the future.

In the last year, Learning Links worked with over 7,000 children in our six Learning Centres and community preschool, 142 schools and early childhood settings, and supported more than 3,000 parents and professionals through our learning programs.

Learning Links’ model of support reflects our multidisciplinary offering, diverse modes of delivery and holistic approach to enhancing children’s learning outcomes by building the capacity of parents and professionals, and seeking to create broader change by working in partnership with community organisations, funders and all levels of government.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 3

Executive Summary

For over 50 years, Learning Links has provided vital support to children facing difficulties with learning, helping them build the skills and confidence to participate meaningfully in their early learning environment, at school, and in their home environment. This wealth of experience underpins the organisation’s insights into the challenges these children and their families face and the gaps in support systems that exist to help them.

With 23.5% of children starting school in Australia with developmental vulnerabilities, and over 30% continuing to fall below minimum literacy and numeracy standards as they grow, it is critical that the design and implementation of Thriving Kids, alongside other core government initiatives and investments, effectively target a wider cohort of children and adopts a holistic, integrated approach.

Without targeted, equitable supports from the early childhood years and throughout school, the number of children who face ongoing difficulties and risk disengagement from education, social isolation, and long-term disadvantage will never decline.

Learning Links proposes the following recommendations based on the terms of reference.

1. Evidence-based information and resources for parents

Parents are often the first to notice developmental concerns but lack clear, accessible guidance. Families need consistent information across maternal health, GPs, ECEC, and schools, alongside simple referral pathways to specialist supports.

Recommendations

1.1 Provide accessible, evidence-based information for parents at every stage of the child development journey. 1.2 Strengthen referral pathways to timely, family-centred specialist supports.

Impact: Earlier identification, empowered families, and smoother transitions across services.

2. Effectiveness of programs and initiatives across health, education, and community

Families currently face fragmented systems and inconsistent funding. A nationally consistent approach is needed to provide a clear entry point, embed best-practice support models, and align funding across jurisdictions.

Recommendations

2.1 Create a national “front door” with local delivery and navigation. 2.2 Embed Thriving Kids within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) across ECEC and schools. 2.3 Expand Medicare subsidies to address the “missing middle” of children outside the NDIS.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 4

2.4 Reform funding to combine direct subsidies for families with block funding for coordination, workforce, and navigation. 2.5 Embed equity and community-led supports, prioritising First Nations, CALD, and underserved communities.

Impact: A fair, efficient, and consistent system where fewer children fall through the gaps.

3. Equity and intersectionality (First Nations, CALD, rural/remote)

Systemic inequities mean those most in need often miss out on services. Place-based, culturally safe models work best when co-designed with communities.

Recommendation

3.1 Fund and scale community-led models, strengthen parent and educator capacity in underserved regions, and embed equity-focused outcome measures aligned with Closing the Gap.

Impact: Improved access, cultural safety, and reduced developmental gaps.

4. Workforce support and training

The workforce is the critical enabler. While some states invest in workforce initiatives, access is inconsistent and limited to certain ECEC settings.

Recommendation

4.1 Fund a national workforce development strategy, including professional development, coaching, supervision, and career pathways across education and allied health.

Impact: Sustainable, skilled workforce able to deliver Thriving Kids nationally.

5. Policy alignment

Thriving Kids must build on and align with existing national strategies and frameworks, including the National Early Years Strategy, The Early Childhood Intervention Best Practice Framework, Early Years Learning Framework, National Disability Strategy, National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Closing the Gap, and the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.

Recommendation

5.1 Ensure Thriving Kids is integrated with and reinforces these frameworks to avoid duplication and promote consistency.

6. Mechanisms for seamless transitions

Children and families often fall through gaps between early childhood and school. Consistent outcomes tracking and digital innovation can support continuity.

Recommendations

6.1 Establish a national outcomes framework aligned with EYLF, AEDC, and NAPLAN to track

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 5

developmental progress, equity, wellbeing, and system performance. 6.2 Invest in digital infrastructure, including navigation tools, subsidised access for disadvantaged families, and scalable online therapies and assessments.

Impact: Seamless transitions, improved equity, reduced waitlists, and consistent national data.

Conclusion

Thriving Kids can provide a practical roadmap to identify earlier, support smarter, and deliver fairly. With a national entry point, a Multi-Tiered System of Supports across early childhood education and care and schools, expanded Medicare supports, integrated funding, equity-first models, a national workforce strategy, and digital tools, Australia can ensure every child – particularly those with mild to moderate needs – has a seamless path to learn, develop, and thrive.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 6

Introduction

Children Who Face Difficulties with Learning

From the Australian Early Development Census, we know that 23.5% of children start school in Australia with developmental vulnerabilities – up to five children in a kindergarten class. Based on Learning Links’ experience and studies that show the correlation between AEDC data and NAPLAN results in Years 3 and 5, we estimate that in the later years of primary school this increases, with seven to eight children in the average classroom facing difficulties with their learning. The range of difficulties is broad, covering diagnosed disabilities, specific learning disorders like Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, ADHD, Autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, developmental delay, speech or language delays, mental health challenges, behavioural challenges, trauma or undiagnosed difficulties.

Children experiencing these difficulties are often the ones who were less likely to find a suitable early education service and needed to overcome a number of barriers when transitioning to school. And, once at school, they are the ones who struggle to keep up in the classroom, participate meaningfully, build friendships, and reach their personal and academic goals. They face significant challenges building the foundational academic, functional and social skills they need for the future, which impacts confidence and self-esteem, and can lead to disengagement with learning, attendance issues, behavioural challenges, social isolation, long-term mental health issues, unemployment and financial disadvantage.

We work with these children every day at Learning Links, and we represent them in our recommendations. We know that with the right supports at the right time that children who face difficulties with learning and development have every opportunity to thrive. However, they need effective, equitable support systems that wrap around them, their family, education setting and community, reinforced by flexible and sustainable funding models that are easy to navigate and access.

It is a pivotal point in time for the education, early childhood and disability sectors in Australia. It’s critical that government, service providers, education settings, communities and families work together to find solutions that simplify the systems, break down silos, enhance access to services and reduce the funding inequities that exist for key cohorts of children who are currently at risk.

The Thriving Kids initiative must not only support the 23.5% of children that we know start school every year with developmental vulnerabilities, and their families, but also invest and build capacity in the workforces and settings that provide the vital services these children need to achieve positive outcomes in the long-term.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 7

As a longstanding provider of multidisciplinary services for children with disabilities, developmental delay and a range of difficulties with learning, across clinical, early childhood, school and community settings, Learning Links has unique insight into the various systems that support families, including the NDIS.

In the 2024-25 financial year, our team supported over 1,800 children and families in our six Learning Centres across Sydney and online, offering assessments, speech therapy, counselling and specialist tutoring for literacy and numeracy for children and adolescents aged 2-18 years.

Our speech pathologists, teachers and psychologists also delivered a comprehensive range of Tier 2 and Tier 3 programs in primary and high schools across NSW – working with 142 schools and just under 5,000 students. These programs include one-on-one, small-group and whole class literacy and numeracy, speech and language, assessment and psychosocial programs to build students’ skills, confidence and capacity for learning.

Alongside out centre-based and school programs, Learning Links Preschool offers an inclusive and nurturing early learning environment where educators and allied health professionals work side by side. The centre has 20 enrolments supported by the NSW Disability and Inclusion Program that allows the team to support a large cohort of children with a range of high support needs. Our Prep 4 Preschool early intervention playgroup is funded by the NSW Department of Education Start Strong Pathways program, and supports more than 50 children with disabilities and developmental delay to transition successfully into an appropriate ECEC setting.

Learning Links is a provider of the NSW Department of Education’s Sector Capacity Building Program in over 50 community preschool settings in South Western Sydney, delivering expertise, guidance and professional learning for the implementation of broader inclusive practices to support children with disabilities and developmental delays and their families.

The organisation has also been a provider of the DSS-funded HIPPY (Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters) in two communities, one for over 10 years – guiding parents to build the skills and confidence to be their child’s first teacher in the lead up to school. Further to this, Learning Links has worked as a Community Partner for the Communities for Children program in four communities across Sydney and on the Central Coast of NSW.

Lastly, we built the knowledge and capacity of more than 3,000 parents, teachers, early childhood educators and allied health professionals through our comprehensive suite of learning programs, which includes live and pre-recorded webinars, advanced workshops, self-guided online courses, parent resource packs, bespoke training and tailored face-to-face consultation and coaching.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 8

The “Missing Middle” – Children at Risk of Falling Through the Gaps

Australia has more than 3.2 million children aged 0-9 years. Of these, at least 376,000 have started school with developmental vulnerabilities, yet only 159,000 children in this age group have access to NDIS funding. This leaves a significant proportion in the “missing middle”: children with clear developmental, learning, or social-emotional needs but no access to sustained funded support.

Learning Links’ own data confirms the scale of this problem. Of the 1,600 children we supported in our centres or online in 2023-24:

  • Only 466 had NDIS funding,
  • 336 received partial Medicare rebates, and
  • More than 800 children (over 50%) had no funding at all, paying entirely out-of-pocket for vital speech therapy, counselling, assessments, and learning support.

These children are not unique – they represent the four to five children in every classroom flagged as vulnerable in the AEDC, with risks that persist into literacy, numeracy, and wellbeing gaps throughout primary school. Without funded support, families are left with two options: go without, or pay privately – often unaffordable, especially in low socioeconomic communities where needs are much greater.

The consequences are clear:

  • Equity gaps widen: First Nations, CALD, and disadvantaged children are up to four times more likely to fall behind in literacy, numeracy, and developmental milestones.
  • Educational impact escalates: by Year 3, more than 1 in 3 students falls behind national NAPLAN standards for literacy and numeracy, with far higher rates for First Nations and disadvantaged children.
  • System costs increase: children missing early support require later, more intensive interventions, costing families and government billions.

Learning Links’ programs show what’s possible when the missing middle is reached. With short-term funding from state and local government grants, community club partners, trusts, and philanthropy, we delivered fully funded school-based literacy, speech, and psychology programs to more than 5,000 children in 2023–24, achieving measurable gains in communication, confidence, and learning. But these outcomes are fragile, dependent on grants that end, rather than stable, equitable funding that reach all cohorts who need it most.

The Thriving Kids initiative must reach these children and bridge the gap between universal services and the NDIS by funding the “middle tier” of interventions for a much broader cohort of

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 9

children: speech and language therapy, psychosocial supports, literacy and numeracy programs, and parent/educator capacity-building across early childhood, school and specialist settings. No child should miss out because their needs are deemed “too mild, too complex, or too expensive” for current systems.

Recommendations Based on Terms of Reference

1. Evidence-based Information and Resources That Could Assist Parents

Learning Links’ long-standing experience working alongside families, educators, and health professionals has highlighted the importance of equipping parents with reliable, accessible information at every stage of their child’s development. Parents are often the first to notice potential concerns, yet many are uncertain whether their child’s development falls within typical ranges or are unsure how to navigate complex service systems. To address this, parents must have access to consistent, evidence-based resources embedded across existing touchpoints, including maternal and child health, general practice, early childhood education, and schools, alongside clear referral pathways to specialist, family-centred supports.

The following recommendations outline two complementary priorities: ensuring families can access consistent, evidence-based information across the child development journey, and strengthening referral systems to connect families with the right supports at the right time.

1.1 Accessible information for parents across the child development journey

Parents require accurate, timely, and practical information to recognise when support may be needed and to feel confident in seeking help. Too often, families act only when difficulties are significant and ongoing, as they are unsure whether behaviours are typical or where to turn for guidance. By enhancing existing evidence-based, age-appropriate resources and embedding them across multiple entry points, Thriving Kids can increase early identification and reduce the risk of children with developmental difficulties falling through the cracks.

Resources should link into all five developmental domains of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) – physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication and general knowledge – so families are supported to understand the full picture of their child’s development.

  • Maternal and child health services: Consolidate trusted resources from state health departments, children’s hospital networks, and the Raising Children Network to provide families with broader milestone checklists and red flag indicators during routine health checks. These should be age-specific, easy to follow, and cover all developmental domains.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 10

  • GPs: Embed validated developmental screening tools, such as the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status – Revised (PEDS-R), to help GPs work with parents to identify concerns across multiple domains. Standardised advice, paired with referral guidance, ensures consistency even in time-limited consultations.
  • Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings: Equip educators with age-appropriate, practical screening tools and resources, aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the AEDC domains. Provide training to strengthen their ability to share developmental observations with families in supportive, culturally safe ways.
  • Schools: Ensure teachers have access to evidence-based resources that reflect the AEDC domains and extend into learning and wellbeing needs in the classroom. Teachers should be supported to share consistent, practical information with families and to continue developmental monitoring through the school years – as outlined in the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.

Impact:

  • Earlier identification: Families are equipped to notice concerns sooner, across all key developmental domains.
  • Consistency: Parents receive the same evidence-based, age appropriate information, regardless of whether they seek help from a nurse, GP, educator, or teacher.
  • Confidence for families: Accessible, practical, and culturally relevant resources help parents feel empowered to act.
  • System alignment: Embedding resources across maternal health, primary care, ECEC, and schools ensures smoother transitions and continuity of support.

1.2 Referral to specialist, family-centred supports

Information alone is not enough – families also need timely, clear, and coordinated support that matches their child’s needs. Health, education, and community professionals must work in partnership with families to identify concerns early, explain options, and connect them with the right services.

  • Tailored information: Families should be given easy-to-understand guidance about supports that fit their child’s needs. For example, autism assessment and early intervention, speech and language therapy, mental health supports, or developmental assessments for global developmental delay.
  • Community outreach and connection: Services should actively help families link with peer groups, local programs, and specialist organisations that match their child’s needs. To achieve this, funding for community-based specialist supports is essential so that these services can be offered locally, free or low-cost, and are easier for families to access.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 11

Support Office
Suite 3, Level 1, 140 Bourke Rd
Alexandria NSW 2015
1300 003 900
ABN 71 097 577 636

  • Referral pathways: Clear and simple referral systems are needed so that families can quickly reach the right supports. Pathways should be well coordinated across health, education, and community services so families don’t get lost between systems.

A family-centred approach, where services listen to families, share consistent information, and coordinate referrals, ensures children with developmental concerns receive the right help early. With funding to strengthen community-based specialist supports, families can access vital information services closer to home and feel confident and supported as they move through their child’s development journey.

Case Study: Testing a Simple Early Childhood Screening Tool

In 2024, Elizabeth Bell, Certified Practising Speech Pathologist and Therapy Manager at Learning Links, developed a short and practical speech and language screening tool designed specifically for use by early childhood educators. The aim was simple but powerful: to equip educators, who spend the most time with children in the critical early years, with a resource to help identify speech and language difficulties, provide clear information to families, and guide appropriate referrals to speech pathologists when needed.

The tool was deliberately designed to be brief and accessible, taking no more than 10-15 minutes to administer within the daily flow of a busy early learning environment. It consolidated high-quality, reputable resources into one simple package, supported by an accompanying guide. Key source material included:

  • Speech Pathology Australia’s Communication Milestones – providing clear developmental markers across ages 3-5.
  • The Intelligibility in Context Scale – a validated measure of how well a child is understood across settings.

Pilot study: A pilot with 38 children and 10 educators tested the validity of the tool. Educators administered the screener with children in their early learning setting, while a Learning Links speech pathologist independently screened the same children using standardised clinical tools. Results were highly consistent: in 79% of cases, the educator and speech pathologist findings aligned.

This case study shows that with the right tools, educators can reliably identify children needing extra support, raise concerns early in trusted settings, and connect families to timely information and referrals. Simple, low-burden resources like this strengthen early identification, reduce delays, and give children with developmental needs the best chance to thrive.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 12

2. Effectiveness of Current (and Previous) Programs and Initiatives

Families currently face a maze of systems – NDIS, Medicare, early childhood, education, and community programs – each with its own eligibility criteria, referral pathways, and technical jargon. Parents often don’t know where to start, and those with children experiencing mild to moderate developmental delays and difficulties are least likely to qualify for the structured, ongoing support they need. This fragmentation means that help is too often late, inconsistent, or dependent on a family’s capacity to advocate.

The following recommendations focus on the need for a consistent entry point for families to raise concerns and access support for developmental needs, a multi-tiered system of supports and the need to reform existing state and federal funding systems so access looks the same regardless of your postcode.

2.1 Creating a National Front Door for Local Delivery

Other sectors have shown that a single, visible entry point improves access and equity. Families need the same kind of nationally consistent entry point for developmental and learning concerns.

By establishing a national “front door” – a single digital and phone platform – backed by local navigation and service commissioning, families could approach through familiar settings (schools, maternal and child health, GPs, early childhood services, or community hubs), but all would connect into the same national system for triage, funding and support.

With family consent, information would travel with the child across services, reducing duplication of assessments and enabling warmer handovers. Local commissioning would ensure services are adapted to community needs while meeting national quality standards. Dedicated navigation roles would actively support families to follow through on referrals, rather than leaving them to chase services on their own.

Impact:

  • Timely access: Families can access help earlier, preventing difficulties from escalating.
  • Reduced duplication: Shared assessments and care plans reduce the need for children to be reassessed across different systems.
  • Equity: A single entry pathway ensures consistency and fairness, regardless of postcode, background, or service literacy.
  • Quality and consistency: National guardrails would better guarantee evidence-based practice and alignment with existing frameworks, while local commissioning ensures community and cultural safety and relevance.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 13

Support Office
Suite 3, Level 1, 140 Bourke Rd
Alexandria NSW 2015
1300 003 900
ABN 71 097 577 636

  • Community capacity: Embedding hubs in schools and early childhood services strengthens local networks and builds long-term capacity for families and communities.

Case Study: The Ashcroft Public School Mirrung Model

The ‘Mirrung’ support hub model adopted at Ashcroft Public School, delivered in partnership with NCOSS, and facilitating services from Learning Links and other community providers, shows the effectiveness of local, coordinated delivery.

Located within a local school in the Liverpool area of Western Sydney, the hub brings together speech pathology, psychology, tutoring, and family support in a setting where families already feel comfortable. Parents can raise a concern directly at the school and be linked to family, legal, allied health, learning supports without navigating multiple systems. The model also builds trust, particularly for families who may avoid services due to cost, stigma, or complexity

2.1 Align and Reform Existing Funding Infrastructure

Current funding for inclusion and developmental supports is fragmented across the NDIS, Medicare, and education systems, creating inefficiencies, inequities, and gaps.

Learning Links’ experience in our Preschool and Prep 4 Preschool early intervention playgroup shows the benefits of a transdisciplinary model, and in the case of the Preschool a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (see more in Recommendation 2.2), where educators work alongside speech pathologists and psychologists. This approach builds educator capacity through coaching, strengthens children’s functional skills, and equips parents with strategies to use at home.

However, replicating and scaling such approaches is hampered by funding barriers and inconsistent definitions of inclusion. In schools, there is some flexibility to integrate specialist services, but in ECEC settings, budget constraints and narrow program rules often prevent allied health professionals from working directly with educators and children. This means many children miss out or only receive partial support.

Funding structures also differ significantly across states, territories, and even between types of ECEC settings, leading to inconsistency in the level and quality of support available. Families are left to navigate complex systems, and too often children fall through the cracks.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 14

To ensure equity, federal funding for Thriving Kids should be designed to integrate seamlessly with existing state and federal inclusion and disability programs (e.g. school inclusion funding, ISP, Medicare). This integration should:

  • Standardise eligibility criteria and address existing funding gaps.
  • Ensure mainstream funding uplifts are complemented by targeted, multidisciplinary supports.
  • Enable allied health to work directly within ECEC and school environments in partnership with educators and families.
  • Provide consistent service delivery options across jurisdictions and settings.

Some states are already moving towards stronger inclusion through funding reform:

  • In Victoria, the School Readiness Funding initiative gives ECEC services flexible funding for allied health, professional learning, and family engagement programs. This model encourages collaboration between educators, allied health professionals, and families, targeting developmental areas such as communication, social-emotional learning, and self-regulation.
  • In South Australia, the Office for Early Childhood Development is driving reforms to strengthen inclusion and developmental outcomes, aligned with the AEDC. This includes expanding allied health in preschools, increasing specialist staff, and improving collaboration across education, health, and community services to identify and respond to needs earlier.

These state-based approaches demonstrate what is possible but remain inconsistent and uneven across jurisdictions. A nationally integrated approach would scale these benefits to all children and families.

Impact:

  • Seamless family pathways: Families experience one coordinated system instead of fragmented, competing programs.
  • Equity of access: All children, regardless of location, background, or setting, can access the same quality support, meaning fewer children fall through the funding gaps.
  • More efficient use of investment: Duplication is reduced, and resources are directed to where they are most needed.
  • Stronger inclusion and outcomes: Children benefit from multidisciplinary, holistic supports in ECEC and school settings, reducing inequities and reliance on later, more costly interventions.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 15

2.2 Embedding Thriving Kids into a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Across Early Childhood and School Settings

Families currently face fragmented systems and inconsistent referral pathways, and many early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are not equipped to identify and respond to diverse developmental needs. As a result, many children miss out on early supports, increasing reliance on more costly and intensive interventions later in schooling.

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is recognised internationally as best practice for embedding a stepped care approach within education. It provides a structured framework where:

  • all children receive universal, high-quality learning and wellbeing supports,
  • those at risk access additional small-group assistance, and
  • children with complex needs receive individualised, multidisciplinary services.

While schools are increasingly familiar with MTSS, embedding this approach in ECEC settings would strengthen developmental support earlier in a child’s journey and foster greater collaboration between educators, allied health professionals, and families.

Adopting a nationally consistent MTSS framework as part of Thriving Kids, spanning both ECEC and the crucial early school years, would ensure:

  • Tier 1 (Universal): Evidence-based teaching, inclusive practices, play-based learning, and educator professional development to build foundation skills across all developmental domains.
  • Tier 2 (Targeted): Small-group programs co-designed with allied health professionals to support children at risk of delay in speech and language, literacy and numeracy, social-emotional skills, and executive functioning.
  • Tier 3 (Intensive): Integrated, individualised supports involving allied health, educators, and families for children with more complex needs.

MTSS is specifically referenced in the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement 2025–2034 as a key evidence-based model for lifting equity and outcomes. What is missing is the seamless transition from early childhood into the first years of school, ensuring continuity of developmental supports for children aged 6–9 across crucial domains.

By embedding MTSS and integrating allied health across both ECEC and schools, Thriving Kids would deliver a consistent, national, needs-based framework that promotes collaboration, supports early identification, and ensures children of all abilities – particularly those with developmental concerns – receive the right help at the right time.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 16

Impact:

  • Early identification: Developmental needs are recognised and addressed sooner.
  • Consistent pathways: Families experience coordinated supports across ECEC and school transitions.
  • Reduced reliance on late intervention: Universal and targeted supports lower demand for costly intensive services later.
  • Equity and best practice: Needs-based funding ensures all children can access high-quality supports aligned with international evidence.
  • Better outcomes for children: Stronger readiness for school, improved communication and literacy, and greater social-emotional resilience.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 17

Support Office
Suite 3, Level 1, 140 Bourke Rd
Alexandria NSW 2015
1300 003 900
ABN 71 097 577 636

Case Study: Learning Links Preschool – Multi-Tiered, Inclusive Early Childhood Supports

For more than 30 years, Learning Links Preschool in Peakhurst has provided inclusive education for children of all abilities, including 20 children with developmental delays and disabilities. Early childhood teachers, educators, speech pathologists, and psychologists work with families to co-design learning and wellbeing plans, helping every child gain foundation skills and build on their strengths and transition to school with confidence.

Funding: A Fragile Patchwork

The preschool relies on a mix of NSW Department of Education Start Strong and Disability Inclusion Program funding, NDIS plans, state and local council grants, club partner funding, philanthropy, and donations. While diverse, this funding base is unpredictable – leaving specialist supports and workforce development vulnerable to constant change.

Multi-tiered supports in action

The preschool delivers a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS):

  • Universal: Play-based learning, social-emotional programs, developmental screening, inclusive communication strategies, and professional learning.
  • Targeted: Small-group sessions for children who are developmentally at risk to build communication, wellbeing and executive functioning skills.
  • Intensive: Individualised speech and language, and social emotional support for children with more complex or ongoing needs.

This is underpinned by continuous workforce development and collaboration across Learning Links other disciplines.

Mason’s story

Mason arrived at Learning Links Preschool with significant developmental delays and limited language. With targeted support, he now communicates confidently using speech and visual tools and engages fully with peers. His parent shared: “My child’s language development has flourished… he comes home happier, more chatty, and more optimistic about learning.”

Why Stable Funding Matters

Children leave Learning Links Preschool with stronger communication, wellbeing, and social skills, but these results are fragile without predictable funding. Australia spends $22.3 billion annually on late interventions (Front Project, 2024) – evidence that stable, early investment delivers far greater value. Moving from patchwork funding to stable, blended, or block models would ensure consistent access to MTSS, secure workforce capacity, and unlock long-term impact for children and families.

Learning Links Preschool proves what is possible: high-quality, inclusive early intervention that transforms children’s lives. The challenge, and opportunity, is to back this model with sustainable national investment.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 18

2.3 Expand Subsidised Supports Outside the NDIS

While Learning Links strongly endorses embedding Thriving Kids into ECEC and school settings, many children with ongoing learning or developmental challenges also need personalised, evidence-based specialist services. Currently, many families who do not qualify for the NDIS are left reliant on just five subsidised allied health sessions under Medicare, or face significant out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic assessments, therapy, and targeted learning supports. This “missing middle” of children often miss out on timely diagnosis and support, leading to poorer long-term outcomes and greater costs to the system.

Expanding Medicare subsidies to bridge these critical gaps, can ensure children with mild to moderate needs can access specialist support earlier and more consistently:

  • Subsidised assessments: Introduce Medicare items for cognitive and diagnostic assessments to reduce the financial burden on families and support timely tailored interventions.
  • Speech therapy: Increase subsidies to a minimum of 10 sessions per year, extendable to 20 based on professional recommendation, sitting outside the Chronic Disease Management program.
  • Occupational therapy: Similarly expand to 10–20 sessions annually, supporting children with developmental delays, motor skills, and sensory needs.
  • Mental health supports: Reinstate 20 sessions per year under Mental Health Care Plans, ensuring children with social-emotional difficulties can access consistent evidence-based counselling.
  • Tutoring for learning difficulties: Introduce new subsidies for evidence-based tutoring for children in the crucial early years of school facing persistent learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and ADHD, to complement in-school multi-tiered supports and reinforce classroom learning.

Impact:

  • Reduced out-of-pocket costs: Families – particularly those facing financial disadvantage – no longer have to delay or forego essential supports due to cost.
  • Earlier intervention: Children can access help before issues escalate, reducing reliance on more intensive services later.
  • Support for the “missing middle”: Ensures children who fall outside NDIS eligibility are not left without pathways to care.
  • Improved outcomes: Stronger educational, developmental, and mental health outcomes, helping children reach their full potential.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 19

2.4 Funding to Strengthen Integration and Family Autonomy

While expanding Medicare subsidies is critical to reduce out-of-pocket costs for families (Recommendation 2.3), subsidies alone cannot deliver a fair and effective system. They provide access to sessions, but not the navigation, coordination, or workforce development needed to ensure families know where to go, how to use those supports, or that services work together around the child.

A recent Learning Links survey of over 600 families revealed that 50% were unaware of the support programs available in their child’s school. This demonstrates the real risk of funding reforms failing to reach children if families are not supported to navigate systems or if services remain siloed. At the same time, ECEC settings and schools, who are already stretched, cannot take on this coordination role without resourcing. Families need both direct funding for choice and access, and system-level funding to create a joined-up, navigable pathway.

Alongside the review existing state and federal funding for inclusion, broader funding reforms should combine:

  • Direct subsidies: As above, Medicare funding for assessments, therapy, and tutoring in 10+ session blocks, extendable following screening or assessment, ensuring families retain choice and control over providers.
  • Block funding: Stable investment to schools, ECEC services, and specialist community organisations to act as the “glue” across systems. This would cover navigation roles, workforce development, joint planning, and tailored family support. Community-based providers with existing infrastructure, networks and speciality could deliver clear information, connect families to peer and local supports, and strengthen referral pathways, ensuring families do not fall through funding gaps.

Impact:

  • Seamless integration: Children and families experience one coherent system, rather than a patchwork of disconnected programs.
  • Family empowerment: Parents retain agency in provider choice while receiving personalised guidance to understand and use supports effectively.
  • Workforce stability: Block funding builds the capacity of educators and allied health professionals, ensuring sustainable expertise in inclusion and early intervention.
  • Equity and efficiency: Consistent supports across jurisdictions, reduced duplication, and better value from public investment.
  • Better outcomes for children: Timely, coordinated, and family-centred services that enable children to thrive in early childhood, school, and beyond.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 20

Support Office
Suite 3, Level 1, 140 Bourke Rd
Alexandria NSW 2015
1300 003 900
ABN 71 097 577 636

Case Study: Gledswood Hills – Coordinated Support for Children, Families and Schools

The Learning Links centre at Gledswood Hills anchors our work in the Macarthur region. In the last year, 274 children and families accessed assessments, therapies, and outreach into local schools and communities.

Working With Schools

We partner with a wide network of schools to deliver speech therapy, psychology programs, literacy and wellbeing interventions, and teacher professional learning. Schools value these programs, but without sustained funding they often end when grants or club partner contributions expire.

Supporting Families

Families use the centre for assessments, speech therapy, counselling and help navigating funding systems. Many children fall into the “missing middle” – with persistent difficulties with learning but no NDIS funding and limited Medicare rebates. Parent webinars and resources extend our reach, but families stress their greatest need is certainty that supports won’t suddenly stop.

Community Collaboration

We work with Camden and Campbelltown Councils and local clubs, who provide vital funding through the NSW ClubGRANTS scheme and Charity Housie initiative. However, children’s learning difficulties are often overlooked against other pressing local issues, leaving families vulnerable to funding gaps.

Quantifying the “missing middle”:

  • Children aged 3-9 in Macarthur: 23,051
  • Developmentally vulnerable: 5,974 (25.9%) in one AEDC domain, 3,739 (16.2%) in two or more
  • Not on NDIS despite vulnerabilities: 2,747-3,200 children
  • In low-SEIFA areas: up to 1,800 vulnerable children missing out on funded support

When funded, outcomes are strong: literacy improves by three months for every month of support; numeracy by four; 80% of children communicate more effectively; 86% are more confident and engaged in learning. But without stable funding, progress stalls and families live with uncertainty.

The Gledswood Hills hub demonstrates how supports can be delivered locally:

  • Universal: webinars, resources, screeners.
  • Targeted: small-group literacy, numeracy, speech and psychology programs
  • Intensive: one-to-one therapies and specialist assessments.

This Highlights that Thriving Kids Must:

  • Recognise and fund the missing middle as a priority.
  • Provide predictable, ongoing supports instead of stop-start grants.
  • Back schools as key access points, while also supporting families directly.
  • Invest in navigation, family resources, and workforce for sustainable impact.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 21

3. Identify Equity and Intersectional Issues, in Particular, Children Who Identify as First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse.

Systemic inequities are well documented, particularly for First Nations children, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families, and those living in rural and remote communities. These groups are disproportionately represented in both the AEDC data for children starting school, and in NAPLAN results in later years – reinforcing the barriers to early identification and access to developmental supports.

3.1 Embed Equity and Community-Led Supports

Mainstream service models are not always culturally safe or accessible, meaning the children most in need are often least able to benefit.

Evidence from programs such as Communities for Children and HIPPY shows that block-funded, place-based, and co-designed approaches strengthen families and communities, build parent confidence, and improve access to supports in ways that are locally relevant and trusted.

Thriving Kids must embed equity and access at its core by:

  • Implementing place-based strategies tailored to the needs of local communities.
  • Supporting culturally safe service models, co-designed and led with First Nations and CALD communities.
  • Scaling or adapting proven Commonwealth and community programs such as Communities for Children and HIPPY, embedding parent engagement, wraparound supports, and local flexibility.
  • Investing in parent and educator capacity-building in underserved and vulnerable communities to ensure earlier identification and stronger supports for children.
  • Embedding equity-focused outcome measures in evaluation and aligning with the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to ensure accountability.

Impact

  • Improved access: First Nations, CALD, and regional and remote families can access supports that meet their needs.
  • Cultural safety: Families engage more confidently with services designed with and led by their communities.
  • Stronger families and workforce: Building the confidence of parents and educators strengthens local capacity to identify and support children early.
  • Equity in outcomes: Developmental gaps are reduced, and children most at risk enter school better prepared to succeed.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 22

4. Identify Gaps in Workforce Support and Training Required to Deliver Thriving Kids.

The workforce is the critical enabler of Thriving Kids. Without sustained investment in training, mentoring, and career pathways, services cannot scale to meet demand. Evidence suggests that professional development combined with coaching over time changes practice, whereas one-off workshops have little lasting impact.

4.1 Invest in ECEC Workforce Development as a Distinct Priority

Learning Links is a provider of the NSW Department of Education’s Sector Capacity Building program for community preschools, which demonstrates this principle in action.

Through mentoring, modelling, and ongoing coaching, the program enables preschools to embed and sustain inclusive practices for children facing developmental vulnerabilities. While similar capacity building initiatives are incorporated into other state-based early childhood reforms, they vary in scale and quality, and often do not extend across all ECEC settings.

Workforce development for inclusion is not consistently available across all ECEC settings, nor is it linked nationally to the broader education and allied health workforce.

It is recommended to fund a national workforce development strategy that ensures consistency across all states, territories, and types of ECEC services, as well as schools. This should include:

  • Paid professional development in delivering Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) in ECEC and schools.
  • Ongoing coaching and mentoring, embedded in practice, not just one-off workshops.
  • Supervision and career pathways for speech pathologists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and educators to attract and retain skilled staff.
  • Cross-sector collaboration opportunities to strengthen partnerships between education, health, and community services.

Impact:

  • Sustainable workforce: Reduced turnover and stronger retention of skilled professionals.
  • Improved practice: Educators and allied health staff consistently confident in identifying developmental difficulties and delivering inclusive, evidence-based supports.
  • National consistency: All ECEC services have access to consistent workforce support.
  • Scalability: Thriving Kids can be delivered nationally at the quality and scale required.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 23

5. Draw on Domestic and International Policy Experience and Best Practice.

5.1 Align With Existing Strategies and Frameworks

Thriving Kids must align with existing national strategies and frameworks that prioritise best practice, inclusivity, family-centred and culturally responsive approaches, early intervention, comprehensive mental health and wellbeing support, and coordination across early childhood, education, disability, and health sectors.

  • National Early Years Strategy (2024-2034)
  • National Early Years Strategy Outcomes Framework
  • Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australia (Version 2.0)
  • National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care
  • National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)
  • The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO)’s Early Childhood Learning Trajectories
  • NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators
  • National Autism Strategy 2025-2031
  • National Disability Strategy 2021-2031
  • National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy
  • National Agreement on Closing the Gap
  • Better and Fairer Schools Agreement 2025-2034

6. Identify Mechanisms that Would Allow a Seamless Transition Through Mainstream Systems for All Children With Mild to Moderate Support Needs.

6.1 Establish a National Outcomes Framework for Seamless Transitions

Currently, child development, wellbeing, and learning outcomes are tracked inconsistently across systems. Families often fall through gaps between early childhood and school, with little continuity in how progress, equity, or service quality is measured. A national outcomes framework for Thriving Kids would provide a consistent way to monitor children’s developmental journeys, ensure accountability, and strengthen seamless transitions from early childhood into school and beyond.

This could mean developing and embedding a set of nationally consistent outcome measures that align with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), and NAPLAN, and informed by the existing frameworks and strategies referenced in Recommendation 5.1. Measures should include:

  • Developmental progress and school readiness – validated tools at ages 3, 5, and 8, aligned with AEDC domains.

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative – Learning Links Submission 24

  • Wellbeing and participation: children’s emotional health, play, engagement, and agency.
  • Family empowerment and equity: parental capacity and confidence, service reach across First Nations, CALD, and disadvantaged cohorts.
  • Workforce capability: stability, professional development, and supervision capacity.
  • System integration: evidence of collaboration and efficiency between health, education, and community services.
  • Academic attainment: sustained learning outcomes from AEDC through to NAPLAN.
  • Community outcomes: shifts in inclusion, service access, and resilience.

Impact:

  • Seamless transitions: Children are tracked across ECEC and school using consistent measures, reducing duplication and gaps.
  • Equity and accountability: Outcomes are monitored across cohorts, ensuring supports reach those most at risk.
  • Long-term insight: Linked longitudinal data shows how early interventions influence school readiness, learning, and wellbeing over time.
  • System improvement: Funding and service models can be refined based on evidence of what works.

6.2 Harness Digital Infrastructure to Enable Seamless Transitions

Seamless transitions for children with mild to moderate needs depend on consistent access to information, supports, and services across ECEC and school systems. Yet families, particularly those who are time-poor, live in regional or remote communities, or face financial disadvantage, often miss out due to inequitable access.

Digital platforms expand reach, reduce inequities, and make it easier for families to stay connected to supports as their child moves through mainstream systems. Investment in technology would also help providers deliver services more efficiently and consistently, reducing fragmentation and waitlists.

Thriving Kids should invest in digital infrastructure and innovation to connect families, ECEC services, schools, and providers by:

  • AI-driven navigation tools: Guiding families through complex systems with tailored information, timely referrals, and reduced administrative burden for providers.
  • Technology subsidies: Funding devices and connectivity for disadvantaged families to ensure equitable participation in online education and therapy.
  • Scaling digital services: Expanding evidence-based online assessments, therapies, and programs so children can access consistent supports even when local services are unavailable.
  • Provider capacity-building: Supporting ECEC, schools, and allied health providers to adopt robust platforms, train staff, and integrate AI-enabled tools for personalised support and efficient coordination.

Impact:

  • Extends reach: Digital supports overcome geographic and workforce barriers, ensuring families in all areas can access help.
  • Reduces waitlists: Online assessments and therapies provide timely access, preventing escalation of difficulties.
  • Empowers families: Tools and knowledge give parents greater confidence to support their child across settings.
  • Seamless transitions: Shared platforms ensure continuity of supports as children move from ECEC into school.
  • Equity: All children – regardless of postcode or income – can benefit from accessible, high-quality services.

Additional Recommendations

Consolidation of State-Based Working with Children Checks into a National Framework

In our attempts to scale vital support services for children facing difficulties with their learning, Learning Links has encountered unnecessary barriers to employing teachers and allied health professionals and offering services across states. As widely reported, there are also significant child safety risks associated with state-based systems.

To enhance service delivery, address support gaps in regional and interstate areas, and ensure the highest levels of child safety, state-based Working with Children Checks (WWCC) should be consolidated into a unified national framework. A national WWCC system would eliminate the need for service providers to navigate varying state requirements, reducing administrative burdens and geographic constraints that can currently hinder the expansion of services across state borders.

This reform would allow service providers to operate more efficiently, enabling them to extend their reach to underserved communities, particularly in regional and remote areas where access to specialist support is limited. A national framework would streamline compliance processes,

Support Office
Suite 3, Level 1, 140 Bourke Rd
Alexandria NSW 2015
1300 003 900
ABN 71 097 577 636

promote consistency in safeguarding standards, and create a more cohesive approach to child protection across Australia.

This change would empower organisations to focus their resources on delivering vital services, ensuring that families and children, regardless of their location, have equitable access to high-quality supports. A national WWCC would also provide greater confidence to families, knowing that uniform standards are upheld nationwide.

Contact Details

Learning Links is grateful for the opportunity to share our perspective and recommendations on Thriving Kids with the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability.

Learning Links would be pleased to contribute to any further consultations, forums, or advisory groups, and we would be delighted to host site visits to enable policymakers to meet with our clients, families, and staff to hear directly about their experiences and needs.

We know that the effective integration of government systems, funding and existing education and community supports can benefit children facing a range of developmental concerns and difficulties — now and into the future.

More information about Learning Links can be found at https://www.learninglinks.org.au

Our 2023-24 Impact Report can be viewed online >

Jill Reich

Chief Executive Officer

redacted
redacted