Re: Submission regarding Thriving Kids
02/10/2025
To Whom it May Concern.
I am writing this submission today with concerns in relation to the latest change which would be “Thriving Kids”. I myself, am a late diagnosed Autistic Adult, I also support young people to adults who are, like myself Autistic and see day in and day out the diƯiculty this often can have when living in what has been designed as a “Neurotypical world”.
The following is taken from: https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/thriving-kids-fact-sheet.pdf All aspects of the below which are underlined come right from this.
The Australian Government is restoring the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to its original purpose—supporting people with permanent and significant disability — and ensuring the Scheme remains sustainable.
Yes indeed. The NDIS is doing it’s original purpose, that is supporting people with a permanent disabilities. In fact the NDIS states: The NDIS provides funding to eligible people with disability to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs, or volunteering in their community, and an improved quality of life. (https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/what-ndis) Now considering Autism is: Autism is a lifelong neurological variation that shapes how a person experiences, interacts with, and perceives the world. Autistic people experience the world in unique and valuable ways. Autistic people may think, feel, communicate, connect, and experience their environments diƯerently. (https://autismqld.com.au/resources/what-is-autism/) As from the above you can see that Autism is lifelong, we do not grow out of it, we struggle and live with it every single day. This is why the NDIS is there to support Autistic individuals as well as others with lifelong disabilities.
Now moving on the Thriving Kids program objective:
The Thriving Kids program is designed to provide early intervention and support for children aged 8 and under who experience mild to moderate developmental delays or autism. The initiative aims to identify developmental concerns earlier and establish a
national system of support that integrates with existing services such as child and maternal health, early childhood education, and community health.
I would like to clearly list some of my concerns in relation to this statement below:
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As already stated Autism is lifelong. It is not something we ‘grow out of’
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As even stated by the NDIS people who are Autistic are individual and therefore all Autistic children need the choice and control to be able to access the services that suit them, not ones which are cookie cutter – we do not work that way. The evidence on early intervention for children on the autism spectrum tells us that each child is unique, so interventions should reflect a child’s individual needs. (https://dataresearch.ndis.gov.au/research-and-evaluation/early interventions-and-high-volume-cohorts/evidence-review-early-interventions children-autism) This statement further into the report clarifies this even further: The report found there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. No single intervention improves developmental outcomes for all children on the Autism spectrum. The report describes the main interventions and groups them into eight categories that reflect the diƯerent reasons as to how they are thought to work.
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Mainstream services are not available in so many areas. The program will be delivered by scaling and building on existing mainstream and community services that can better support families and children in settings they are already connected to. My question here would be when children are having to home school due to the fact that many schools, especially those in regional areas CANNOT cater for their diverse needs how will these services be delivered. I have personally seen this. I have seen schools tell parents they cannot cater. The waitlist for a paediatrician here is currently 6-18 months long depending on if you are public or private. How can making this wait list even longer be any good for anyone??
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Autistic individuals experience diƯiculties with many aspects of life including: social interactions, communication, interoception, executive functioning, changes to routines, sensory environments, movement and processing. For more on this I recommend you watch the following: http://youtu.be/yyziesUYVbs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPknwW8mPAM http://youtu.be/lEhHC48vam0?si=-ubXkdfnsG9pFgFg
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The cost of implementing a new program when there is already an Early Intervention funding program occurring is more wasted funds. More money wasted on publicity, policy writing, new training, new programs etc. This all costs money. How much will this cost?? And well why spend money when we already have a service which caters for these individuals.
- We are already struggling with teachers. We are in fact oƯering roles to teachers before they have finished their degrees. You can now teach before you have even qualified, that is the state of our education system. In its latest annual report figures, the Department of Education showed 1,279 teachers had resigned in 2024-25 — the highest number in a year since the data began being published in 2005. ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-22/wa teachers-resignations-set-new-record/105803332) The education landscape in Queensland, Australia, is grappling with a significant challenge: the departure of thousands of teachers and teacher aides since 2020. According to government data, over 12,375 education professionals have resigned during this period, causing concerns about the stability of the teaching workforce. (https://uqschoolsnet.com.au/article/2024/04/teacher-exodus queenslands-education-crisis) When out schools are already in crisis why is a program being looked at which adds extra unneeded pressure onto those who assist in shaping our future leaders?
I could continue further, however, I believe the above does make that point clear.
Not only this but our parents are also experiencing Carer Burnout, this is likely to get worse with the indication that more will fall back on parents with a guide parents and help their kids thrive. Our parents are already struggling. So many families are struggling with the financial burdens and now more is going to be put onto parents who are often already finding the day to day so hard. How will the government expect parents to have to leave a job to follow this guide or do what they say. How will they earn money, how much will welfare increase to try and assist with this? Again, extra costs which we do not need.
Whilst the NDIS does have times where things are diƯicult, communication and changes within the NDIS cause challenges already. Adding more steps, changing more services does not improve where we are at now. It adds so many extra costs. Extra costs which could go onto training those already in the field, supporting those who need the support and gaining a further insight into the real impact Autism and/or Developmental Delay have on individuals.
It is vital that we do listen to the voices of those with lived experience, those who are Autistic, those who are raising Autistic children and that we listen to their concerns and understand that their voices are tired and they only want what is best for their child.
No one has a child wanting them to face challenges everyday. No one has a child wanting them to not be able to make friends. No one has a child wanting them to go into sensory overload every time they shop. No one has a child wanting them to not be able to understand their peers.
No one has a child wanting to watch their child cry everyday as their child has realised they are diƯerent. No one has a child and wants to hear that that child believes they would be better dead than alive because of how they are treated diƯerently as they are Autistic.
These are the voices I hear everyday. These are some of the voices I live with. It is time to listen to this voices and realise there is no mild or moderate, there is no growing out of it. Being Autistic is not a choice. It is our brain, it is our neurotype. We do not choose it, it chose us. Time for taking our supports it over. Our noise reduction headphones, sensory aids, and visual aids have already been taken by the NDIS we cannot loose anything else. Neither can our early years children.
Listen to our voices. We may at times be non-verbal but we have a lot that needs to be heard.
Yours sincerely,