WESTSIDE PSYCH

Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

Attn: Committee Secretariat, PO Box 6021, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600

Date: October 2nd 2025

Author: Dylan Alexander, Clinical Psychologist, Director of Westside Psych

Executive Summary

Autistic children bring unique strengths and processing styles that can greatly enrich schools and communities when systems are designed to accommodate them. However, current structures often create unnecessary barriers to thriving. Access to assessment and care is confusing, costly, and inconsistent across Australia. Mainstream schools can also present hostile environments, with bright lighting, noisy classrooms, crowded timetables, and rapid subject changes that are poorly aligned with autistic processing styles.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has delivered significant benefits in early intervention and family support that must be protected for autistic people, but challenges such as inequitable access, inefficiencies in school-based service delivery, and over-reliance on external providers highlight the need for reform. The Thriving Kids Initiative presents an opportunity to address these systemic issues.

This submission recommends that the initiative should:

• Expand Medicare to fund autism assessment, treatment planning, and intervention across the lifespan, providing lower- intensity, cost-efficient alternatives to NDIS entry.
• Embed multidisciplinary teams (psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and education staff) directly within schools and childcare centres, replacing the fragmented model of dozens of visiting providers.
• Reform curricula and classrooms to better support autistic processing styles (introducing block and project-based learning, low-arousal classrooms, and interest-based teaching), making schools less hostile and more inclusive.

These reforms would improve equity, reduce inefficiencies, and build systems where autistic children are recognised as different, not defective, thriving in environments that leverage their strengths.

Westside Psych ABN: 14625523597 23 Hyde Street, Footscray

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Key Issues

Strengths and Weaknesses of the NDIS

The NDIS has expanded access to early intervention supports such as speech pathology, occupational therapy, and psychology, providing essential help to many families. These gains must be protected for all autistic people. However, inequities and inefficiencies remain. Families of children with mild to moderate autism often face difficulties establishing eligibility, while workforce shortages (especially in regional areas) limit service access. The current practice of multiple external NDIS providers entering schools daily increases costs, places pressure on teachers, and fragments support.

Opportunities for Medicare Reform

In clinical practice, undiagnosed autistic children, adults, and families are often drawn to apply for NDIS packages because it is the clearest (or only) pathway to support. Many secure packages when less intensive services would suffice, while others outside NDIS eligibility still require targeted assistance. Reforming Medicare to create item numbers for psychological assessment, treatment planning, and intervention across the lifespan would reduce these barriers (particularly in the context of widespread access to telehealth services).

To enhance equity, the federal government could:

• Lower the Medicare Safety Net to $0 for concession card holders and people under 25 years.
• Broaden referral pathways so that general practitioners, not only paediatricians, can refer for autism assessments.

Aligning Medicare and NDIS more closely would:

• Incentivise access to less intensive and cost-efficient autism supports.
• Improve equity for families outside NDIS eligibility.
• Deliver system efficiencies by embedding support in existing health structures.

Embedding Multidisciplinary Teams in Schools and Childcare

Currently, schools may host dozens of NDIS-funded providers daily, each incurring travel costs and contributing to fragmented care. Embedding multidisciplinary teams directly within schools and childcare centres would reduce duplication, strengthen collaboration with teachers, and provide consistent integrated support.

Westside Psych ABN: 14625523597
23 Hyde Street, Footscray
redacted | redacted

Australian initiatives demonstrate feasibility. The Autism CRC’s Removing Educational Barriers in Australian Schools (REBAS) project highlights strategies for streamlining support in mainstream settings. Aspect’s inclusionEd platform provides teachers with evidence-based Models of Practice to better include autistic students. While not yet fully scaled, these models show that embedding allied health expertise directly into schools is both practical and effective.

Education Reform: Different, Not Defective

Autistic processing is best understood as different, not defective. Many autistic learners demonstrate intense focus, attention to detail, persistence, and strong memory skills. Disability emerges primarily when environments fail to accommodate these processing styles.

Mainstream schools often create unnecessary barriers. Bright lighting, unpredictable noise, crowded timetables, and constant subject-switching overwhelm many autistic students. More inclusive environments could be achieved through:

• Block and project-based learning: Enabling deep engagement and reducing cognitive overload. While large-scale Australian trials are limited, block models are supported internationally and could be adapted through specialist streams or electives.
• Low-arousal classrooms: Adjusting sensory environments (predictable transitions, controlled lighting, and reduced noise) can reduce stress and behavioural incidents.
• Interest-based learning: Embedding student interests in curriculum delivery enhances motivation and retention.
• Teacher training and co-teaching models: The Autism CRC’s inclusionEd shows outcomes improve when teachers receive targeted neurodiversity training and collaborate with allied health professionals.

These approaches can be incorporated alongside existing structures (through specialist classrooms, elective streams, or pilot programs), giving families choice while avoiding wholesale system overhaul.

Recommendations

• Reform Medicare to expand autism-related psychological assessment, treatment planning, and intervention, reducing reliance on NDIS eligibility.
• Embed multidisciplinary teams within schools and childcare settings, reducing inefficiencies and fragmented supports.
• Reform education through inclusive streams incorporating block and project-based learning, low-arousal classrooms, and interest-based teaching.

Westside Psych ABN: 14625523597
23 Hyde Street, Footscray
redacted | redacted

• Maintain NDIS strengths while addressing inequities in eligibility, workforce distribution, and school service delivery.

References

• Aspect / Autism Spectrum Australia & Autism CRC. (2020). inclusionEd: Models of Practice — evidence-based autism teaching resources for diverse learning. Retrieved from https:/Awww.aspect.org.au/news/evidence-based-autism-teaching-resources-now-availab le-from-new-free-online-professional-learning-community
• Autism CRC. (2023). National Guidance for Inclusive Education for Autistic Students. Autism CRC. Retrieved from https:/Awww.autismcrc.com.au/national-guidance-inclusive-education
• Autism CRC. (2024). Removing Educational Barriers in Australian Schools for Autistic Students (REBAS). Autism CRC. Retrieved from https:/Awww.autismcrc.com.au/our-work/delivery/removing-educational-barriers-australia n-schools-autistic-students-rebas

Westside Psych ABN: 14625523597
23 Hyde Street, Footscray
redacted | redacted