Committee Secretariat
Via online Submission:
Dear Committee Secretariat,
We are writing a submission in response to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative. We write as the carers of a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Level 2.
During our child’s first year of school, we faced significant challenges. Although enrolled and attending, he experienced considerable distress and frequent absences. At school he would often completely shut down, what we now recognise as the common survival tactic for children with autism known as masking. When he returned home, however, the effort of masking his struggles in the classroom environment would unravel. He displayed high levels of dysregulation which profoundly affected his own wellbeing and the wellbeing of our entire family.
There was limited support, capacity, and understanding of our child’s needs from both the school and the broader school system. Faced with this lack of recognition and assistance, we made the difficult decision to withdraw him and begin homeschooling. While this has provided our child with a safer and more supportive learning environment, it has also had considerable financial and personal impacts on us as a family.
Our experience is, unfortunately, a common one for parents of autistic children in the school system. Autistic children experience considerably high rates of what is often described as school refusal (though more accurately termed “school can’t”). Non-attendance is three times higher among autistic children than their peers. 1An Australian study reported that 72.6 percent of children on the spectrum experienced persistent absences, with school reluctance or refusal accounting for the largest share.2 This has been formally recognised in the Senate Education and
Employment References Committee Inquiry into The National Trend of School Refusal and
Related Matters, which noted that a significant proportion of students experiencing school can’t are neurodivergent.3
We are therefore concerned about the positioning of school as one of the primary gateways for accessing supports. While it is true that many schools make genuine efforts to support autistic students, the reality is that schools are not universally safe or supportive environments. Most schools and educators are not specifically trained in supporting autistic children or in recognising the complexity of “school can’t.” As a result, families are often given incorrect or inadequate
1 See Totsika, V., Hastings, R. P., Bradshaw, P., Kingston, A., & Preece, D. (2020). Types and correlates of school non-attendance in students with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 24(7), 1639–1652. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320916967 and Australian Parliament House. (2023). School refusal (Parliamentary Library Research Paper 2022–23). https://www.aph.gov.au/AboutParliament/Parliamentarydepartments/ParliamentaryLibrary/Research/ResearchPapers/2022-23/SchoolRefusal 2Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library. (2023). School refusal (Research Paper 2022–23). https://www.aph.gov.au/AboutParliament/Parliamentarydepartments/ParliamentaryLibrary/Research/Research_Papers/2022-23/SchoolRefusal
3 Senate Education and Employment References Committee. (2023). The National Trend of School Refusal
and Related Matters. Commonwealth of Australia.
information about how to support their child. To position schools as the main delivery site for autism-related supports risks placing essential services in the very environments that many autistic children already experience as inaccessible and, at times, traumatic. It therefore runs the risk of excluding a considerable number of autistic children from accessing the very supports they need.
While some might argue that embedding additional services in schools could help, the reality is that the barriers are often structural and systemic. These barriers include rigid teaching methods, inflexible routines, sensory overload, and entrenched cultures that make genuine inclusion difficult to achieve.
A further concern is the potential for schools to be pushed into delivering group-based therapy as an “efficiency” measure, with one-to-one support offered only “where needed.”4 This framing risks overlooking a fundamental principle: autistic children require highly individualised support. Group based models may reduce costs, but they often come at the expense of children’s needs. For many autistic children, group settings can increase stress, heighten sensory overload, and pressure them to mask rather than engage authentically. In practice, this means that the very barriers they face in classrooms, such as inflexibility, noise, and lack of individual attention, are replicated in the therapeutic supports that are intended to help them.
One of the most significant strengths of the NDIS has been the flexibility it provides, including access to therapy in the home where children are often more comfortable, regulated, and able to engage meaningfully. Any shift away from this individualised and flexible model toward group based delivery risks diminishing the quality and effectiveness of support for autistic children.
If Thriving Kids is to succeed, it must avoid a narrow “one-size-fits-all” approach. It should ensure flexibility, choice, and individualisation remain central to service delivery, and it must acknowledge that schools, while important, cannot be treated as universally safe or effective hubs for autism support.
In conclusion, we urge the Committee to:
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Recognise the structural and systemic barriers within schools that limit genuine inclusion for autistic students.
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Avoid framing schools as the default or primary delivery site for critical supports, as this risks excluding a considerable number of autistic children from accessing services altogether.
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Safeguard the individualisation and flexibility that have been central to the NDIS, including support in home-based and community settings where children are often more
comfortable and regulated.
- Ensure that any reforms are designed in partnership with autistic people, their families, and the organisations that represent them.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this Inquiry. We hope that the Committee will ensure that the Thriving Kids initiative does not diminish support, but instead strengthens pathways that genuinely meet the needs of autistic children and their families.
Yours sincerely,
4
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