Submission – Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative
Dear Committee,
I am writing to you as the parent of a neurodivergent 12-year-old girl who has significant concerns about the application of the Thriving Kids initiative. While information is limited, as I understand it, the program will provide supports for children aged 8 and under through the school system with autism and other conditions and developmental delays rather than using the NDIS.
As there is limited information about what the program will entail, I cannot provide a considered view on the proposal. However, I do have personal experience that makes me concerned that there is a significant aspect of this proposal that needs to be addressed for its overall efficacy. While I have the greatest respect for our teachers, the ability to identify and support neurodivergence in our young girls is lacking.
My story is not unique. My daughter has been diagnosed in the last 18 months with ADHD, anxiety and now ASD level 2. If you were to meet her, you would likely now pick the ADHD but she masks the ASD and anxiety, and even the ADHD, incredibly well. She is quite smart but has not excelled in school. However, as she fit within the normal scholastic range for her age, the concerns I had were treated with little interest.
I first raised my concerns with her school principal when she was 6 or 7 years old- I asked to meet with her as I had noticed that my daughters brain seemed to work differently to other kids her age and make connections you would not expect a child of her age to make. I was told she was just highly intelligent and effectively, I did not know what I was talking about. However, she could not explain why that intelligence was not reflected in her academic performance.
From early on in her schooling, she was singled out by other kids and called loud and annoying. She was physically hurt, had her things damaged and told nobody liked her. Although she had friends, they did not stand up for her. When she was 7, she went through a period where she would cry every night and say she did not want to be here anymore. As a parent, that is heartbreaking. This continued all the way through primary school and was particularly bad in year 6 when she was gaslit constantly by another student, who even suggested she should go kill herself. I informed the school but nothing was done.
I have since learned that neurodiverse kids, particularly those not diagnosed til after 10, hear between 15000 and 20000 more negative things about themselves than a neurotypical child. No wonder they often have anxiety as well as ADHD or ASD.
My daughter has started year 7 this year at a new school. For me the focus of her schooling needs to be learning the executive functioning skills she needs to be able to do her work independently. She is unable to break down big projects into component parts, has trouble understanding the tasks and struggles when questions have more than one part to complete more than the first part of the question. While I am working with the school to try and put supports around her, there is still a significant misunderstanding of the level of support required. I have been told so many times that lots of year 7 students have issues with executive functioning so they have frameworks in place that will assist all students. However, with a neurotypical student they have a solid connection in their brain between the two parts of the brain that builds this skill, whereas students like my daughters have a connection that I liken to a wobbly bit of string – things fall off it all the time and the support needed to get these skills
needs to be consistent, intense and put in place early. Had I been taken seriously when I first raised these concerns (and believe me I raised them often in the hope that someone would take me seriously and help my child) she would be so much further advanced in this area and probably nowhere near as anxious.
Parents like me are often labelled as demanding or overly protective/ anxious or helicopter parents, especially where our daughters do not meet the male traits of ADHD and are good at masking. We struggle because our kids are different and come home from school unhappy and bullied and when we seek help are dismissed.
If this program provides early supports for children like my daughter so that she can reach her full potential, then I am all for it. However, I don’t think this will be possible until our educators and counsellors become skilled at identifying neurodivergence in our girls. Until then, it will be our young boys who predominantly are diagnosed early and can access these supports – which is fantastic for them and their families and I fully support this – but we will continue to leave our girls behind, unsupported and harmed.
My greatest concern is that this program will then result in reducing or removing NDIS or other funding for children who are diagnosed later – who also desperately need additional supports and tools to thrive. So far, we have had no government support. I am a sole parent who pays fortnightly for psychology for my daughter. She really needs a nutritionist and an occupational therapist as well, but I cannot afford that and I feel guilty every day because of it.
I have advocated for my child to have a Learning Support Assistant but because she masks so well and performs at age level or above in her classes, they say she does not need one. We do a lot of work at home so they do not see how much she struggles. Her psychologist says I need to let her fail so they can see what she needs but I can’t do that – she already thinks she is stupid. She hides how much she doesn’t understand and even with an ASD level 2 diagnosis won’t get additional help. Largely because she holds her anxiety and overwhelm in until she gets home and does not act out. As such, I continue to be that parent crying out for help and being a pain in the proverbial to the school. But if I don’t fight for her, no one will.
Please, in reviewing this program consider and if possible, raise or address the following:
-
What improvements are going to be made to ensure that all children who need this support are identified early, in particular our young girls who present with ADHD and ASD so differently;
-
What supports will be available for those not diagnosed at 8 years of age or below, when they are diagnosed, so that they can also thrive and have the supports they need; and
-
What education will be given to those at the front line, such as teachers, to help them identify our neurodivergent girls.
My daughter is caring, funny, exceptionally creative and an amazing human being who has so much potential but just needs some help to get the skills necessary to bring that to fruition. It is important that any program that the government brings in has the capacity to support all of these kids, not just those who are easy to diagnose.
Thank you for considering this submission and this issue.