2 October 2025
Committee Secretariat
House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Submitted via Email: Health.Reps@aph.gov.au
Re: Submission to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative
Dear Chair and Committee Members,
The International Council on Development and Learning (ICDL) is a not‑for‑profit organisation and the home of DIR® and DIRFloortime®. ICDL has trained many professionals across Australia, a large number of whom provide DIRFloortime services to families through the NDIS. We appreciate many of the goals of the Australian Government’s Thriving Kids initiative and we are thankful for the Committee’s inquiry.
Our central message is straightforward: Australian families must retain real choice among evidence‑based approaches. Thriving Kids needs to explicitly include developmental, relationship‑based approaches, specifically DIRFloortime - not only Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Furthermore, it needs to properly recognise and fund parent‑mediated supports delivered in everyday settings. These simple steps support and align with the goals of Thriving Kids and will ensure families have access to DIRFloortime, which is an approach that has been shown to help children thrive.
Our Recommendations
- Protect genuine family choice by recognising multiple evidence‑based approaches, including DIRFloortime, in guidance, funding menus and commissioning; avoid a single‑modality default.
- Name and fund parent‑mediated developmental coaching as a dedicated stream deliverable at home, in early learning, primary care and schools.
- Keep eligibility and funding strengths and needs based. Reconsider utilizing terms like “profound autism”. Functional labels such as these have been shown to be extremely problematic when used to generalize how autistic children gain access to services. All decisions need to be strengths and needs based for each individual child.
Home of DIR® & DIRFloortime®
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- Guarantee continuity and a staged transition with explicit no-gap provisions as Thriving Kids ramps up, from 1 July 2026 over 12 months, alongside broader NDIS access changes.
- Invest in the workforce families already trust. DIRFloortime professionals need to be fully recongised for their DIRFloortime professional certificate credentials.
- Measure what matters, such as participation, communication, co-regulation, family wellbeing and inclusion, not just hours of service.
Thriving Kids Needs to Explicitly Include DIRFloortime
Thriving Kids is intended to scale supports in mainstream and community settings such as child and family health, general practice, playgroups, early childhood education and care, and schools, while helping parents with routines and advice in everyday environments. These are precisely the contexts in which DIRFloortime operates. DIRFloortime is a developmental, relationship-based, neuroaffirming framework that builds core capacities through caregiver coaching and play in natural settings. Because DIRFloortime has a parent-implemented cornerstone and can be integrated into daily routines, it requires fewer therapist hours than high-intensity therapist-delivered models and is therefore generally more economical to scale while supporting thriving children and families.
Labels, Equity, and Continuity
We support ensuring adequate supports for children with very high and complex needs. At the same time, severity labels or functioning levels (including the term “profound autism”) risk oversimplifying needs and should not be used to ration access to early, family-centred supports. Funding should remain tied to functional needs and individual contexts. We further support extended consultation and co-design with First Nations and CALD families, and community-led approaches that improve engagement and cultural safety.
Practical implementation actions
- Program guidance and funding menus: List developmental and relationship-based approaches, including DIRFloortime, alongside behavioural/NDBI options; create a dedicated line item for parent-mediated developmental coaching deliverable at home, in early learning, primary care and schools.
- Workforce: Recognise DIRFloortime training; fund supervision and micro-credentials; build general practitioner and educator capability to identify concerns and refer earlier without displacing allied health roles.
- Evaluation: Use outcomes that matter to families, such as communication, co-regulation, participation and family wellbeing, rather than focusing on hours alone.
- Transition safeguards: Adopt a staged rollout with built-in evaluation points and maintain NDIS supports until new pathways are demonstrably effective and available locally so there are no gaps in care.
How ICDL Can Help
- ICDL would welcome a partnership with the Department and jurisdictions to scale parent-mediated developmental coaching that meets families where they are.
- IUpskill a wide-range of various clinicians and educators in DIRFloortime practice across mainstream settings through training and supervision.
- Support implementation and measurement aligned with Thriving Kids objectives, including practical, family-centred outcome tracking.
Thriving Kids can succeed on its own terms, earlier identification, mainstream delivery and sustainable supports, if families retain real, informed choice and if parent-mediated, developmental supports like DIRFloortime are explicitly included and funded. This approach aligns with government materials and the priorities set out by Australian DIRFloortime providers. I would welcome the opportunity to elaborate or appear at a public hearing.
Sincerely,
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Jeffrey J. Guenzel, EdD
Chief Executive Officer
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ATTACHMENT: Annex A: Mapping to the Committee’s Terms of Reference
Annex A: Mapping to the Committee’s Terms of Reference
ToR 1: Evidence-based information and resources for parents
- Fund a dedicated stream of parent-mediated developmental coaching (e.g., DIRFloortime caregiver coaching) that begins immediately after identification and is deliverable in everyday settings.
- Publish plain-language guidance that explains evidence-based approaches, including DIRFloortime, so families can make informed choices.
- Ensure digital/phone resources complement, not replace, sustained, individualised practitioner support for families who need it.
ToR 2: Effectiveness of current and previous programs
- Recognise developmental/relationship-based approaches, including DIRFloortime, alongside behavioural/NDBI options in program guidance and commissioning documents.
- Judge effectiveness by outcomes that matter, such as participation, communication, co-regulation, and family wellbeing, rather than therapy hours alone.
- Embed supports in mainstream settings (child and family health, GPs, playgroups, early childhood education and care, schools) to increase reach and impact.
ToR 3: Equity and intersectional issues
- Co-design with First Nations and CALD communities; invest in culturally safe, community-led providers to deliver parent-mediated developmental supports close to home.
- Stage timelines and maintain continuity so no child loses supports during transition; provide outreach and navigation help to reduce access barriers.
- Keep eligibility strengths and needs based and avoid labels or levels being used to ration early supports.
ToR 4: Workforce support and training
- Recognise DIRFloortime training and credentials; fund supervision and micro-credentials across health, education and community settings.
- Build general practitioner and educator capability to identify concerns early and make appropriate referrals without displacing allied health roles.
- Use tiered training models to lift capability while preserving quality and trust.
ToR 5: Domestic and international policy experience
- Adopt a staged rollout with built-in evaluation; overlap NDIS supports with Thriving Kids until new services are available and effective locally.
- Protect family choice by avoiding a single-modality default; commission a diversity of evidence-based approaches including developmental/relationship-based options.
- Anchor access and funding decisions in functional need and individual contexts.