30/09/25
To Whom It May Concern,
Re: Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative
I am a support coordinator and behaviour support practitioner, and a mother of two boys with Autism. I am writing in response to the Thriving Kids initiative and would like to express the following points of concern in regards to the latest announcements. It would be appreciated if the committee could consider these points moving forward with advising the development of policies for the new initiative.
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The main concern is the potential removal of early intervention funding from the NDIS and this being replaced with the Clinikids Inklings program. I have participated in a form of the Inklings program with my youngest child when it was in its infancy and
called another name. I also know it’s the same program as this, as I had a friend
recently complete the new program, and it is the same foundations that I learnt with my youngest child all those years ago. This program is supportive; however, it is not enough support to meet the needs of children with severe communication challenges, which are often faced by children with Autism Level 2 at early ages 0-2. The age of 2+ can be the most challenging for behavioural issues and developing communication skills as most children at this age are still developing the skills to be able to express themselves. This is often when parents recognise if there is a disability due to the behaviour and communication challenges. The Inklings program supports families with early level process of how to increase communication; however, it does not support the next steps, which require a more targeted approach that can be foundational for ASD Level 2 children in the 2-4 age group.
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I have also participated in the Telethon Talkabout program weekly with my youngest child for Talkabout 2 and Talkabout 3, which involved parent interaction with a playgroup style therapy with an occupational therapist, educator and speech therapist and psychologist available to support with challenges. This program or this style of program can be supportive and can work well; however, there would still be children for whom this program is still not enough support and require more 1:1 to help them
develop their expressive and receptive communication skills and in many
circumstances, their emotional regulation skills so that they can be in a space to be able to engage and learn new skills. This type of therapy space can be extremely overwhelming for hypersensitive children.
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These early years of therapy are integral and can support a child in closing the delay gap so that they are able to be integrated into mainstream schooling.
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I would also want to ensure that children continue to receive the support they require to be able to participate in the mainstream schooling system. I have had my oldest son participate in an Autism early learning program for Kindy-Pre-primary, where he was one of 6 Autistic kids with one teacher and 3 EA’s (Education Assistants). This experience at this school was amazing and supported the children to transition into mainstream. The transition into mainstream school for our son during pre-primary where he would remain in the Autism program 2 days a week and his local school 3 days a week, showed up a lot of problems with our local school, not being resourced, equipped or educated enough to support our son. A Supported Learning Program (SLP) school opened up in a nearby area, which meant that if we changed schools, our son could continue in a smaller classroom for longer and receive more intensive supports. So we removed our son from the local catchment school and into the SLP school, thinking this would be the best option for our son. We left our son in this school
for just over a year and realised we made the wrong decision as this school who also offered the same early learning autism program which we had done with our child in kindergarten, did not support him to develop skills, I felt like during this period my son regressed and other behaviours developed as a result of being around other children with extreme behaviours. We then moved our son back to his mainstream school, where, with extra tutoring and support, he has been able to integrate into an independent education plan. I am mentioning this as I believe mainstream school is
important for children with Autism Level 2, however, there needs to be more
professional development, support staff and resources for mainstream schools to be able to accommodate these needs. This also means schools taking the time to understand that behaviour is a form of communication and understanding what the reasons are for this behaviour, instead of responding with discipline and quick fix response strategies, which do not get to the root of the problem or support the child with their needs. Unfortunately, in Western Australia, many special education teachers have received ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) training and are not willing to learn alternative ways to support these children, as they believe that these methods work; however, they are short-lived response strategies that do not support the children in making lasting behaviour changes.
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A speech therapist and occupational therapist in every school will not be enough to service the needs of these parents and children. The demand would be too high, and they would not be able to meet the needs and if this model were to be considered, it would need a lot more support than placing a few specialised staff into an already established system. The changes would need to come from the inside out, with all staff and the whole school taking on board a unified approach towards children with behaviours, and learning difficulties, this could be children with ASD or trauma, the outplay of anxiety is similar and is the reason why the children are using the behaviours to communicate their needs.
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Early identification of children’s needs supports everyone working with them to understand how to best support them, meaning early diagnosis can still be an integral part of this process. Especially having parents go through the grieving, healing and acceptance stage of learning their child has a disability. It’s integral that the parents are on board as quickly as possible so that they can begin to better support their children through their own capacity building as a parent with a child with additional needs.
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Mainstream education needs to be able to service those falling behind in class in specialist, smaller splinter groups for literacy and maths. It would be worth looking into the schools that are already offering this and to see the progress and what the stats are around these children thriving.
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Many children who are Autistic Level 2 with higher IQs or potentially gifted can also have PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profiles. 70% of children with PDA are homeschooled by the time they are in year seven. There needs to be more support in schools to accommodate these children. As a support coordinator, I have heard of and seen many success stories where SSEND (School of Special Education Needs and Disability, offset of WA Education Department) has supported staff in a school to reintroduce a child with PDA back to almost full-time school. There needs to be more education for school staff around these options and how to support these children. As it is possible. It’s all about meeting the children where they are at and breaking down these steps. Obviously, schools are under-resourced and not always able to do this, but for thriving kids to flourish, this would need to be a priority when it comes to educational supports.
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The other concern I have is for when these children transition into high school and the workforce. There will be times when these children can grow into
teenagers/young adults and regress due to burnout, and be at a point of not being able to function. Not being able to have access to the NDIS or additional supports, whether it be community or mainstream during this time could be very challenging. A lot of parents are not aware of what is available for them/their children to access and with the removal of the NDIS (a central point of support) will see that a lot of families go without any support as they just don’t know where to find it, how to access it or don’t have the educational background to know where to locate these supports.
Thank you for taking the time to consider these points. I am more than happy to discuss in further detail or offer additional support as required.
Warmest regards,
Eva Di Blasio
https://www.bespace.com.au/ https://www.fabic.com.au/team/eva/