Accessing the NDIS for Kids - Help is on the way.
I’m not going to lie, when the NDIS first arrived, I wanted to tear out my hair when I was trying to arrange access for our kids.
I even worked in Allied Health with Insurers and still I found the process to be a maze! The good news is the NDIS has now made some excellent resources available and heard the cries of people with disability saying “Help !!!” to make the process easier.
See: https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply
I like to help other families access the NDIS, as it’s made such a positive difference in our lives.
I hope some of these tips help you prepare an NDIS access request and the evidence needed for your initial planning meeting.
Gathering evidence of how the person with a disability is impacted is the priority. This can often be made more difficult in that paying for allied health assessments is very costly. I wholly encourage people to use the supports they have in place to collect evidence as a back up. Asking your school or childcare facility to document evidence that your child is impacted by symptoms and not experiencing equal access or opportunity without NDIS supports is a great way to build the library of evidence. Encourage your school or childcare to write what support may be beneficial for inclusion- such as the NDIS funding a formal diagnosis to access a teacher’s aid, sensory toys that a therapist recommends, a behaviour support plan to follow etc.
Have a Paediatrician or treating Specialist write up a diagnosis and recommendations of supports to be funded by the NDIS. While Medicare subsidises Medical Specialists (registered), unfortunately often there will be a gap payment above the Medicare rebate rate. If the fee is too high, ask your specialist if there is a payment plan available or alternatively, ask your GP if you can be referred through the hospital clinic for further assessment to avoid having a gap payment. Note: There is often a long wait list to access this service though.
Complete a disability impact statement and report how the disability has impacted daily life for yourself and the family. The NDIS need you to demonstrate how the support requested is above and beyond what a typical child without disability needs. Document where you provide care over and above what a typical parent does. Report if this impacts your ability to access mainstream supports and if specialised support is required.
As an example, our kids cannot yet function in mainstream childcare so the NDIS recognises the need for funded specialised support workers trained in behaviours of concern. This then enables me to work and help provide for us financially.
My Care Space is a great resource and offers sample disability impact statements that can be found here - mycarespace.com.au/resources/writing-an-ndis-carer-statement-template.
If your child has behaviours of concern (such as self harm or violent outbursts), consider taking photographs of damages or injuries to provide as evidence to the NDIS. I choose to do this without my children knowing and delete these after providing them to the NDIS. It’s simply so you provide a visual of any ‘risk of harm’ so appropriate supports can be funded. Where behaviours have resulted in bruising, broken skin and first aid being administered it’s important to communicate this with the NDIS. Likewise, if your child is communicating intention to harm themselves or others please contact your GP immediately to discuss support available. (Such as the Child and Youth Mental Health Service- CYMHS)
If you have already submitted an access request to the NDIS and there is a worsening of your child’s symptoms please contact them. Ask them to urgently review your NDIS application. They will ask you for details of why it needs to be prioritised, such as if the child is at risk of harm. Any emails or letters from your GP or treatment team requesting urgent access and the consequences of delays may be beneficial . Ask when calling the NDIS, if they have a specific contact to forward this information to.
I really hope some of these tips help you better access the NDIS and the funding required .
Please contact me here if you need to discuss how to request Support Coordination be funded in your NDIS plan.
