Not eligible for NDIS, too old for Thriving Kids. What supports should these young people get?

FG Trade/Getty Major changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are coming.

This includes the launch of Thriving Kids in October.

This program will be co-funded by state, territory and federal governments and will replace some children’s individual NDIS funding with foundational supports.

Read more: Thriving Kids will start in October.

But will the new support system be ready when families need it? Foundational supports are disability services such as physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology.

However, instead of being offered as a private service, funded by the NDIS, they will be integrated into other settings such as schools or community activities.

The idea is children get the support they need wherever they already live, learn and play – without needing a referral to a specialist, or a diagnosis.

But Thriving Kids will only be for children aged 0–8 with developmental delay and autism who have low-to-moderate support needs.

What about children aged nine and over? Those with higher needs will still be eligible for NDIS funding.

But what if your child is no longer eligible for the NDIS, but too old for Thriving Kids? There’s still a lot we don’t know We don’t have exact numbers about how many children and young people would fall between the NDIS and Thriving Kids.

Health department documents seen by The Guardian in July estimated that – among those with developmental delay and autism no longer eligible for NDIS funding – 151,240 will be aged 18 or younger.

There is already concern among some experts that Thriving Kids will struggle to meet demand for those aged 0–8, and that support will be less individualised than the NDIS.

The federal government has not yet announced what supports it plans to offer for those aged nine and over who are no longer eligible for Thriving Kids, or how these would be funded.

But we know families are overwhelmed Currently, many families end up doing the work to get their kids’ needs met, for example, by linking allied health (such as speech pathologists and occupational therapists) with their child’s teachers.