This contrasts with the Loddon area,in northern Victoria,where 11.6 per cent of older boys and 8.7 per cent of younger boys are on the NDIS. In the Brimbank Melton district in outer Melbourne,10.7 per cent of older boys and 9.5 per cent of younger boys are participants.
Kate Martin manages early intervention for disability provider Aruma in Tamworth,which is in the Hunter New England region of NSW where participation rates are 10.5 per cent for older boys and 8.6 per cent for younger boys.
She said there was a particular challenge getting therapists to work in regional and rural areas and that when families finally get access to services,“they tend not to let go”.
“The challenge in the early intervention space is where do you stop? And in regional areas,who do you refer them onto? The waitlists are huge,and families can wait a long time,” she said.
Skye Kakoschke-Moore,the chief executive of Children and Young People with Disability Australia,said one of her organisation’s recent surveys found only 27 per cent of students with a disability felt supported to learn in their classroom.
“I think that reflects the dire state many schools are in. They’re under-resourced,and they don’t have teachers trained in providing inclusive education and support,” she said.
Experts say perverse incentives are driving families to seek more severe autism diagnoses to receive support for their struggling kids,as schools and early childhood systems are not providing enough support.Credit:Getty
Martin said her clinic had 32 families on their waitlist,some of whom had been without services for more than a year. She said waitlists for community health services in the area were also about a year long.
“I’d be the first to say NDIS has done some wonderful things in the landscape of early intervention. It’s opened up individualised support for families who would be otherwise waiting a long time to receive block-funded services,” she said.
“Rather than completely removing it,we need to have other options for children in the 0 to 9 age group ... so they don’t necessarily need to go on the scheme.”
Nationally,pockets with the highest uptake also include parts of Adelaide,and regional South Australia and Queensland. In Bundaberg,11.5 per cent of boys aged up to 6 are on the scheme and in Northern Adelaide,14.6 per cent of boys aged 7 to 14 are participants.
The lowest rates of NDIS participation are in the most remote parts of the country,such as the Northern Territory and remote Western Australia. The Barkly region in the central NT has just 1.2 per cent of young boys and 3.3 per cent of older boys on the NDIS,further complicating the equity gap the scheme has identified it needs to do more to close.
The data suggests the NDIS is picking up multiple layers of disadvantage,givenlower socioeconomic status has generally correlated with a higher risk of development delay.
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Kakoschke-Moore said mainstream schooling often led to the best outcomes for both students with disability and their peers – reinforcing the view that children were best off in an inclusive environment rather than isolated settings.
However,it would require changes to the curriculum,training for teachers,more resources for them to adapt the curriculum for students,and programs that provide wrap-around support for students on school grounds,such as specialist teachers.
Education Minister Jason Clare said all students,including those with a disability,should have access to a good education and be supported at school.
“Funding is important,but so is what that funding is invested in. That’s why I’ve asked an expert panel being led by Dr Lisa O’Brien to give advice on the practical reforms that could make our education system a lot better and a lot fairer,” he said.