NDIS changes are coming — here's what else is available

Three Therapy team

If you've seen the recent news about NDIS reform and felt a flicker of worry about what it means for your child's therapy, you're not alone — a lot of families have asked us about this. We wanted to put together a straightforward explanation of what's actually happening, and just as importantly, what other options exist regardless of how it unfolds.

What's changing, in short

The government is working through significant reforms to the NDIS, aimed at putting the scheme's growth on a more sustainable footing. Part of this includes a new program for younger children with developmental delay or milder autism-related support needs, intended to be delivered through community and state-based services rather than individual NDIS plans. The detail is still being finalised and rolled out in stages over the next few years — it isn't an overnight change, and existing participants aren't simply cut off without notice.

What this means for your family, practically

Honestly — the exact detail depends on your child's individual circumstances, and we're not the right people to tell you exactly how the reforms apply to your specific NDIS plan. The best sources for that are the NDIS directly, your Local Area Coordinator, or your plan manager. What we can tell you is this: we've deliberately set Three Therapy up so a change to any one funding system doesn't mean a change to whether we can see your child.

The other pathways available right now

• Medicare (GP Chronic Condition Management Plan) — for children with a health condition expected to last 6 months or more, a GP-referred pathway offering rebated allied health sessions each calendar year.
• Medicare (autism & complex neurodevelopmental pathway) — a separate Medicare pathway specifically for children with a confirmed autism or complex neurodevelopmental diagnosis, whether or not they're NDIS-eligible.
• Private health insurance — if your family has extras cover, standard rebates apply the same way they would for any allied health visit.
• Private (self-funded) — always available, no referral or funding pathway required.

Full detail on all of these is on our Fees page.

Our honest position on all this

We can't control government policy, and we won't pretend to have more certainty about the details than anyone else does at this stage. What we can control is not building this practice around a single funding system — so that whatever happens with NDIS reform, seeing your child doesn't depend on it.