If you feel lost right now, you are not alone
Maybe you got a letter about a plan review. Maybe your child’s NDIS budget has already been significantly cut. Maybe you’re thinking about applying for funding and don’t know if you should proceed.
The NDIS is changing for young children. For a lot of parents, that brings up one big question. What happens to my child's support?
I hear this worry from families every week. You have fought hard to get help for your child. You completed endless paperwork, gathered reports from professionals and are stuck on waitlists. Now it feels like the ground is moving again.
If that is you, please take a breath. This post explains what is changing in plain words. It also shares what you can start at home today, without waiting for anyone's approval.
What is actually changing
Here is the short version, as things stand in November 2026.
A new program called Thriving Kids started on 1 October 2026. It is for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs.
Support will be based in places you already go. Think kinder, childcare, school, your maternal and child health nurse, your GP and playgroups.
Children with high support needs stay on the NDIS. This includes children with permanent and significant disability.
Bigger changes to who can join the NDIS come later. Current plans point to 2028. Children already on the NDIS before then will be assessed under the older rules.
Parents are part of the plan. The government says Thriving Kids includes building parent and family capacity. That means information, advice and support for you, not just your child.
The details are still being rolled out. Governments are still working out exactly what "low to moderate support needs" means, and support may look different from area to area. Your best sources are the NDIS website, your GP and your child's educators.
There is also new funding for a Medicare health and development check for three-year-olds. If your child is around kinder age, ask your GP about it.
If your child is on the NDIS now, nothing changes overnight. The supports in your current plan stay in place until your plan is reviewed.
Some of the new support will happen at kinder or school. Educators play a big part in your child's life, and that can really help. I also believe you should stay at the centre of your child's support. You see them in the moments that matter most, like mornings, meals and bedtime. Your goals for your family should guide the plan.
Thriving Kids also plans to offer general parenting information, advice and peer support. That is a great place to start. Some families want more than general advice, though. They want support shaped around their own child, their own home and their own nervous system. This is the gap I work in. In Parents Go First, we map your family's sensory needs, where they click and where they clash. Then we build regulation into the routines you already have.
Why I always start with you
When support feels uncertain, it is natural to focus everything on your child. More appointments. More strategies. More research at 11pm.
I have been a paediatric occupational therapist for 20 years. Over that time I have noticed something. The families who make the steadiest progress often have one thing in common. The parent has started to understand their own regulation needs too.
This is because children borrow our calm. When your body feels safe and settled, your child can lean on that. When you are running on empty, they feel that too.
I’ve surveyed hundred of parents, they told me they carry five loads:
the sensory load (noise, touch, visual clutter and mess)
the emotional load
the mental load
carrying it all alone
regulating yourself while trying to regulate them
Many also said they became more sensitive to noise and touch after becoming a parent. That is a real change in your body. It deserves care.
This is why my program is called Parents Go First. Your nervous system shapes how you show up for your child, so that is where we begin. When behaviour gets big, you are your child’s anchor. Being an anchor is about staying curious. What is my child’s behaviour telling me? What is happening in my own body right now? That curiosity is what helps you move from reacting to responding. It takes practice, and it sits at the heart of everything we work on together.
What this looked like for one family
Sarah's story blends a few families I have worked with, to protect their privacy.
The struggle: Sarah came to me when her son Max was four. Most days, the time after kinder fell apart. Max bumped into her, leaned on her and climbed all over her. Sarah loved him deeply. At times she just couldn't handle that much closeness. She would snap or pull away, then lie awake feeling guilty.
We started with Sarah. Before we talked about Max, we looked at her own sensory profile. Touch and noise filled Sarah up fast. By the end of the day she had nothing left in her tank.
Then we looked at Max. Max's body was craving deep pressure touch and movement. All that bumping and leaning was his way of getting it. After a long day of holding it together at kinder, his body was asking for help to settle.
Where they clashed. Max needed the most touch at the exact time Sarah could handle the least. Their sensory needs were colliding every afternoon. This was just one dynamic in their home. Max also has a younger sister and a dad, each with their own sensory needs. Over time we looked at how the whole family fits together, but this was the clash Sarah most wanted to understand first.
What awareness gave her: Just understanding both profiles changed how Sarah saw those afternoons. For the first time, she had an explanation that didn't end in blame. Max wasn't being naughty, and she wasn't failing as a mum. Their bodies needed different things at the same time. That understanding gave her room to get curious instead of feeling guilty.
What we worked on together.
Finding touch that felt good for both of them. We explored what kind of touch felt safe and settling in Sarah's body, and what Max's body was really looking for. When touch feels predictable and comfortable for both of you, closeness becomes connection again.
Setting kind, clear boundaries. Sarah learned she could say "I need some space in my body right now" and still stay connected to Max. Looking after her own body is part of looking after him.
Understanding what truly settled Max. For Max, it started with a crunchy snack as soon as Sarah picked him up. Crunching and chewing gave his body the deep input it was craving, before they even got home.
Filling Sarah's tank first. Sarah kept a scented hand cream in the car and used it before pickup. It took one minute and helped her arrive a little calmer.
What shifted. A few months later, the hard afternoons still happened. They came less often, and Sarah felt steadier in them. She could see what Max needed, and she knew what she needed too. Whatever happened with funding, that understanding stayed with her family.
Every family's sensory blueprint looks different. That is why I start by understanding yours.
Why family-centred support sits outside the NDIS
The NDIS has done a lot of good for children and families. I have seen it open doors for so many kids.
It is built around one person, though. Funding belongs to the child on the plan, and every support needs to link back to that child's goals. That leaves very little room for a parent's own regulation, or for how a whole family's sensory needs fit together.
In everyday life, this can leave real gaps. A session where you work on your own regulation, without your child in the room, can be hard to fund. So can support that includes a sibling, or a partner who is finding things hard too. These are often the very things that change how a home feels.
You do not have to choose one or the other. Some families use their NDIS plan for an assessment or Theraplay, then add coaching alongside it.
This is why my sensory integration assessments and Theraplay can be funded through the NDIS. They are centred on your child, with you in the room for Theraplay. Parents Go First looks at the whole family, starting with you. Because of that, it is a private program and is not claimable through the NDIS or Medicare.
Where to start
When the system feels uncertain, you are the one constant in your child's life. That is a good place to start.
Take the free Overwhelmed Parent Quiz. It takes 3 minutes and there are 14 questions. Discover where your family is thriving and where you might need support
Book a free 15-minute Discovery call. We will talk about what is going on at home, and you will leave with some clarity and something to try, whether or not we work together.
What I want you to know
I can't tell you what your child's NDIS plan will look like in 2028. Nobody can yet. What I can tell you is what I see in families every week.
When a parent understands their own sensory needs and their child's, the hardest parts of the day start to make sense. Sarah still has tough afternoons. Now she knows why Max leans on her. The crunchy snack is in the bag before pickup, and the hand cream lives in the car. She can say "I need some space" without the guilt.
That understanding belongs to your family. It comes with you to kinder, to prep and to whatever system comes next. You know your child better than any funding rule ever will. Let's build on that together.