{"id":728329,"date":"2026-06-10T22:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/728329\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T22:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:34:18","slug":"thriving-kids-program-victoria-to-offer-autism-and-developmental-screening-for-all-three-and-four-year-olds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/728329\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriving Kids program: Victoria to offer autism and developmental screening for all three and four-year-olds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Every Victorian three and four-year-old child will be offered screening for autism and developmental delays under a new program designed to shift thousands of children from the NDIS onto state-run support.<\/p>\n

Under Victoria\u2019s new Thriving Kids program, trained clinicians will assess all children for developmental concerns and refer those requiring support into a state-run system providing services such as speech pathology and occupational therapy.<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenChildren and Disability Minister Lizzie Blandthorn.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

Children and Disability Minister Lizzie Blandthorn said two new development assessments would be available for every child \u2013 one before they enter kindergarten and one before school.<\/p>\n

The program will be rolled out through Victoria\u2019s maternal and child health system and kindergartens before becoming universally available by January 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a recognition that you\u2019ve got to get to kids before they get to school and hopefully before they get to [four-year-old] kinder,\u201d Blandthorn said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Brooke<\/a><\/p>\n

Thriving Kids is a key lever the federal government is using to rein in runaway costs of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)<\/a>. Children aged eight and under with low to moderate developmental delay or autism will be moved from the scheme onto state-run supports.<\/p>\n

Each jurisdiction is required to devise its own system to support the tens of thousands of children, many of whom have individual packages on the $48 billion NDIS.<\/p>\n

Blandthorn has been critical of the federal government\u2019s sweeping NDIS cuts. Last year, she said she held \u201cgrave concerns\u201d that people with disabilities and their families were being sold out by the Commonwealth to fund pet projects across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren with developmental delay and disability should not be traded away for 30 pieces of silver,\u201d she said at the time.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wednesday, Blandthorn said Victoria had secured a workable agreement to implement the Thriving Kids program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t be able to provide what the Commonwealth has provided, but we have a unique opportunity in that we already have really evolved universal systems (in child and maternal health and free kindergarten) that we can build upon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m confident that we can work within the agreement to deliver a service for families that meets them where they\u2019re at and makes their life easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The additional two assessments will be either conducted at early learning settings or maternal health services. The pre-school visit will most commonly occur at kinder.<\/p>\n

The assessments will act as a referral system to the Thriving Kids program. Children accepted into the program will then have access to state-led services, including speech pathology and occupational therapy.<\/p>\n

Children with any mild to moderate developmental delays could be referred to the Thriving Kids program, including for autism, neurodivergence, speech and motor delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to bring together maternal and child health with early education and the new Thriving Kids service all in one department in the Department of Education,\u201d Blandthorn said.<\/p>\n

The assessments will be in addition to the 10 key ages and stages visits, which include development checks, currently offered through the maternal health system.<\/p>\n

Children with permanent and significant disability or high support needs will continue to access the NDIS.<\/p>\n

Blandthorn said the government did not envisage families facing out-of-pocket costs to access services through the program, and support would be based in resources families already used \u2013 maternal child health, kindergartens and early parenting centres.<\/p>\n

Unlike under the NDIS, families will no longer receive individualised funding or packages, but children will not need any formal diagnosis to access services under Thriving Kids.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Autism<\/a><\/p>\n

Each state and territory will be expected to offer four key functions: identifying when children have developmental delays or differences; providing easy access to information about where to get help; supplying programs and tools for parents to build their own skills; and providing targeted support, including therapies and equipment, for children who need it.<\/p>\n

Diagnoses for neurodivergent conditions have soared in Australia in the past decade \u2013 more than 9 per cent of five- to seven-year-old children are now on the NDIS<\/a>, mostly for autism or developmental delays.<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s model would require a significant expansion of state government-employed allied health workforce, including speech pathologists and occupational therapists.<\/p>\n

Blandthorn said she expected a significant shift from workers currently in the NDIS-funded sector to transition to the new state-run system.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s announcement comes after the opposition promised at The Age Schools Summit on Wednesday that all children would be observed in prep for signs of autism or ADHD<\/a> if the Coalition won November\u2019s state election.<\/p>\n

Liberal education spokesman Brad Rowswell said the $156 million policy pledge would allow occupational therapists and speech pathologists to help identify neurodiverse students at the start of their schooling and guide families into early intervention.<\/p>\n

However, the state government argued the Coalition\u2019s plan came too late, saying that screening for autism or ADHD needed to happen well before school started.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DaniellaDaniella White<\/a> is a state political reporter for The Age. Contact her at da.white@nine.com.auConnect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-728329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}