More than one in five Australian children have developmental vulnerabilities, often including parent and/or teacher concerns in domains such as language, learning, behaviour, socialisation and emotional regulation.

Unfortunately, the pathway to care and support is often contingent on a ‘label’ or ‘diagnosis’.¹

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a good example of this issue, with rising diagnosis rates in Australia having paralleled the introduction of well-intentioned funding measures such as the government-funded Helping Children with Autism program.²

More recently, there was a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) decision to include ASD categorised as severity levels 2 or 3 in the list of conditions that are likely to meet the Section 24 disability requirements for NDIS eligibility (known as ‘List A’).³