When systems change, it’s completely natural for families to wonder what it might mean for their child. Over the years, we’ve learned that what families value most is clarity, stability, and knowing that someone is looking out for their interests behind the scenes.
That’s why A Growing Understanding recently made a public submission to the NDIA as part of the 2025–26 Annual Pricing Review consultation. This consultation helps shape how therapy supports are priced under the NDIS in the future, and while it can sound technical, the heart of our submission was very simple:
Children and families should be able to access high-quality, safe therapy without being forced to compromise.
We want to share, in plain language, what we raised and why, so families understand how this advocacy connects to the speech pathology care you receive.
Why We Made a Submission
As an NDIS-registered paediatric speech pathology service, we work with children and families every day who rely on consistent, skilled support, often during some of the most important early years of development.
The NDIA’s Pricing Review looks at how therapy services are funded and priced. These decisions don’t change anything overnight, but over time, they can influence:
- which services are available locally,
- how sustainable providers are,
- and how far a child’s plan budget can realistically stretch.
We chose to participate because we believe families deserve a system that supports quality, continuity and safety, especially for children who need early intervention and coordinated care.
One Key Issue We Raised: Avoiding a Two-Tier System
From our conversations with families, we know how often decisions are already made with a calculator nearby. Parents tell us about carefully spacing appointments, worrying about how long funding will last, or weighing up whether to reduce sessions so supports can continue over the year. These are not choices families want to make. They’re choices families feel forced into when budgets are tight.
If registered providers (who must meet higher quality and safeguard requirements) were priced differently, but children’s plan budgets didn’t reflect that difference, families could find themselves under even more pressure to make these kinds of ‘trade-offs’ just to keep therapy going. That doesn’t feel like real choice. It feels like doing your best within constraints.
Our position comes from wanting to protect families from that experience:
- Safeguards matter, particularly for children and participants who need consistency and protection.
- Families shouldn’t have to choose between quality care and regular access to therapy.
- If registration and safeguards are valued, funding structures need to genuinely support families to access registered providers without compromise.
This isn’t about creating concern. It’s about designing systems with families in mind. Systems that reduce pressure, support confidence in decision-making, and help children receive the care they deserve without unintended hurdles.
Why Early Childhood Intervention Needs Special Care
Another key area we spoke about in our submission was early childhood intervention, because this is where support can make such a meaningful difference, and where systems need to work especially well for families.
In real life, early childhood intervention is rarely as simple as just “turning up for an appointment”. Many families come to speech pathology while they’re still finding their feet. Sometimes before a formal diagnosis is in place, often while juggling referrals, assessments, waitlists and unfamiliar systems, and always while their child’s skills are changing quickly.
During this time, effective early intervention is about much more than what happens in the therapy room. It includes supporting parents and carers to feel confident, working closely with early learning settings, careful planning and documentation, and collaborating with other professionals so everyone is working towards the same goals. These parts of therapy might not always be visible, but they are essential. They are what make support practical, coordinated and truly helpful for children and their families.
In our submission, we highlighted the importance of pricing models reflecting this full picture, so early childhood intervention remains accessible and children don’t miss out on the depth of support that helps them grow and participate.
What This Means for Families Right Now
We want to be very clear: nothing changes for families as a result of this submission.
This is part of a longer-term consultation process, and our role is to help shape future decisions so they work better for children and families, not to signal immediate changes.
What families can take reassurance from is this:
- We are committed to remaining an NDIS-registered provider.
- We will continue delivering high-quality, evidence-based speech therapy.
- We are actively advocating so systems support, rather than undermine, access to safe and sustainable care.
Why We Will Keep Showing Up
Advocacy is not about alarm or confrontation. For us, it’s about responsibility.
We see what works for children when support arrives early, is well-coordinated, and is delivered by skilled clinicians within strong governance systems. We also see what happens when systems unintentionally create barriers.
By participating in consultations like the NDIA Pricing Review, we are doing what we believe strong, community-based services should do: bringing the voices of families, clinicians and children into the rooms where decisions are made.
If you would like to read our full submission, click here. This is a publicly available document and we’re happy to share it with you.
If you ever have questions about what system changes mean for your child, your plan, or your speech therapy supports, please reach out. We’re here to talk it through – calmly, clearly, and with your family at the centre.
