Early intervention

What is early intervention in the NDIS?

In the NDIS, early intervention means providing supports early to reduce the impact of an impairment and a person's future need for support. It is also one of the two ways to become an NDIS participant: a person can meet the "early intervention requirements" instead of the disability requirements. Those requirements cover people with an impairment that is, or is likely to be, permanent, and children younger than 6 with developmental delay, where early supports are likely to reduce their future support needs.

The term is used in two related senses, and it helps to keep them apart:

• The eligibility pathway: the early intervention requirements in section 25 of the NDIS Act 2013. Meeting them makes someone a participant.
• The supports: early intervention supports, usually therapy and other capacity building supports, delivered to build skills and prevent needs from growing.

Most people associate early intervention with young children, and many children enter the NDIS this way through the early childhood approach. But the requirements aren't limited to children: adults with a permanent or likely permanent impairment, including an impairment to which a psychosocial disability is attributable, can also meet them.

The early intervention requirements

According to the NDIA's early intervention eligibility requirements, there must be evidence of all of the following:

1. An impairment that is likely to be permanent, or the person is a child younger than 6 with developmental delay.
2. Early intervention will help by reducing the person's future need for supports.
3. The NDIS is the right system to fund it: the Act also requires the NDIA to be satisfied that the early intervention support is most appropriately funded or provided through the NDIS, rather than through another system such as health or education.

Under section 25 of the NDIS Act, "help" is spelt out. Early intervention must be likely to benefit the person by doing one or more of these:

• mitigating or alleviating the impact of the impairment on functional capacity — communication, social interaction, learning, mobility, self-care or self-management;
• preventing the deterioration of that functional capacity;
• improving that functional capacity; or
• strengthening the sustainability of informal supports, including by building the capacity of the person's carer.

Children younger than 6 with developmental delay

Developmental delay is defined in section 9 of the Act. In plain terms, the NDIA's Our Guidelines say the delay must:

• be caused by a mental or physical impairment, or both;
• substantially reduce the child's functional capacity in one or more major life activities, compared with other children the same age; and
• mean the child needs specialist services from more than one professional working as a team, for an extended time — usually longer than 12 months.

Children younger than 6 don't need a diagnosis to be assessed for developmental delay (how the NDIA works out developmental delay). Children are usually no longer eligible under developmental delay after they turn 6, because they no longer meet that part of the requirements; they may still meet other early intervention or disability requirements.

Early intervention vs disability requirements

The NDIS has two eligibility routes. The short version: the disability requirements look at substantially reduced functional capacity now and lifetime support; the early intervention requirements look at whether acting early will reduce future needs.

A person can meet either or both. Since 1 January 2025, new participants receive information about which of their impairments met the disability or early intervention requirements, and NDIS-funded supports must relate to those impairments (NDIA legislation FAQs). Read the full eligibility requirements for the other conditions — age and residence — that apply to both routes.

What early intervention supports look like

Early intervention supports are funded as part of a participant's NDIS plan, usually in capacity building supports. Typical examples:

• speech pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology aimed at building skills;
• family-centred early childhood supports in everyday settings such as home and childcare;
• training for parents and carers so strategies continue between sessions;
• assistive technology that helps a child or adult develop or keep function.

Supports still have to be reasonable and necessary. For GST, the ATO treats certain NDIS supplies — including early childhood early intervention — as GST-free when the usual conditions are met (ATO: GST and the NDIS). Current price limits for therapy items are in the free NDIS price guide.

Changes from 2026 to 2028

The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 passed Parliament on 19 August 2026 and is now law. According to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing:

• There are no changes to how people access the NDIS until 1 January 2028.
• From 1 October 2026, children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs can start to access Thriving Kids supports outside the NDIS.
• The government has said that from 1 January 2028, those children will be supported by Thriving Kids instead of the NDIS, while children with permanent and significant disability or high support needs remain eligible.
• From 1 January 2028, access will be based on a standardised assessment of functional capacity, with more consistent assessment of permanence and of whether an impairment can be alleviated or treated.

Detailed rules are still being finalised. If you are advising a family or participant about early intervention, check the department's pages and ndis.gov.au for the current position.

What providers should know

• Show the change you're aiming for. Early intervention funding is justified by reducing future need. Reports should describe functional goals and progress in daily life, not just sessions delivered.
• Build family and carer capacity. Strengthening informal supports is one of the legal benefits early intervention can deliver, so record training and coaching for carers.
• Know when eligibility will be checked. For children who joined under developmental delay, prepare clear evidence before they turn 6.
• Keep supports linked to eligible impairments. Check the participant's notice of impairments when agreeing supports.
• Document well. Consistent session notes make progress reports easier; the free progress note writer helps.

Common misunderstandings

• "Early intervention is only for children." Adults can meet the early intervention requirements too.
• "Early intervention funding always ends after a set time." The NDIA can check eligibility again over time. Some participants go on to meet the disability requirements; others no longer need NDIS support. The clearest fixed limit is the developmental delay pathway, which usually ends at 6.
• "A diagnosis is always needed." Not for children younger than 6 being assessed for developmental delay.
• "If therapy helps, the NDIS must fund it." The support must also be most appropriately funded through the NDIS rather than health or education.
• "Thriving Kids has already replaced the NDIS for young children." NDIS access doesn't change until 1 January 2028.