NDIS support and services for rural and remote families: tips

1. Contact the NDIA to get started with NDIS support

Call the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) on 1800 800 110 to get started with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for your child. The NDIA runs the NDIS.

The NDIA will set up a meeting between you and an NDIA planner or a local area coordinator (LAC) to talk about your child’s and family’s needs.

If your child is eligible for NDIS support, your NDIA planner or LAC will work with your family to develop your child's NDIS plan. If your child is younger than 7 years, the NDIA planner or LAC might instead link your child with an early childhood partner to get support through the NDIS early childhood approach.

When you’re getting started with the NDIS, it can help to read about the NDIS, including the terminology the NDIS uses. You can also get information about the NDIS from your GP or child and family health nurse, an Aboriginal Medical Health Service, a local council, preschool or school, or parents of other children with disability, autism or other additional needs.

2. Look into local and non-local services for your child’s NDIS plan

Your child’s NDIS plan describes the types of supports and services your child needs to work towards their goals. If you live in rural and remote Australia, your child’s plan can include funding for NDIS supports and services that:

are available in your area all the time
might visit your area sometimes
aren’t available in your area.

Local services and services that visit sometimes
You can get information about local and visiting services from many people, including your NDIA planner or local area coordinator (LAC), GP, local health service and other parents. An example of a local service might be a local support worker who helps your child at swimming lessons. An example of a visiting service might be a physiotherapist or speech pathologist who comes to your area for a clinic once a month.

Services that aren’t available in your area
If your child needs or wants to use services that aren’t available in your area, there are ways you can access these services. For example, in your child’s NDIS plan, you might be able to include the costs of:

NDIS providers visiting your child
telehealth.

Sometimes NDIS providers will visit your child with disability at home. If you care for other children or family members at home too, it’s good to think about how you’ll manage home visits. For example, perhaps a family member or friend could come to your home at the same time to care for your other children. This can help you get the most out of NDIS provider visits.

3. Get set up for telehealth

If you live in rural and remote Australia, telehealth is likely to be a good option for using supports and services that aren’t available locally.

Telehealth therapy can:

give you a greater choice of service providers
help you avoid long waiting periods to see someone locally
let your child see a professional without having to leave home
help you avoid travel time and costs.

You can also use telehealth for training. For example, a city therapist might be able to use telehealth to train an allied health assistant for your child. Or the therapist might be able to train you and your family to use a particular support for your child, like key word sign.

Here are tips to help you get set up for telehealth:

Make sure your internet plan includes connections and speeds that can handle telehealth appointments.
Check the equipment you and your child need for telehealth appointments. For example, you might need a device with a camera and a headset. Or if your child has a vision impairment, a screen magnifier might help them use telehealth more easily.
If internet access is difficult for you, discuss this with your NDIA planner or local community services. You might be able to use the internet connection or technology at a local health clinic, school or community centre.

It’s worth talking to your NDIA planner or local area coordinator (LAC) about whether the NDIS can support you as you get set up for telehealth. In some cases, the NDIS might be able to provide telehealth equipment as part of your child’s plan or help your family in other ways.

4. Include travel and accommodation costs in your child’s NDIS plan

In your child’s NDIS plan, you might be able to include the costs of NDIS providers visiting your child. You can talk to your child’s NDIA planner or local area coordinator (LAC) about this. You can also ask whether the NDIS might cover transport for your child to visit services, although this is less common and usually for older children.

Your NDIA planner or LAC will explain how the support budgets in your child's NDIS plan work and which budget to use for transport and accommodation costs.

When you’re estimating costs, consider and list:

how far people will need to travel
how often people will need to travel
how people will travel – for example, public transport, private car, or bus, train or plane.

It’s good to think about cultural safety when you’re working with NDIS providers. For example, does your NDIS provider have cultural knowledge? Do you need an interpreter? You could contact specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, multicultural services or services for LGBTIQ+ families for help and information.

5. Include equipment needs in your child’s NDIS plan

Your child’s NDIS plan lists the types of supports your child needs to work towards their goals. These supports can include equipment. If you live in rural and remote Australia, your child might have particular equipment needs because of your local conditions.

For example, if your family lives in very rugged terrain, your child might need a particular style of wheelchair. Or a screen magnifier might be important so your child can use telehealth.

If an NDIS provider is working with you either in person or via telehealth to identify equipment and other supports for your child, you could send them videos or photos of your local conditions.

It’s good to think in advance about these things. It means that when you meet with your NDIA planner, they can help you work out the best way the NDIS can support you and your family.

6. Decide how to manage your child’s NDIS funds

There are 3 options for managing your child’s NDIS funds: self-managing, plan-managing and NDIA-managing.

For rural and remote families, self-managing or plan-managing your child’s funds can be good options. Self-managing and plan-managing give you more flexibility because they allow you to choose which providers to use, including registered NDIS providers and unregistered providers. This might be important in rural or remote areas with fewer services than other areas.

When you’re self-managing or plan-managing NDIS funds, you can have various arrangements with NDIS support workers. For example, you can employ support workers directly. This might let you:

keep working with certain NDIS providers and support workers as part of your child’s NDIS plan
use NDIS providers who visit your area on a roster
train and employ local people to work as allied health assistants or in other support roles.

If you’re interested in employing your own NDIS support workers but aren’t sure where to find them, you could ask around at playgroup, preschool or school for ideas. For example, you might be able to employ teacher aides outside of school hours, teaching and therapy students or retired staff. You could also try posting in local online community groups.

7. Use your child’s NDIS plan flexibly

You can use your child’s NDIS plan in flexible ways. This allows you to spend more money on the supports and therapy your child needs and less on administrative costs.

Here are ideas for using your child’s NDIS plan flexibly and getting the most out of their NDIS funds:

Consider whether you could get a service by telehealth or a combination of in-person and telehealth appointments.
Arrange to meet NDIS providers halfway between your home and their usual service location.
Arrange bulk therapy. This is when an NDIS provider has fewer appointments with your child, but they spend more time working with you and your child when they do visit.
Arrange for your child to see NDIS providers at school. If providers can organise to see several children at school on the same day, you might be able to share travel and other costs with other families.
Think about whether other people in your area could plan a visit from an NDIS provider on the same day. You might be able to share travel, accommodation and other costs.
Think creatively about other ways to help your child work towards their goals, including how you can use community activities and resources. For example, your child might get a lot out of swimming lessons even if regular hydrotherapy isn’t available locally.

As you manage your plan throughout the year, document your experience of getting services and supports and how this affects your child’s progress towards their goals. If you can’t spend your child’s allocated funds or services cost more because of their location, make sure to note this. You could keep private notes and contact your NDIA planner or local area coordinator (LAC) with any questions. At your child’s NDIS plan review, your NDIA planner or LAC can help you find more accessible services and supports.

8. Connect with your community and other parents

Connecting with your community can be a great way to find support and services for your whole family.

You could try contacting:

MyTime – peer support groups for parents and carers of children with disability or developmental delay
in-person and online parent groups for children with and without disability
your local child and family health centre.

Other parents, especially those who have similar experiences to you, can be a great source of information, experience and support. If there are no parents in your local area to speak to, you could also explore online support groups for parents of children with disability, autism or other additional needs.