What reports do you need for your child’s NDIS access request?

By The Jay Way team

Published 24 October 2026 · Checked against official sources 24 October 2026

For an NDIS access request for your child, the NDIS asks for recent evidence from a treating health professional who knows your child. It should confirm your child’s disability or developmental delay, describe how it affects daily life, and say what treatments they’ve had. The NDIS says the professional should have treated your child for at least 6 months, as at 24 October 2026.

The short version: you don’t need one perfect report. You need evidence that is recent, specific to your child and written by someone who knows them. The access request form has a section for your child’s health professional to complete, but a letter, an email or an existing assessment can also count as evidence. For a child under 9, an early childhood partner can help you gather it, and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) decides whether your child is eligible.

What is the access request form?

The access request form is a form you can use to gather the information you need to apply to the NDIS. It asks about your child, your child’s disability and your situation.

You don’t have to use it. The NDIS says you don’t need to complete the form to apply, and that the usual first step is to connect with an NDIS partner. For a child under 9, that is usually an early childhood partner. If you send a completed form straight to the NDIA, they’ll share it with the NDIS partner in your area.

The form has two main parts:

Section 1 is for you, as the applicant’s representative. It covers your child’s details, your details as a parent or guardian, consent, information about the disability, and the supporting evidence you attach, such as reports, assessments or letters.
Section 2 is for your child’s treating health professional. It covers their qualifications, how long they’ve treated your child, evidence of the disability, existing assessments, and evidence of functional capacity.

What should the evidence say?

The NDIS says evidence to support eligibility should:

confirm your child’s primary disability
confirm the impacts of the disability on different areas of life
describe previous treatments and outcomes
describe future treatment options and expected outcomes
be original and specific to your child.

The NDIS defines a primary disability as the impairment with the greatest impact on daily life. It also says evidence needs to be recent and completed by a treating health professional relevant to that primary disability.

Evidence doesn’t have to be formal. The NDIS says it can be an email or letter, or a more formal assessment or report. Options include the NDIS supporting evidence form, section 2 of the access request form, existing reports or assessments, or a letter or email from the professional. There is also a separate form for psychosocial disability.

Who can provide evidence for my child?

The NDIS gives these examples of health professionals: a GP, paediatrician, orthopaedic surgeon, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, neurologist, psychologist, psychiatrist and physiotherapist. The right person depends on your child’s primary disability.

The NDIS says your treating health professional should:

be the most appropriate person to give evidence of the primary disability
have treated your child for at least 6 months
be registered to practise in Australia or New Zealand.

The form guidance adds that it helps if the professional has worked with your child for a long time and knows them well. If the evidence doesn’t tell the NDIS what it needs to know, the NDIA may ask for more information or another report. That can delay a decision.

The NDIS also says the person helping you gather evidence can’t tell you whether your child meets the eligibility requirements. Only the NDIA can decide that.

What are the six functional areas?

Functional capacity means your child’s ability to do everyday tasks. Section 2 of the form asks the health professional for evidence across six areas. The NDIS uses slightly different wording on different pages, so here are both.

Wording on the form	Wording on the eligibility page
Mobility	Moving around
Communication	Communicating
Social interaction	Socialising
Learning	Learning
Self-care	Looking after yourself
Self-management	Managing your life

The NDIS says a functional capacity assessment is an official assessment of daily tasks and that you don’t have to have one to be eligible, though it can be useful evidence. Its examples include dressing, bathing, grooming, going to the toilet, moving around independently and communicating through speech or writing. It says an assessment can take anywhere from 1 hour to 10 hours, so ask the professional how long theirs will take.

What evidence does the NDIS list for common childhood conditions?

The NDIS publishes a page of best practice evidence for different primary disabilities. For people aged 16 and under, it often names an assessment called the PEDI-CAT. Which assessment suits your child is a question for their health professional. Here is a summary of what the NDIS page lists for some common childhood conditions.

Primary disability	Health professionals the NDIS lists	Evidence the NDIS lists
Autism	Paediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, occupational therapist, speech therapist	DSM-5, Vineland-III, PEDI-CAT (16 and under)
Intellectual disability, developmental delay, global developmental delay, Down syndrome	Paediatrician, psychologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist	DSM-5, Vineland-III, PEDI-CAT (16 and under)
Cerebral palsy	Occupational therapist, physical therapist, paediatrician, physiotherapist	GMFCS, then MACS and CFCS as other evidence
Hearing impairment	Primarily an audiologist	PEDI-CAT (16 and under), hearing acuity score
Vision impairment	Primarily an ophthalmologist	PEDI-CAT (16 and under), visual acuity rating
Other disabilities	Paediatrician, occupational therapist, speech therapist, physiotherapist, social worker, GP	PEDI-CAT (16 and under)

For psychosocial disability, the NDIS asks for a statement from a treating health professional and a functional capacity assessment. The NDIS page lists many of these “in preference order”. You don’t need to understand the tools yourself. You can ask your child’s doctor which of these they use and whether any of it is already on file.

What about children under 9, and under 6?

The NDIS early childhood approach is for children younger than 9. For a child under 9, the NDIS says to speak with your child’s health or education professional. An early childhood partner can connect you with supports and help you gather evidence of your child’s disability or developmental delay.

The NDIS also says you need to give evidence from your child’s treating health professional that shows the disability diagnosis, including information about any treatments your child is receiving. If you live in an area without an early childhood partner, your GP, child health nurse, early childhood educator or another health professional can provide evidence of your child’s disability or developmental delay.

There is a separate route for children younger than 6 with developmental delay. The NDIS needs evidence that your child is under 6 and meets the residence requirements. It also needs evidence from your child’s doctor, specialist or treating professional that your child has a developmental delay that:

is due to mental or physical impairments
substantially reduces your child’s functional capacity compared with other children the same age
means your child needs specialist services from more than one professional working as a team for longer than 12 months.

The NDIA decides whether your child meets these requirements. You can ask an NDIS partner to help you understand whether your child might meet them.

How do I make reports more useful?

These steps follow what the NDIS says good evidence looks like.

Keep it recent. Check the date on each report. If an assessment is old, ask the professional whether it still reflects how your child is now.
Ask for specifics. The NDIS wants evidence “specific to you”. A report that describes what your child can and can’t do day to day is more useful than a general summary.
Make sure the impacts are covered. Ask whether the report says how the disability affects communication, learning, moving around, social life, self-care and managing daily life.
Include treatments. Ask for previous treatments and outcomes, and future options, to be described.
Add your own picture. The NDIS says you, your providers and your carers can also give evidence of the impacts on daily life. Short, dated notes about routines can help.
Book time to talk it through. The NDIS suggests you may need an appointment with your treating health professional to discuss what evidence you need.

Section 1 of the access request form includes consent for the NDIA to collect your information. The NDIS also has a separate consent form for people who want the NDIA to ask their health professionals for information. The NDIS says consent can be for one time only, until a date you choose, or ongoing until you take it back.

You can submit a completed form through the NDIS service hub, by mail, or in person to your NDIS partner or a local office. Your NDIS partner can also submit it for you. The NDIS pages give different timeframes for a decision in different places, so ask the NDIA or your NDIS partner what applies to your child, on 1800 800 110.

Free tools to help

NDIS access request checklist: a list of what to gather before you apply.
Funding finder: an overview of payments and supports for families, including the NDIS.

Official sources

This article is general information. It isn’t medical, legal, financial or NDIS eligibility advice. Every child’s circumstances are different, and government programs and requirements can change. Check the official sources above before you apply.