science

Thriving Kids

Thriving Kids is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thriving Kids rather than just read about it. In short: Thriving Kids is the Australian Government's planned partial replacement for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It is targeted at children aged eight and under who have developmental delays or autism.

Key takeaways

Thriving Kids belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thriving Kids to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thriving Kids from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thriving Kids is the Australian Government's planned partial replacement for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It is targeted at children aged eight and under who have developmental delays or autism.

Background The government introduced Thriving Kids citing a need to reduce costs for the NDIS. In the August 2025 policy announcement, the government announced that they would seek to reduce growth of the NDIS to 5–6%. Thriving Kids was detailed in a speech by NDIS minister Mark Butler to the National Press Club on 20 August 2025. Butler announced that the federal government would spend $2 billion to start the scheme. The government revealed how Thriving Kids would operate on 3 February 2026. The program will begin from October 2026 followed by a full rollout in January 2028. The first part of the plan includes identification of support needs, the next involves connecting families to appropriate support, the last part of the plan involves how supports work in practice. The supports fall into three categories, these categories are known as "low need" that emphasise parent-led approaches, the next category is "moderate need" children would have access to more supports, children with a "significant permanent disability" include those with developmental delays or autism and will remain eligible for the NDIS. On 22 April, NDIS minister Mark Butler announced that the number of participants on the NDIS would be reduced from 760,000 to 600,000 by 2030 with some being diverted to Thriving Kids. The federal government injected $2 billion to get the program started in the 2026 Australian federal budget.

Reception Disability advocate Anthia Jacobson has expressed scepticism over Thriving Kids saying that "If this is to be a truly family-centred system, it needs to be designed with true family collaboration in mind and a structured approach to shared parental involvement in funding allocation and supporting choice." Following Butler's announcement that the government will reduce the number of NDIS participants, crossbench MPs warned that this should only be done once Thriving Kids is fully operational.

References

Further reading Young, Evan and Campanella, Nas (21 April 2026). "From cost blowouts to fraud and benefits, here's everything you need to know about the NDIS". ABC News. Archived from the original on 24 April 2026. Retrieved 28 April 2026.

External links Fact sheet: Foundational Supports and Thriving Kids Thriving Kids | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing Thriving Kids | NDIS

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thriving Kids

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thriving Kids claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thriving Kids before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thriving Kids ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thriving Kids

In research: Thriving Kids appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thriving Kids in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thriving Kids is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2026 introductions, Albanese government, Autism, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thriving Kids outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thriving Kids in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thriving Kids means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thriving Kids out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thriving Kids in simple terms?

Why does Thriving Kids matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thriving Kids?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thriving Kids.