5 Costly Mistakes Parents Make When Navigating the NDIS, And How to Avoid Them

theplayfulpsychologist
Jul 10
5 min read

By Emily Hanlon

Navigating the NDIS for your child/family member can feel like stepping into a world full of potential, but one that’s cluttered with confusing processes, cryptic terminology, and endless decision points. For many parents and caregivers, managing an NDIS plan becomes a second job, with real consequences if it’s misunderstood.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is designed to support children with disabilities by funding services that improve their quality of life, independence, and long-term outcomes. But too often, parents aren't given the tools to understand how it works, or how to use it confidently.

Below are five common mistakes parents make when navigating the NDIS, along with practical, evidence-based strategies to avoid them. Each section draws directly from the Navigating the NDIS with Confidence Guide, which provides templates, checklists, and simplified explanations to help you take charge of your child’s plan.

Mistake 1: Not Understanding the Structure of an NDIS Plan

One of the most common stumbling blocks is simply understanding the structure of an NDIS plan. Many parents are handed a plan with terms like “Core Supports,” “Capacity Building,” and “Capital Supports” but receive no explanation of what these actually mean or how they function differently.

What You Need to Know:

1. Core Supports: These are the supports that help with daily living. This includes support workers, consumables (like continence products), and assistance with community access or personal care.

2. Capacity Building: This category is about long-term development. It includes therapy (like speech or occupational therapy), social skills development, and support for building independence and emotional regulation.

3. Capital Supports: This is for one-off purchases, usually higher cost items like assistive technology (e.g. communication devices) or home modifications. Accessing Capital funding often requires reports, quotes, and sometimes trials or justification from allied health professionals.

Why It Matters:

Misunderstanding what each budget is for can lead to:

Unused funding in one category
Overuse and exhaustion of another
Delays in accessing supports that your child is entitled to

The Navigating the NDIS with Confidence Guide provides a full breakdown of these three support budgets, with examples of what fits into each, and guidance on how to ensure providers are charging correctly against the right category.

Mistake 2: Not Preparing Properly for Planning and Review Meetings

Whether it’s your first planning meeting or an annual review, going in unprepared can lead to underfunding, irrelevant goals, or missing supports that your child is eligible for.

Key Preparation Steps:

1. Articulate Clear, Specific Goals: NDIS funding is tied to goals. If your goals are too broad (“to improve communication”), the plan may not include enough detail to fund services. More specific goals, like “to use expressive language to communicate wants and needs independently at home and in childcare,” are more effective.

2. Gather Documentation: Bring recent reports from therapists, educators, or other service providers that show how your child is progressing, what supports are working, and where more assistance is needed.

3. Understand Your Child’s Daily Needs: Be ready to discuss your child’s challenges in daily living, what they need help with and how it impacts their participation in family and community life.

4. Know Your Rights: You can bring a support person. You can request plan management or support coordination. You can ask for copies of your notes to be included.

The Guide includes a planning meeting checklist, sample goal statements, and a preparation worksheet to help you go into the meeting confident and clear on what your child needs.

Mistake 3: Underutilising or Misusing Funding

Another issue many families face is underutilisation, or worse, spending NDIS funding on services that aren’t claimable, leading to gaps or clawbacks.

Common Traps:

Not using Capacity Building funding for therapies due to lack of understanding
Assuming all therapists are NDIS-registered (not always the case for self- or plan-managed participants)
Booking services without checking which budget they fall under
Forgetting to review fund balances and usage through the NDIS portal or your plan manager

How to Use Funding Effectively:

Use a service agreement: Every provider should offer one. This clearly outlines costs, cancellation policies, and what service is being delivered.
Match support to goals: Funding can only be used if a service relates to a goal in your plan. Regularly refer back to your plan’s goals when choosing providers.
Track your budget: If you’re self-managing, this is especially important. The Guide tips on how to track your funding (based on my family's own experience tracking my brothers funding) you can use to monitor spending across each category.

Mistake 4: Not Knowing You Can Request Changes

Many parents don’t realise they can ask for a plan review if the current plan isn’t meeting their child’s needs. The NDIS allows for two types of review:

1. Scheduled Plan Reviews: These occur at the end of your plan period (usually 12 or 24 months). You’ll be invited to discuss how the current plan worked and what needs to change.

2. Change of Circumstances Review: This can be requested at any time if your child’s needs have changed significantly. For example:

A new diagnosis
Changes in school or home life
A major developmental regression or improvement

Supporting Your Request:

To initiate a review, you’ll need to:

Fill out the "Change of Circumstances" form
Provide supporting documentation from therapists, educators, or medical professionals
Outline exactly what has changed and what additional supports you believe are needed

The Guide includes step-by-step instructions for requesting a review, along with a sample letter and tips for gathering supporting documentation.

Mistake 5: Trying to Do It All Alone

Many parents assume they need to manage the plan themselves to stay “in control” or “save money.” But the truth is, using support systems like plan management or support coordination often results in better outcomes, lower stress, and smarter budgeting.

Key Support Roles:

Plan Manager: Handles your invoices and payments, keeps track of your budgets, and gives you access to non-registered providers. There’s no cost to you—it’s a separate budget line in your NDIS plan.

Support Coordinator: Helps you find and connect with the right services, build capacity to manage your plan long term, and troubleshoot issues if they arise.

Early Childhood Partner: For children under 7, this is your first point of contact for accessing the scheme and setting up early intervention supports.

Using these supports doesn’t mean you’re stepping back—it means you’re building a stronger team around your child.

The Guide walks through what each role does, how to request them, and when they’re most helpful, especially for new participants or those with complex support needs.

Bonus Tip: Read the Plan Carefully....Line by Line

Before you do anything else, sit down with the plan and review:

The participant statement
The goals
The funding categories
Any stated or in-kind services
Notes on quotes required or reporting due dates

Every detail matters, and misunderstanding just one section could affect how your child accesses support.

No parent is handed an NDIS user manual, and the learning curve is steep. But once you understand how the system is structured, what funding is for, and how to advocate within the scheme, everything becomes more manageable.

Let’s recap the 5 mistakes to avoid: