National Framework For assessing children's functional strengths and support needs in Australia

The purpose of the Framework is to set out an evidence-based, culturally responsive approach for assessment, differentiation, and written reporting of children’s strengths and support needs. It focuses on professional practice when working with children aged 0-12 years and their families in Australia.

The Framework was developed to address the current gap in knowledge and lack of consensus about how best to assess, differentiate, and report children’s strengths and support needs. It is intended to inform professional practice, operational guidance, and decision making across multiple sectors.

The primary users of the Framework are professionals involved in assessing children’s strengths and support needs across health, education, disability, and community services. Children and families can use the Framework to know what best practice looks like.

The Framework can also be used by:

• organisations that work with children and families
• organisations that support professionals who lead or contribute to assessment of children’s strengths and support needs
• government departments and agencies and other professionals.

Yes. The Framework is appropriate for all children aged 0-12 years. This includes, but is not limited to, children with:

• developmental delay
• neurodevelopmental conditions
• acquired disability
• other health and medical conditions that result in the need for additional supports.

The Framework was developed for all children, irrespective of whether they have a diagnosed condition or may receive a diagnosis in the future. This approach emphasises the importance of understanding each child and family for who they are, and the context in which they live, and then providing the most helpful information for planning supports, if a need is indicated.

The core elements of the Framework are the Guiding Principles and sections outlining the process of assessment, differentiation and reporting of children’s strengths and support needs, including what approach should be used, what information is critical, and what the outcome should be for each. The Framework also provides guidance related to the use of tools, core competencies and capabilities required by professionals involved in assessing children’s strengths and support needs, and recommended safeguarding approaches.

Children’s strengths and support needs are conceptualised using the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The Framework expresses the ICF in a child-focused way, making use of other international practice guidance, particularly CanChild’s F-Words for Child Development. The F-words represent the child’s fitness, functioning, friends, family, fun, and future aspirations.

Differentiation involves working with the child and family to identify what support needs are most important, taking into consideration the benefits and potential risks of different options. Differentiating support needs should be collaborative with the child and family. It should also be ongoing, taking into consideration all strengths, needs, existing supports and resources and family dynamics. Practitioners should then work with the child and family to identify what is most relevant to them. It is similar to, but is broader than, the way differentiation is used by teachers to individualise learning support based on children’s individual needs.

The Framework provides a common way for users to:

• understand the individual strengths and support needs that a child and their family may have
• communicate these strengths and support needs with others
• where necessary, support those needs in any service system – whether as a practitioner, school principal, policy maker, family member, or someone helping to plan and navigate those supports. For example, it can help to improve co-ordination and information sharing (with consent) between those offering supports and services to children and families.

Professionals across health, education, disability, and community services will benefit by using the Framework to provide a consistent, evidence-based and culturally responsive approach for assessing, differentiating, and reporting children’s functional strengths and support needs. Children and families can also use the Framework to know what best practice looks like. The Framework is intended to be applied within a broader partnership with children and families that is characterised by professionals listening, understanding, advocating for, and constantly communicating with children and families at every stage – consistent with broader characteristics of best practice.

The project was co-led by Professor David Trembath and neurodivergent speech pathologist, Amy Fitzpatrick. They led a project team with diverse personal and professional backgrounds, including lived experience relevant to the project.

The Framework was co-produced with the stakeholder community and representatives from 23 community and professional organisations, associations, and societies across the health, disability and education sectors. This included those with lived experience of disability directly as individuals and/or as parents or family members. Autism CRC also partnered with Indigenous Allied Health Australia and the Australian Government.

The Framework is based on several core premises:

• Every child and family have rights that must be protected and advanced through the actions of people, communities, and societies that value and respect them.
• The rights, strengths, needs, aspirations, preferences, and priorities of children and families are highly interrelated, and must be understood, valued, and respected together.
• Children’s views and preferences should be sought, and they should be involved in decisions that affect them, to the extent that is possible.
• Social and emotional wellbeing is the foundation of physical and mental health for all children.
• Children’s strengths and support needs change over time as they grow, as do the preferences and priorities of children and families.
• It is important to actively be aware of and respond to exclusion by providing assessment services and supports that are genuinely inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of diverse populations.

The project broadly followed the same methodology used to address the questions set out in the two Autism CRC National Guidelines. This involved an iterative, co-designed process of evidence gathering, evidence synthesis, and consensus building involving community, professional, and Government stakeholders. Key elements of the project were a review of research evidence; a review of existing frameworks and tools used in Australia and abroad; community consultation; and co-production with community, professional, and government organisations and agencies.

The project team collaborated with representatives of key stakeholder organisations to address the research questions, including with reference to information gathered through other research activities conducted within the environmental scan. From February to September 2024, collaboration occurred via regularly scheduled online meetings with a focus on an iterative cycle of consensus building.

A six-week community consultation process in February and March 2024 sought the views and experiences of all members of the community, including children and young people, to add to the research evidence. Inputs were gathered from both individuals through a ‘Community member views’ survey, and organisations through an ‘Organisation views survey’.

The Framework is intended to improve children’s health, activities, participation, and wellbeing by improving professional practice and the policy that supports it. The Framework will sit at the centre of a range of future initiatives to improve the approach, experience, and outcomes of services and supports provided to children and their families in Australia.

The Framework focuses on children. However, the methods used to develop it could potentially inform future efforts to develop a Framework for adolescents and adults.

Autism CRC has a long history of cross-sector collaboration leading to the development of practical, evidence-based recommendations and resources that support sound decision-making and children’s and families’ access to safe, effective, and appropriate supports.