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Allied health in schools: an NDIS guide

For occupational therapists, speech pathologists, physios and exercise physiologists who visit schools to work with NDIS-funded kids. The boundary rules, the dual-goal problem, the invoicing trap, and how to fix the admin.

The Section 34 boundary, in plain English

NDIS can fund therapy delivered at school when the therapy is addressing disability-specific goals beyond what the school is required to provide as reasonable adjustment under the DDA. Curriculum support and teacher aides are the school's responsibility. Disability-specific OT, speech, physio and EP work - AAC setup, sensory regulation strategies, fine motor for life skills, mobility - is NDIS.

In practice: if the goal in the NDIS plan reads "Sam will independently use his AAC device to make 5 choices a day," that's NDIS funded, even if you deliver it in a classroom. If the goal is "Sam will complete Year 2 maths," that's the school.

The dual-goal documentation problem

Every session you deliver has to satisfy two readers: the NDIS auditor and the school. Both want notes, but they want different things. The auditor wants the NDIS goal code, hours, support item number, participant response. The school wants the learning context, the strategies the teacher should keep using, and outcomes against the school's IEP.

Writing two sets of notes is what eats your weekends. CareLogging lets you write one structured note that splits cleanly: NDIS-facing claim and report on one side, school/teacher communication on the other.

Term-based invoicing without losing your mind

Schools work in terms; the NDIS works in weeks. Most plan managers want monthly invoices; some parents want a clean term summary. Practitioner tools built for medical clinics don't get this - they invoice every appointment.

What you actually want: log every session as you go, generate the monthly bulk claim for plan managers, and produce a term summary report for parents and the school SENCO without re-typing anything.

2025-26 NDIS rates for allied health

The travel claim everyone gets wrong

Driving between schools is claimable as Provider Travel - Non-Labour Costs, but the limits are strict. Maximum 30 minutes one way in MMM 1-3, 60 minutes in MMM 4-5. The km rate is the ATO cents-per-km rate. Get the support item code right (the line item differs from the therapy item) or the claim bounces.

What CareLogging does for school-visiting clinicians

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