Note: our dedicated NDIS tutoring program is currently paused and not taking enrolments. We expect to reopen it, and you can join the waitlist below to be the first to know. In the meantime, this page explains what we know — and what we don't — about whether NDIS funding can help with tutoring, and how Merit's approach tends to work for children with a wide range of learning needs.
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Important: Merit Tutoring is not an NDIS registered provider.
Families using self-managed or plan-managed NDIS funding may be able to use educational supports of this kind — we recommend checking with your NDIS planner or support coordinator. Agency-managed participants would need to use a registered NDIS provider. When the program reopens, we're happy to provide invoices and documentation that may support your NDIS claim.
This is one of the most common questions we hear from families, and the honest answer is: it depends — and in most cases, the answer is no. The NDIS does not fund general academic tuition. School education is primarily the responsibility of the education system, not the NDIS.
Where NDIS may fund something that looks like tutoring is where a support directly relates to a participant's disability — for example, building skills that a disability is making harder to develop. In those specific circumstances, it can sometimes be considered under broader Capacity Building categories, such as:
Whether any support can be covered always comes back to the participant's individual plan, the goals listed in it, and whether it is considered reasonable and necessary in their specific circumstances by the NDIA. Decisions are not consistent from plan to plan. Your NDIS planner, Local Area Coordinator, or support coordinator is the right person to ask — not us.
We can provide invoices and documentation that show what our sessions involve. Whether that is accepted as a valid use of funding is entirely a decision for you, your planner, and your plan or agency manager.
If your child's NDIS funding is self-managed, you have the most flexibility — you can use any provider, registered or not. A service like Merit would be an option for self-managed participants (our program is currently paused, but you can join the waitlist below for when it reopens).
If your child is plan-managed, your plan manager pays providers on your behalf. Plan managers can pay non-registered providers like Merit, so this should be straightforward to organise. When the program reopens, we can provide the invoices your plan manager needs.
If your child is agency-managed (also called NDIA-managed), the NDIS pays providers directly — but only to NDIS registered providers. Merit Tutoring is not registered, so we cannot work with agency-managed participants under NDIS funding. In that case, you'd need to either find a registered provider or, if it's possible in your circumstances, switch the relevant support budget to self or plan management.
Merit Tutoring turns real learning into something children want to keep doing, in a way that tends to work well for children who've struggled in traditional classroom or tutoring settings. We're not a disability support service — we're tutors. But what we've found is that an engagement-first approach reduces the friction points that often make tutoring hard for children with ADHD, autism, learning difficulties, and other conditions.
Sessions run on Merit's custom-built platform — not Zoom. Your child sees their tutor, any classmates (small group classes are capped at 5 children), and the learning activities all on one screen. The platform is built for learning, not adapted from a generic video call tool.
Sessions are live with a real tutor in a small group. A few things shape how each session works:
We want to be careful not to overclaim here. Not every approach works for every child, and we've had sessions that clicked straight away and sessions that took a few weeks to warm up. But here's what we've seen:
Engagement-first reduces anxiety. A lot of children with disabilities — particularly those with ADHD or autism — have had negative experiences with school or tutoring. The pressure to sit still, pay attention, and get things right quickly can cause real distress. When the session starts with a game rather than a worksheet, the dynamic shifts. Most children relax into it faster than you'd expect.
Immediate feedback is less frustrating than delayed correction. In games, you find out straight away whether your answer was right. There's no waiting for a marked sheet to come back. For children who struggle with uncertainty or who find delayed feedback hard to process, that immediacy helps.
Positive reinforcement is built in. Points, progress bars, completing activities — these create small wins throughout the session rather than one big result at the end. For children who've had lots of negative feedback about their learning, consistent small wins matter.
Visual learning is front and centre. Everything in a Merit session is visual. The games, the whiteboard, the activities — there's very little that depends solely on listening and retaining verbal instructions.
Online means home. Many children with disabilities find transitions and new environments genuinely difficult. Logging in from the kitchen table removes the stress of travelling to a tutoring centre, being in an unfamiliar space, and navigating the social experience of arriving somewhere new. Parents can also observe sessions — we encourage this, especially in the early weeks.
Merit's learning material is designed with children who learn differently in mind — including children with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyslexia, dyscalculia, and broader learning difficulties. That doesn't mean we're a specialist disability service — we're tutors, not therapists or educational psychologists. But the session format is deliberately built around short activity cycles, immediate feedback, visual learning, and small groups, which tend to be easier to engage with than long worksheets and passive lectures. Reading support is built in too: questions, passages and options can be read aloud, with dyslexia-friendly fonts, adjustable text size and spacing, and high-contrast themes — so a struggling reader isn't blocked by the words on the screen.
Every child is different. When the program reopens we'll take the time to understand your child's needs and what's been hard before, rather than running a generic first session. Join the waitlist below and we'll be in touch when enrolments open.
If you're at the planning or plan review stage and want to try to include educational tutoring support, there are a few things that tend to help:
We can't guarantee any of this will result in NDIS funding for tutoring — that decision is entirely with the NDIA and your planner. But we're happy to assist however we can with paperwork on our end.
Real progress turns into points and rewards, and lessons adapt to your child — harder when they're flying, gentler when they're stuck. The motivation is tied to genuine learning, not busywork.
Every class is a small group with a hard cap of 5 children — small enough that the tutor knows your child by name and spots the moment they're stuck.
Sessions run from your kitchen table — no car trip, no unfamiliar environment, no sensory stress from travelling to a centre. Parent observation welcome.
We can provide invoices and session documentation to support your NDIS claim for self-managed and plan-managed participants.
Every tutor holds a current Working With Children Check. Sessions are conducted professionally on our custom-built platform.
When the program reopens, there's no term commitment — you're not locked into a long contract, so you can try it and see if it works for your child.
Our NDIS tutoring program is paused for now. Join the waitlist and we'll email you first when enrolments reopen.
"What truly sets Merit Tutoring apart is the range of activities they offer and their ability to bring out the best in each child. Their tailored approach has been life-changing for our son. The patience they demonstrate, their attention to detail, and the thoughtful preparation that goes into each session are exceptional."— Ivan Njul, Google Review
It depends on the individual's NDIS plan and goals. NDIS doesn't have a dedicated "tutoring" category, but educational support may be fundable under Capacity Building — specifically "Improved Daily Living" or "Increased Social and Community Participation" — if the support can be connected to disability-related goals and is considered reasonable and necessary. This is a grey area: outcomes aren't always consistent, so we recommend speaking directly with your NDIS planner or support coordinator.
NDIS does not fund general education — that's the responsibility of schools. However, NDIS may fund supports that build a participant's capacity to engage in education and daily life, particularly where the disability creates a barrier. Supports like social skills programs, learning strategy coaching, and educational tutoring framed around capacity building goals have been funded under some plans. Each plan is individual, so there's no universal answer.
No. Merit Tutoring is not an NDIS registered provider. Families using self-managed or plan-managed NDIS funding may be able to use a service like Merit — self-managed participants can use any provider, and plan managers can pay non-registered providers. Agency-managed (NDIA-managed) participants need a registered provider, so Merit would not be available under NDIS funding for those families. Please also note that our dedicated NDIS tutoring program is currently paused; we recommend checking with your NDIS planner or support coordinator, and joining our waitlist to hear when enrolments reopen.
At your planning meeting or plan review, focus on functional goals connected to your child's disability rather than academic outcomes. For example: building capacity to engage in independent learning tasks, developing on-task behaviour and concentration, or improving participation in group learning environments. Supporting documentation from school, a psychologist, or an occupational therapist can strengthen the case. Note that Merit's dedicated NDIS tutoring program is currently paused; when it reopens, we can provide invoices and session documentation to support your claim.
Thanks — we've added you to the NDIS tutoring waitlist.
We'll email you first when enrolments reopen. There's nothing else you need to do.