ABLE WA Curriculum for Homeschooling Children with Significant Disabilities

If your child has a significant cognitive disability, the standard WA Curriculum framework does not map well onto their educational needs. SCSA recognised this and developed the ABLE WA curriculum — a separate assessment and learning framework designed specifically for students with significant cognitive disabilities who require substantially adjusted learning goals.

This post explains what ABLE WA is, how it applies to home education, and what it means for your learning programme and registration obligations.

What ABLE WA Is

ABLE (Assessments for Better Learning and Education) WA is the Western Australian curriculum framework for students with significant cognitive disabilities. It was developed by SCSA (School Curriculum and Standards Authority) as an alternative to the standard WA Curriculum achievement standards.

The standard WA Curriculum describes what a typical developing child at each year level should know and demonstrate. ABLE WA instead uses a developmental continuum approach — it assesses where the child is functioning developmentally, across a range of skills, rather than trying to map them against year-level expectations.

ABLE WA covers five broad domains:

• Communication (expressive and receptive)
• Personal and Social (independence, self-regulation, relationships)
• Learning (attention, memory, problem-solving, functional academics)
• Physical (fine motor, gross motor, sensory processing)
• Health and Wellbeing (self-care, health literacy, safety)

Each domain has a progression of skills from early developmental levels through to more complex functional abilities. The assessment identifies where the child is currently functioning in each domain and informs what goals to work toward.

Who ABLE WA Is Designed For

ABLE WA is specifically for children with significant cognitive disabilities — meaning intellectual disability (moderate to profound), often in combination with other conditions such as autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or complex communication needs.

It is not intended for children who are:

• Mildly delayed or have a learning disability but follow the standard curriculum with adjustments
• Autistic but working within or close to age-level academic expectations
• Gifted with dual exceptionality where one exceptionality does not significantly affect cognitive functioning

The line is not always precise, and in practice the decision about whether ABLE WA is appropriate for a specific child is made by the parent in consultation with their home education moderator and any therapists or specialists involved with the child.

ABLE WA and Home Education Registration

WA home education registration requires that your learning programme is "organised and designed to enable the child to develop knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes relevant to the child's individual needs." For children with significant cognitive disabilities, ABLE WA is the recognised framework for defining what those individual needs are and how to address them.

In practical terms, this means:

Your learning programme does not need to reference the standard 8 learning areas in the conventional way. A learning programme for a child using the ABLE WA framework is built around the five ABLE domains and the child's individual developmental goals, not around English, Maths, Science, HASS, and so on.

The moderator review is adapted. Moderators who work with ABLE WA families understand that progress looks different. Evidence of learning includes things like increased independence in self-care tasks, improved communication (verbal, AAC, gesture), engagement with supported activities, and participation in community settings.

You should mention ABLE WA explicitly in your learning programme. State at the outset that your child has a significant cognitive disability and that the learning programme is developed in line with the ABLE WA framework. This immediately signals to the Department that standard learning area coverage is not the right lens for reviewing your programme.

What a Learning Programme Looks Like Under ABLE WA

Rather than eight learning area sections, your ABLE WA learning programme is structured around your child's individual goals across the five domains. A simplified example:

Communication:

• Goal: Increase functional use of AAC device (LAMP Words for Life) to make consistent requests and comments across settings
• Approach: SLP-directed program with daily home practice; 3–4 communication sessions per week
• Resources: Tobii Dynavox device, LAMP Words for Life program, weekly SLP session

Personal and Social:

• Goal: Develop independence in dressing routine (all steps with minimal prompting)
• Approach: Task analysis with backward chaining; embedded into morning routine daily
• Resources: Visual schedule, OT guidance on task analysis

Learning:

• Goal: Match objects to pictures across 10+ functional vocabulary items; counting objects to 5
• Approach: Structured discrete trial teaching for academic skills; embedded practice throughout day
• Resources: ABA home program (supervised by BCBA), functional maths materials

Physical:

• Goal: Improve core strength and supported standing endurance for functional mobility
• Approach: PT home exercise program, twice-weekly hydrotherapy
• Resources: Physiotherapist-developed program, weekly swimming session

Health and Wellbeing:

• Goal: Tolerate teeth-brushing routine to completion with visual support
• Approach: Desensitisation program from OT; embedded into daily routine

This is a legitimate and approvable WA home education learning programme. It looks nothing like a standard academic learning programme — and that is correct.

Accessing ABLE WA Resources

The ABLE WA assessment tools and framework documents are published on the SCSA website. They include:

• The ABLE WA assessment framework document (overview of domains and developmental continuum)
• Assessment tools that therapists, teachers, or parents can use to determine current functioning levels
• Guidance on recording and reporting progress

Many families home educating under ABLE WA work with a team of therapists — speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, ABA therapist, or support workers — and the learning programme is a collaborative document that reflects the goals from each. This is appropriate and the moderator review process accommodates it.

Working With Your Moderator

If you are registering under ABLE WA, it helps to connect with your moderator early and explain your child's profile before you submit your learning programme. Most moderators are experienced with disability, but the degree of familiarity varies. Providing a brief summary of your child's diagnosis, current functioning levels, and the therapeutic supports in place sets the right context.

The annual review for ABLE WA families typically focuses on:

• What goals were targeted over the year
• What progress was made (even small steps count)
• What the goals are for the coming year
• Whether the support team is appropriate and coordinated

Progress with children with significant disabilities is often measured differently — increased consistency, decreased prompt levels, generalisation of skills to new settings. Be prepared to describe progress in these terms.

For a full walkthrough of the WA home education registration process — including how to structure your application and what documents to prepare — the Western Australia Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers both the standard registration pathway and how to adapt it for children with disabilities.

See more Australia homeschool guides →