When Madeline Luk is in the playground, she gets inundated with questions from her peers.

"Do you want to go to the library?"

"Why do you have a back brace?"

"How do you make your wheelchair move?"

Madeline has diastrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism that affects joints in her body and her mobility.

The six-year-old is a tiny frame; she's about 78 centimetres tall, her arms and legs are very short while scoliosis has caused curvature of her spine.

But her disability does not stop her from tottering about the classroom at Pacific Hills Christian School in Dural, in north-west Sydney, or doing wheelies around the playground with her older sister Lana.

Madeline is heading into year one while sister Lana is starting year three. ( ABC Radio Sydney: Amanda Hoh )

"I like playing hide-and-seek and playing handball and I like playing in the library with my friends," Madeline said.

"I need help going to the toilet and going up the stairs in the lift.

"I use my walker in the classroom and I park my wheelchair inside."

Madeline, who is heading into year one, is one of three daughters to mum Nicole and dad Bernard.

Eight-year-old Lana is able-bodied, while the youngest sibling Briella was also born with diastrophic dysplasia.

The family were living in Hong Kong before issues with accessibility in the schools there prompted them to return to Australia before Madeline started kindergarten.

Preparing for school Make contact with your school at least 12 months prior to your child starting school.

Make contact with your school at least 12 months prior to your child starting school. Contact your local Department of Education and Communities office for support services.

Contact your local Department of Education and Communities office for support services. Be in regular contact with your child's teachers to discuss progress and any new issues that may arise. Source: A guide for parents of children with disability More information: Transition to school

"One of the major things was regarding the toilets," Mrs Luk said.

"Maddy can't use a disabled stall ... so she really needed something that was custom made for her and the school basically made a cubicle that will fit her unique body.

"So she was able start school independently, even better than she was able to at home.

"She has her own little seats and her own desks that fit her body."

Have open communication

Mrs Luk said the most important tip she had for parents of children in wheelchairs was to have continuous communication with the school.

"It's not just a one-time thing that you communicate," she said.

"You have to continue to make sure that their needs are being met and that you're on top of it all, which is a hard task.

"Just because a child is in a wheelchair, doesn't mean you put them in a box, that they have a checklist of needs. Each child is unique."

When Madeline started school, Mrs Luk said a lot of time was spent educating the other students about looking out for her, particularly as she is so small and "easy to bump over".

Nicole Luk is in constant communication with the school about Lana and Maddy. ( ABC Radio Sydney: Amanda Hoh )

Yet one issue that the Luk family had not anticipated was how their eldest daughter Lana would be affected with the attention Madeline received when she started school.

Mrs Luk said Lana started to feel like "she was only important as a source of information about her sister".

"Many students have never seen a power wheelchair before so it's very exciting and Maddy's wheelchair is very cool and loved by all the students," she said.

"We work with the school to try to ensure that my oldest is made to feel just as special and important, even though she doesn't have a disability.

"Particularly when you have disabled and able-bodied children attending the same school and the younger one comes along and is a novelty ... it is important to consider those issues."

For new school parents, Mrs Luk said it was important to have an open mind.

"If it's something new for your child, then we as parents also have to learn with our child and not assume that we know how it will work and how it will look like," she said.

"We can prepare them and the school as much as we can but at the end of the day, just like any kid, we've got to let them go and let them figure it out by themselves."