Between five and 10 per cent of students have learning disabilities, Young says
Ryan Cooke
Teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador need more preparatory time and more training for inclusive education to work, says an expert in the field.
Gabrielle Young, a Memorial University assistant professor with a focus on special education, told CBC the province's inclusion model is rooted in good intentions, but needs better implementation.
New research confirms a drop in severity for autism diagnoses
The steady increase over the past several decades in the percentage of children who meet criteria for an autistic spectrum disorder has been widely reported. From rates of around 1 in 5000 children in 1975, the latest estimates from the Center for Disease Control are 1 in 68. This rise has triggered alarm bells in many circles as people search for and speculate about the reasons behind the increase, including the thoroughly discredited hypothesis regarding vaccines.
Australia needs to “rethink” autism in the workplace, according to a not-for-profit disability employment organisation, involved in a world-first initiative to employ autistic adults in specialist animal care roles.
EPIC Assist, an organisation which helps people with disability to prepare for, find and maintain meaningful employment, said there were major problems with the way society viewed disability.
Children with suspected disabilities are waiting up to a year for a diagnosis in parts of Sydney, leaving parents at "breaking point" and doctors accusing the NSW Government of dropping the ball.
Key points:
In Campbelltown, on average, children had to wait 12 months before being assessed
Parents cannot access disability funding before their child is assessed
Experts say treatment is crucial early in development
A diagnosis, typically made by a specialised team including a paediatrician, occupational therapist, speech pathologist and social worker, is required for a child with a disability to access funding.
Although the number of people diagnosed with autism is on the rise, the proportion with severe features has declined since 2000, according to a study of children in Western Australia1.
Families of young children with disability can continue accessing support and advice through the Australian Government’s early intervention programs until the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) reaches full scheme in 2019-20.
In a strongly worded statement dated February 1, the board of directors of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) has expressed its “unanimous denunciation” of what it calls “restrictive immigration policies” as laid out in what is likely Donald Trump’s most controversial executive order (EO) to date. The complete text was posted to INSAR’s website January 31.
An autistic teenager, who studied at Hobart College last year, received his TCE in the mail only to be told a month later that it was a mistake and he hadn’t passed.
That was after a year of misinformation from the college, about whether Jacob O’Beirne would receive his tick for numeracy through a Ticket To Work program.
The Anne McDonald Centre made an alarming submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Services for People with ASD.
It alleges inappropriate testing of non-verbal children, many of whom have ASD ... and subsequently, inappropriate and ineffective teaching in Victorian schools.
Legal Aid Victoria finds residential care providers call police to deal with behavioural issues of children in their care Children in group homes in Victoria are being charged with criminal damage and detained in custody for incidents as minor as breaking coffee cups and throwing a pen at an air-conditioning unit, a new report has found.
The 20-fold increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism in the past 30 years is due to clinicians diagnosing less severe autism in children, a study has found.
And the so-called "epidemic" is putting pressure on the public purse, potentially risking the sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
One of the biggest policy reforms in generations is about to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians.
An Illawarra FaCS worker accused of beating a mute autistic boy was brought undone when the child's parents grew suspicious and sent him to respite care with a tape recorder concealed in his bag, a court has heard.
Police will allege disability support worker Lennard Michael Downes, 35, can be heard verbally and physically abusing the boy on the recording, which was taken over a two day period at a government-run care centre in November last year.
The Federal Government has announced an independent review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to examine overall costs, value for money and its long-term sustainability.
Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the Productivity Commission review on Friday afternoon with a position paper to be released in May, followed by a report in September.
The response from Disability Minister Christian Porter MP’s office on increasing autism diagnoses is very disappointing according to Bob Buckley, A4 Convenor. Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia or A4 is the national grass-roots advocacy group for autism spectrum disorder.
Recently, A4 obtained data from Government and reported that the number of children diagnoses with autism continues to increase at a significant rate, as it has for several decades. In June 2016, there were 73,166 (>2.4%) Australian children aged 5-15 years inclusive who had their formal autism diagnosis registered with the Commonwealth Government. For this age group, autism is now more common than intellectual disability.
About one in four children with autism hit, scratch or otherwise hurt themselves, suggests an analysis of school and medical records for more than 8,000 children in the United States. Children who engage in self-injury tend to have mood and behavioral challenges, as well as cognitive impairment.
