NICHOLETTE ZELIADT

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.

3 February 2017

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.

GEMMA Foxall and Liz Martin were teaching colleagues, then friends, then found out within a week of each other that their sons had severe autism.

Living in the relatively isolated town of Bunbury, three hours south of Perth, the two mothers quickly found they had to rely on each other even more.

They quickly discovered that without constant fighting on their part, simply living in regional Australia could be devastating for their children.

Having made no progress on this issue, here is a letter that I sent to the Prime Minister:

Dear Prime Minister

Since June 2016 I have been unable to access my son’s myPlace webpage via the myGov website.

I have raised this several times. Yesterday, I spent about 2 hours mostly on hold with the NDIA and the myGov helpline.

The NDIA said their system is working perfectly and that the problem is with the myGov website. The myGov help people check out their system and said the problem is the NDIA’s myPlace system.

Parents of children whose federally funded support for autism therapy is set to expire are facing a frustrating reality.

Calla Wahlquist

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.

Andrew Taylor

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.