Simon Wardale

“If you walk into our home or Max’s classroom, you couldn’t pick him out as having autism. But then we’ve funded nearly 10 years of support – from speech and occupational therapy to psychology appointments. I can tell you now, he’d be a very different child if we hadn’t been in the position to do so.”

Adeane Tindall’s 13-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with autism at the age of four, but it was an uphill struggle.

Miki Perkins

​First, it was the clothes Ella's parents noticed. The little girl would tell her parents nothing fitted quite right; she wanted her shoes and clothes to feel "tighter".

For her birthday, the six-year-old asked for Barbie dolls, and pink, sparkly clothing she'd noticed other girls wearing. But the dolls were left in the drawer, and the clothes went unworn. What was going on?  

Tighter eligibility rules, disappointment among those given false hope but an affordable program for the nation — this is the realistic scenario for the National Disability Insurance Scheme according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance, whose submission to the Productivity Commission is reported in our pages today.

The number of Australian children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder may have skyrocketed but many will be "un-diagnosed" in adulthood.

Early diagnosis and programs are helping those with Asperger syndrome - now known as high functioning autism - deal with social deficits and other challenges.

"We are now getting people who become what we technically call sub-clinical," autism guru Dr Tony Attwood told AAP.

This means they've reached a "level of expression" that doesn't need specialist services or support.

NADIA ISA

Society needs to stop considering autism spectrum disorder as a deficit and start embracing difference, a South Australian expert in special education says.

Department of Education and Child Development special educator Kathy Kleinschmidt said autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was just that; a spectrum, and many ASD children were highly functioning — if just a little bit quirky.

Ms Kleinschmidt said high-functioning ASD children should be able to attend mainstream schools, but there needed to be education and tools available to staff.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) produced a brief report that summarises recent Government data on autistic people in Australia.

It says:

Kathleen Murray

My then five-year-old son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) around the time in 2007 the United Nations declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD). He was on the cusp of school and I worried what the diagnosis meant for his future.

Increasing awareness of autism, the promise of the NDIS, and biological factors like older parents are driving the boom in diagnoses, according to experts.

Jackson Gothe-Snape

The number of Australians diagnosed with autism increased by 42 per cent between 2012 and 2015, but research and advocacy groups are adamant it's not a cause for alarm.