As school goes back for the year, the Senate report into the systemic failings of the education system for students with disability is very timely. In the myriad emails principals will see in their inbox, I hope mention of this report is one of them. 

The report calls out the system's "entrenched culture of low expectations" towards students with disabilities. If parents score a school that has an enabling culture towards disability, you have won the "lottery". I know this first-hand because my feisty mother managed just that.

Children with disabilities are frequently discriminated against in Australian schools. It’s an issue that has been ongoing for years, with reports showing that little has improved since 2002.

As children go back to school this week, an advocacy group is calling on education providers to be mindful of the lasting effects of bullying, particularly for children with autism.

In Australia, children with disabilities only receive additional government funding if they fall into a recognised disability category. As a result, schools and parents often come under pressure to obtain the “right” diagnosis for their child. Such misdiagnosis carries a hidden cost.

Brisbane oncologist James Morton — an authority on early intervention — told The Weekend Australian there is a “very real risk” the agency responsible for the NDIS will leave itself open to litigation if it can’t settle the parameters of early intervention.

“The academics and the funding providers need to sit down and do a workshop and fix this,” he said.

The autistic brain is a beautiful mess. There are more synapses in this lump of grey matter than in an ordinary brain. It’s these connections between the brain’s neurons — which regulate signals — that orchestrate the overwhelming sensitivity to outside stimuli.

Noises are louder, smells are stronger, touch is more invasive, light is brighter. For the autistic person, there is a pervasive intensity to the experience of the world around them that makes living in it that much more difficult.

PAEDIATRICIANS don’t necessarily follow guidelines for diagnosing autism, a lapse which may underpin Australia’s galloping increase in the disorder, an Australian study suggests. 

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common diagnoses made by paediatricians after ADHD and specific learning disorders, researchers say.

But their study confirms not all of the physicians adhere to diagnostic recommendations for autism more than 50% of the time. 

The article by Rick Morton (“Alarm at autism doctor shopping”, 19/1) provides evidence of the abuse of autism support schemes that Andrew Whitehouse says occurs only because parents seek the best for their child (“NDIS provides basis for streamlining autism diagnosis”, 19/1).