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What happens when people with autism grow old?

By bobb |

Rebecca Ann Charlton, Goldsmiths, University of London

If you mention autism to most people they will think about children, but it is a lifelong diagnosis. Children with autism grow up to be adults with autism. Little is known about how the symptoms change with age. This is because autism is a relatively new disorder, first described in 1943 and not regularly identified until the 1970s. It is only now that those people first diagnosed are reaching older age that we can start to learn whether the disorder changes over a lifetime.

There have been some suggestions that symptoms may reduce as people get older. These reports, describing fewer difficulties with older age, are often from people with autism themselves and from their families. But how much evidence is there for this? Our latest research provides some answers, and also raises some new questions.

Older parents at higher risk of having children with autism

By bobb |

Jill Margo

Parents who reproduce later in life are more likely to have children who develop autism disorders, according to a large Danish study.

Over the past 30 years numerous studies assessing the effect of late reproduction have produced variable results, often due to substantial differences in study design.

Now researchers from the Copenhagen Centre for Social Evolution have used a very large sample to try to settle the issue.

They conducted a deep analysis of 1.7 million children born in Denmark between 1978 and 2009.

NDIS backs study seeking uniform autism diagnoses

By bobb |

A detailed commentary on this article is provided below ... 

Autism diagnoses will be subject to the first nationally consistent set of standards to iron out “substantial” variability in medical approaches which has contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of people, especially children, being treated for the condition.

The number of people diagnosed with autism in Australia ­almost doubled between 2003 and 2006, and has doubled every three years since, to 115,000 in 2012. New data, when it is finalised, is expected to show that more than 230,000 have autism.

The $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme with the Co-operative Research Centre for Living with Autism — a conglomerate of institutions — commissioned a study which will inform new guidelines, led by University of Western Australia professor Andrew Whitehouse.

Australia’s First National Guideline for Autism Diagnosis

By bobb |

A major study has been launched to develop Australia’s first national diagnostic guideline for autism led by The Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC).



There is strong evidence of substantial variability in autism assessment processes between clinicians, between states and between rural and metropolitan areas. This is leading to delays in diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and inequity in access to services.



'Sex education leaves children with autism open to exploitation', warns Cambridge academic

By bobb |

Children with autism are left vulnerable to exploitation by sex education lessons in schools, a Cambridge specialist has warned.

Psychologist Steven Stagg, of Anglia Ruskin University, has called for specialist sessions for pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), after a study found they were in dire need of extra support.

Paediatrician who hogtied seven-year-old beats assault charge

By bobb |

A GOLD COAST paediatrician who hogtied a seven-year-old patient has been acquitted of assaulting the boy on appeal.

Neville Goodwin Davis was last year found guilty in Southport Magistrates Court of assaulting the child during an October 2012 consultation during which he tied the boy up with rope.

Dr Davis specialised in behavioural conditions and had been consulted by the boy's mother to see if he had Asperger Syndrome.

He said he initially tied the boy to a chair to occupy him so he could talk to the mother

NDIS verdict: daunting but worth it

By bobb |

Rachel Browne 

In most ways, Jordanne Taylor is a typical year 9 student. The 15-year-old loves dancing, cooking and spending time with girls her own age, watching movies and just hanging out.

Until recently, these simple activities were not always easy to organise for Jordanne, who has a mild intellectual disability and is on the autism disorder spectrum.

So when the National Disability Insurance Scheme became available, Jordanne's mother Debra Taylor immediately realised the potential it could unlock for her daughter.

Outrage as autistic boy is chained to a chair using a weighted belt and ankle straps during school lessons to 'keep him under control'

By bobb |
  • Mother claims her autistic son is restrained at NSW Mid North Coast school
  • The mother posted pictures of the chairs and complained on Facebook
  • She said the boy, aged six, is locked into a chair with a weighted seat belt
  • The chair also has ankle straps and a box to restrain his feet
  • He also allegedly is put in a 'weighted vest' during class-time
  • The boy suffers non-verbal autism and intellectual impairment, she said

Mum Julia Coorey on surviving an autism diagnosis and importance of early diagnosis

By bobb |

AN AUTISM diagnosis is not a joyful thing.

I might even go so far as to call it a sad occasion.

If you listen to any autism parent talking about the day they learned what their little one had, crying is definitely mentioned.

It is as if a bird found out that one of its chicks is in fact a fish. Even if, for the sake of argument, we allow this fish the superpower of being able to breathe out of the water, the bird is still justified in being scared.

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