Cathy O'Leary

Like any mother, Christina Holly wants her daughters to do their best at school.

The fact that 12-year-old Jasmine has autism does not change that but it means she needs extra help, and sometimes that is not possible in a regular classroom.

The Year 6 student struggles with literacy and numeracy, and that is when her teachers make the call she is better off in the nearby special education unit.

Mr Bob Buckley

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4)

convenor@a4.org.au

Dear Mr Buckley

Thank you for your email of 6 October 2016 to the Chief Executive Officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency (the Agency), Mr David Bowen, about the Agency’s Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) approach for autistic children. Mr Bowen has asked me to respond on his behalf. I apologise for the delay in responding.

JON WERTHEIM AND STEPHANIE APSTEIN

SI's Jon Wertheim explores the growing intersection between sports and autism on Showtime’s 60 Minutes Sports, airing Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Showtime.

ASHLEIGH GLEESON, The Daily Telegraph

AUTISTIC students are being forced to miss huge amounts of class time with hundreds of suspensions dished out at NSW schools every day, according to several mothers of autistic children.

The mother of an eight-year-old autistic boy in Western Sydney missed a whopping 43 days of school in the first half of this year, while another mum said her six-year-old received a 15-day suspension when he reacted to a teacher wrongly restraining him.

Amelia Hill

Miki Perkins

When Jessica Eshel heard a new national disability scheme was coming, she vowed to advocate on behalf of her sister Antonella, 41, who has an intellectual and other complex disabilities.

She pored over NDIS brochures, went to information sessions and spoke to the carers at Antonella's group home about the kind of support she needed to live a full, happy life.

State, families cry foul over funding

Ashley Argoon

ALMOST $6 million has been stripped from the trouble-plagued National Disability Insurance Scheme in its rollout in Victoria, the State Government has claimed.

The families of Victorians with disabilities have accused the Commonwealth of harmful cost-cutting and of treating their vulnerable loved ones “appallingly”.

Parents are outraged children with special or behavioural needs at Lightning Reef Primary School have been put into a new “naughty-naughty classroom” and can no longer have play breaks with other students.

The parents say their children were exposed to violence when the new arrangements started this week.

At least one family has withdrawn their daughter from the school, saying she was “too scared” to return to the classroom.

Sarah Boseley Health editor

Symptoms improve after parents are trained to better understand and interact with preschool children, researchers say.

A new form of therapy has for the first time been shown to improve the symptoms and behaviour of autistic children, offering a potential breakthrough in care for millions of families.

Experts tell Darwin hearing that ‘again and again’ they find people who felt encouraged to serve brief jail time rather than claim they were unfit to plead