BEFORE Michael Ormsby got into mischief, his big brown eyes would dob him in. They would start smiling and people knew he was up to something.

He'd wander off, out of sight, chuckling at his plans. Delighted at how clever he was.

He liked getting into strife almost as much as he loved oranges, the smell of eucalyptus and being king of the castle.

The mental health problems of children with intellectual disabilities are largely undiagnosed and untreated. SriHarsha PVSS/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

Treetops School in Essex is a state school that uses ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) to educate children with autism. ABA has generated controversy and BBC4’s film, Autism: Challenging Behaviour, follows three-year-old Jack and four-year-old Jeremiah in their first term at the school.

ABA isn’t actually an autism treatment, although it can be used to make a positive difference. It can be applied at any age and not just with children with more severe autism. It’s also used in other areas of education and in health, and among other things good parenting uses its principles. ABA has been used to improve safety, train elite athletes and to increase productivity at work.

EXCLUSIVE

Children with dyslexia and autism could receive assistance at Victorian schools for the first time under an Andrews government, with Labor to announce it would review the controversial funding system.

A Labor government would introduce sweeping disability reforms after reports by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and Auditor General revealed the education system was failing students with disabilities.

Labor will announce on Wednesday that if elected it would:

Education Authorities in Victoria persist with inappropriate methods for children with special needs. Previous reports are here and here. Disability advocates may have delayed the latest expansion accordingf to the story below, but for how long?

Agency pulls ad for school aides with martial arts training

August 13, 2014

Henrietta Cook, State Political Reporter at The Age

Private colleges signing intellectually disabled students despite capacity to repay debts

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Private colleges are signing up vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities for expensive government training loans.

Their high needs also mean that they're unlikely to finish and earn enough money to re-pay the debt.

It comes after the ABC reported last week that some recruiters and colleges had been going door-to-door in public housing areas to boost enrolments.

Claire Aird reports.

Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre manager Kathryn Fordyce spends one-on-one time with Jethro Goodwin, 5. Picture: Grant Wells.

By EMILY WOODS, Oct. 10, 2014.

THE only regional autism early learning centre in Australia is at risk.

There are questions around continued government funding of the Burnie Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre [ASELCC] and the Burnie City Council has confirmed it cannot continue its support of the centre.

‘‘It’s a really tight fiscal environment and you don’t know what might get the chop,’’ ASELCC manager Kathryn Fordyce said.

Research into the success of the centre over the four-year period of federal funding is being undertaken by the University of Tasmania Rural Clinical School, but it looks like the research may not be completed in time to influence the government’s decision.

‘‘The timing is not great in terms of using the data from the research to influence the government’s decision,’’ Ms Fordyce said.

‘‘We’re due for review in June 2015, we would expect that they’re going to make a decision on the service before we’ve got any results of our study, unfortunately.’’

Ms Fordyce said the positive feedback they had received from families, schools and the education department proved that ‘‘the service provides such a critical support to families’’.

Part of the movable feast that is Canberra's Franklyn B Paverty

Well known Australian bush band Franklyn B Paverty celebrated its 40th anniversary with a fundraising performance at one of Canberra’s original hotels this week.

Paverty returned to its spiritual home, the Ainslie Hotel, more recently known as Olims and now the Mercure, for a performance in front of diehard fans, with proceeds going to Autism Asperger Advocacy Australia.

Paverty’s bass player of the past 14 years Bob Buckley is convenor of the volunteer advocacy group, so what better cause could there be?

The band has recorded and performed around Australia – from the opening ceremony for the new Parliament House in Canberra to music festivals nationwide.