Media Release

BILL SHORTEN MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services
Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Australian Government has given its support to a National Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Register to better track the incidence of the condition in Australia.

Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, today announced the Register at the Asia Pacific Autism Conference 2009.

Verity Edwards, September 14, 2009, from: The Australian

A WORLD-FIRST study on siblings of children with autism is showing that signs associated with the behavioural disorder appear in babies in their first weeks of life.

The Flinders University research is the first of its kind to study the behaviour of infants who have an increased risk of developing autism from as young as 10 days, and to revisit the children every second month until they are 18 months old.

Stuart Rintoul | September 09, 2009, Article from:  The Australian

AN estimated 10 per cent of Australians, or two million people, suffered from two or more disabilities, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

...

Anna Patty Education Editor, SMH August 15, 2009

SCHOOL funding for students with special needs will be capped and no longer distributed according to the number of individual students, under NSW Department of Education proposals.

Principals and teachers are concerned that funding for students with autism and mental health disorders will be capped for the next three years at 2009 levels. The State Government plans to allocate grants based on the prevalence of disorders in the wider community.

THE Computer - aka Taylor Fry Consulting Actuaries - was disappointed in the performance of its AFL model this year. It now has experience over the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Last year, the model scored 128 points over rounds 1 to 22 compared with 117 this year. However, it is good news that the decline in its own performance is a win for charity. At the start of the season, Taylor Fry promised to donate to charity $500 for each tip it was behind the leader after 22 rounds.

THE person most qualified to help Ms Simonovska's autistic son (The Age, 22/8) learn to communicate is a speech pathologist. Having just qualified at the only university in the state that offers this course, I am less than optimistic about his chances of getting the help he needs and deserves. Funding the therapy is great: finding the therapist can be tricky.

JULIA MEDEW
August 22, 2009

Liljana Simonovska and her son Filip. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

LILJANA Simonovska wants nothing more than to hear her son Filip speak. In recent years, her five-year-old boy has blurted out odd words here and there, but none of them have ever really made sense.

JULIA Medew (The Age, 22/8) highlighted the need for speech therapy for children with autism. But speech therapy is an issue for all children with disabilities and their families. Children with autism actually have access to more than twice the funding for therapy than those with other disabilities.