Roxanne Fitzgerald

Katherine is set to become part of the first evidence-based early intervention program for young children with Autism. 

Darwin based company, Early Start Australia, announced last week it would roll out the the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) for children with autism, as part of its overall service delivery.

For many young people, school can be a difficult place. And for some, it can be just about impossible. Negative experiences in school can have harmful long-term effects on pupils with autism spectrum conditions.

Official figures show that children, are increasingly being suspended or expelled from school because of “behavioural problems” – many of which include children on the autism spectrum. Some regions in the UK have experienced a 100% increase in these types of exclusions since 2011.

Kay Dibben

A FEMALE psychologist who was treating an autistic sexual abuse victim ending up having a sexual relationship with him.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal has heard that the psychologist, then in her early 30s, knew the 18-year-old, who had a mental age of a 13 or 14-year-old, thought she looked like his former special needs teacher who had had sex with him.

Despite the teenager developing an inappropriate personal interest in her, the psychologist did not refer him to another psychologist.

Shannon Hampton

A father who whipped his “severely autistic” son over the legs with a coathanger has been fined $1200 by a magistrate who said to use a weapon on his child involved “an appalling lack of judgement”.

Szu Sheng Lo, 41, admitted assaulting the 12-year-old after he had a “meltdown” at their in Canning Vale home in December.

The Armadale Magistrate’s Court was today told Lo hit his son on the back of his legs after he “took exception” to his instructions to change his shirt after a bike ride and before he went to church with his care workers.

Kathryn Bermingham

An Adelaide man who stabbed his autistic friend and decapitated a puppy during a “sadistic” crime spree has been jailed for at least three years.

James Alexander Rech, 20, was sentenced in the District Court on Friday for charges including assaulting police, aggravated assault and ill treatment of an animal on separate occasions in 2017 and 2018.

In sentencing, Judge Sophie David said Rech had repeatedly stabbed his housemate’s eight-month-old American staffordshire terrier in retaliation for an unpaid debt.

Kristen Hovet

An ACT study of mental health care provider organisations suggests the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is failing to achieve some of its core aims for persons with a lived experience of severe mental illness.

In a survey reporting on the transition to the NDIS, researchers from The Australian National University's Centre for Mental Health Research found the transition to individualised funding brought significant distress and uncertainty for care provider organisations in the mental health sector.