Fabienne Cazalis, École des Hautes Études en sciences sociales (EHESS)

A single mother has called for a re-think of the National Disability Insurance Scheme after she was left without enough support to properly care for her severely disabled son.

Tammie Lansley, a volunteer firefighter from Sydney's west, has struggled every day for the past decade to care for her son Nathan Brincat.

Nathan, 13, has the mind and body of a toddler because of a debilitating genetic condition called mitochondrial disease.

Tammie fears she may have to see Nathan institutionalised.

Ryan Tennison, Shannon Deery

UPDATE: AN autistic teen missing for almost a week has been located safe and well.

Harrison Street, 16, hadn’t been seen since July 10 until he was located by police about 2.30pm today.

His brother Bryce, who was last seen on July 13 and who also has autism, remains missing.

But it is believed the 15-year-old, who has been missing since Thursday, was with his brother today and is safe.

Police launched a public appeal for assistance to help locate the two Sunbury teens.

MICK GRIMLEY

The prevalence of autism is rising and, increasingly, mental health conditions are affecting school-age children. Add to these statistics social disadvantage and specific learning differences to see today’s classroom is diverse, complex and challenging.

A VICTORIAN school is facing a human rights complaint for reportedly suggesting an autistic pupil weeds and sweep footpaths as occupation therapy.

The family of Gabriel Eyre have told the Australian Human Rights Commission that Balnarring Primary School discriminated against the five-year-old prep boy.

Mum Mirinda Eyre said the school limited his attendance to less than four hours a day and regularly pulled him from the classroom.

She said the school also suggested he sweep paths and pull weeds as a form of push-pull occupational therapy.

John McLaughlin

There’s no single way to teach children with autism. Regardless of which method a school adopts, though, it’s no mystery what helps them to thrive: calm, not chaos, in the classroom; one-on-one attention from teachers, aides and therapists; lessons tailored to the individual child’s needs, whether that means learning not to bite or how to make eye contact while shaking hands; and the opportunity to regroup through soothing activities such as swinging, rolling on mats or listening to music.

The Joint Committee on the NDIS has started a new inquiry into the Provision of services under the NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention Approach.

The Terms of Reference and more information about the inquiry are available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus…;

Submissions to this inquiry are due by the 10^th August 2017.

The Committee is due to report by 6^th December 2017.

More and more is being done to raise awareness of mental health problems at a public and policy level, and understandably so. One in six adults in the UK has a common mental health condition, and one in