Stephanie Dalzell

Children with suspected disabilities are waiting up to a year for a diagnosis in parts of Sydney, leaving parents at "breaking point" and doctors accusing the NSW Government of dropping the ball.

 NICHOLETTE ZELIADT

Although the number of people diagnosed with autism is on the rise, the proportion with severe features has declined since 2000, according to a study of children in Western Australia¹.

3 February 2017

Families of young children with disability can continue accessing support and advice through the Australian Government’s early intervention programs until the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) reaches full scheme in 2019-20.

Emily Willingham 

In a strongly worded statement dated February 1, the board of directors of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) has expressed its “unanimous denunciation” of what it calls “restrictive immigration policies” as laid out in what is likely Donald Trump’s most controversial executive order (EO) to date. The complete text was posted to INSAR’s website January 31.

GEMMA Foxall and Liz Martin were teaching colleagues, then friends, then found out within a week of each other that their sons had severe autism.

Living in the relatively isolated town of Bunbury, three hours south of Perth, the two mothers quickly found they had to rely on each other even more.

They quickly discovered that without constant fighting on their part, simply living in regional Australia could be devastating for their children.

An autistic teenager, who studied at Hobart College last year, received his TCE in the mail only to be told a month later that it was a mistake and he hadn’t passed.

That was after a year of misinformation from the college, about whether Jacob O’Beirne would receive his tick for numeracy through a Ticket To Work program.

Parents of children whose federally funded support for autism therapy is set to expire are facing a frustrating reality.

Calla Wahlquist

Legal Aid Victoria finds residential care providers call police to deal with behavioural issues of children in their care

Children in group homes in Victoria are being charged with criminal damage and detained in custody for incidents as minor as breaking coffee cups and throwing a pen at an air-conditioning unit, a new report has found.

AAP

It would be wrong to infer that children with less severe symptoms do not have autism, says Professor Andrew Whitehouse from the Telethon Kids Institute.

The so-called 'autism epidemic' is due to an increase in the diagnosis of children with less severe behavioural symptoms, not because there are more children being born with the disorder, a new Australian study shows.

There has been a 20-fold increase over the past 30 years in the prevalence of autism, which is now thought to affect at least one per cent of the Australian population.

Sheshtyn Paola

WA researchers have shown the so-called “autism epidemic” is due to an increase in diagnosis – not vaccines

Professor Andrew Whitehouse, Head of Autism Research at the Telethon Kids Institute and lead author of the landmark Australian study, says that while the prevalence of autism has increased 20-fold over the past 30 years, the reason behind this has remained a mystery.