AN AUTISM diagnosis is not a joyful thing.

I might even go so far as to call it a sad occasion.

If you listen to any autism parent talking about the day they learned what their little one had, crying is definitely mentioned.

It is as if a bird found out that one of its chicks is in fact a fish. Even if, for the sake of argument, we allow this fish the superpower of being able to breathe out of the water, the bird is still justified in being scared.

REGINA TITELIUS, Health Reporter, PerthNow

DAIRY farmers Belinda and Wayne Owston have had a long-standing romance with the Perth Royal Show.

They met at the Show in 2005, and when they married four years later, the maid of honour was a prize-winning Jersey cow, alongside a handsome Red Poll bull as the best man.

And now, with two young children, Jake, almost 3, and Bridgette, 5, the Owstons are making their annual trip to the Show to hopefully collect a few more ribbons for their stud beef and dairy cattle property at Whitby, near Mundijong.

Beth Saggers, Senior Lecturer - Education and autism , Queensland University of Technology

In our series, Better Teachers, we’ll explore how to improve teacher education in Australia. We’ll look at what the evidence says on a range of themes including how to raise the status of the profession and measure and improve teacher quality.

NICHOLETTE ZELIADT

Rachel Browne, SMH

A leading disability advocacy group has demanded the resignation of the chief executive of the country's largest autism service provider in the wake of a series of allegations about mistreatment of children in its care.

The call for Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) chief executive Adrian Ford to resign comes as state and territory ministers fail to agree on proposed safety and quality measures under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Louise Milligan

A Melbourne school for children with intellectual disabilities is under investigation after being accused of making one of its students sit outside on a beanbag for more than an entire term as a way of dealing with his challenging behaviour.

Georgina Mitchell, SMH

A school in Sydney's west has denied it repeatedly locked an autistic boy in a cage-like structure and left him there alone, despite the boy's mother saying she witnessed it happen and the boy describing how he tried to climb out.

Lynda Jordan said her son Toby, 13, who has a mild intellectual disability, was locked into the structure at the Aspect Macarthur School in Cobbitty whenever he had a "meltdown", a process which caused him significant distress.

A key support service for more than 2000 people affected by autism and Asperger's syndrome has been saved by a last-minute merger after funding changes sparked by the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme cast doubt over its future.

Autism Asperger ACT services are to be folded into a specialised autism unit run by Canberra-based organisation Marymead under a move hoped to bolster support for children and families.