Anna Patty, State Political Reporter

CHILDREN with autism are being inappropriately suspended from school, forcing their parents to abandon their jobs to care for them, research has found.

Karen Bevan, the director of social justice at UnitingCare, whose research found school long-term suspensions have increased by more than a third over the past six years, said children with autism are among those being suspended.

BRUCE MCDOUGALL The Daily Telegraph November 05, 2012

Katrece Burns with her eight-year-old son Ethen. She has lost count of the times Ethen has been suspended from school. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph

Andrew Stevenson
October 26, 2011

THE number of children in NSW public schools with autism is nearly four times higher than it was just eight years ago, placing a significant strain on the Education Department budget.

Figures released by the department yesterday show that in 2003 slightly more than 2000 students across the state had been diagnosed with the disorder; this year some 8400 students have been diagnosed.

From The Daily Telegraph, July 20, 2011

• Students with autism up 165 per cent over eight years
• Rates of other mental health diagnoses up by 75
• Autism attracts more funding, more assistance

SOME parents and doctors are colluding to deliberately misdiagnose school children as autistic so they can get help for other problems, a medical professional claims.

Parents are seeking the autism "label" because funding for the condition has increased and more assistance is available for autism than for other conditions.

PARENTS of disabled students are taking the Education Department to court alleging discrimination, saying their children are being punished for their disability by being suspended from school.

One boy from Wagga Wagga, with a mild intellectual disability and emotional disorder, was suspended three times for a total of 80 days as an eight-year-old. He is now 10 and his mother last month filed a $50,000 damages claim against the department in the Federal Court.

A BLOWOUT in the number of autistic students at NSW public schools may have been triggered by doctors misdiagnosing children to secure extra funding.

Department of Education figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph show one in 74 students at state schools is autistic despite the accepted Australian prevalence being one in 160.

The state government spends more than $1.1 billion each year on students with disabilities.

Doctors say the only way to secure extra funding for children who are borderline cases or who have learning difficulties is to stretch the diagnosis.

BY ALISON BRANLEY

Forget bus stop seats, a Raymond Terrace man is selling advertising space on his skin in an effort to raise $1 million.

Tim Christian, 26, said every square centimetre of his body was up for grabs by businesses looking to get their brand permanently tattooed on his walking billboard.

The father-of-three is doing it to raise money to improve Hunter autism services after struggling to get help for his four-year-old son, Connor.

Louise Hall, September 30, 2010

A MOTHER who raised serious concerns about the care of her intellectually disabled daughter at a group home was taken to the Guardianship Tribunal where the state government tried to strip her parental rights.

Documents obtained under freedom of information show disability bureaucrats tried to portray the mother as mentally ill and unfit to make decisions about her daughter, then 19.

HEATH GILMORE, July 26, 2010

AUTISTIC children are being forced into mainstream classes because of a lack of places in specialised learning groups in NSW schools, an inquiry has heard.

The families and teachers of autistic children have complained to the NSW parliamentary inquiry about the failure to provide an adequate number of places, despite a sharp increase in students diagnosed with learning problems.

PAUL BIBBY, March 20, 2010