Ehsan Knopf

A letter between a Queensland girl, born with autism, and her mother has gone viral just hours after it was shared to Facebook.

The letter, an exchange between seven-year-old Cadence and mother Angela, was written after Cadence - overwhelmed by negative news stories about children with autism - took shelter beneath her schoolteacher’s desk.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme's latest site in Sydney's west has been swamped with demand from children with disabilities, with more than twice as many applications than expected.

The National Disability Insurance Agency, which administers the scheme, estimated 167 young people would apply for support in the first month of the Nepean Blue Mountains program, which started in July.

Figures from the agency show almost 400 applicants were deemed eligible in the first month of the scheme, which is initially being offered to children and young people under 18.

Early intervention can play a vital role in the development and wellbeing of a child with Autism, but what is the cost and who will pay for it? Dr Nancy Sadka has some answers for parents and carers.

This sparklingly humane book makes the case that there is no such thing as neurologically ‘normal’

by Steven Poole

A boy with autism, who was often tied to a chair and expected to sleep upright, died after he was given a cold shower and allegedly put in very cold temperatures in a garden shed.

The boy's death on October 1, 2011, came after his parents turned to using ties and packing tape to restrain the boy as they "were not coping" with his behaviour, a court has heard.

The 11-year-old's mother is on trial in the Sydney District Court for the manslaughter of her son. 

Bill ​O'Chee

It is shocking to discover that children with disabilities are being disciplined using the same methods used by the CIA in the torture of suspected terrorists.

While the CIA's interrogation methods have attracted widespread condemnation, there has been but a muffled squeak over children with autism being locked in darkened rooms, cages or boxes in Australian primary schools.

A 16-year-old boy has been taken to hospital after being found chained to a bed in his family's Blacktown home.

The  teenager, who is believed to have autism, was found by a charity worker who had attended the home, police said.

He had allegedly been left in the house by himself and was chained to a bed in a back room of the small brick home.

Police and paramedics arrived at the Mort Street just after midday on Tuesday and freed the teenager before removing him from the home on a stretcher. 

Many children with autism are missing out on routine care such as dental check-ups and haircuts because of their condition, according to experts.

Telethon Kids Institute autism researcher Andrew Whitehouse said there were ordinary aspects of life that most people took for granted but could be highly challenging for children with autism.

Professor Whitehouse is speaking at an Autism West symposium being held in Fremantle tomorrow and Saturday.

Estimating autism’s prevalence is tricky. No strategy is perfect, so researchers rely on a combination of approaches, such as sweeping national surveys and smaller pockets of meticulous monitoring.

BY KATE YANDELL

Two massive efforts to sequence the DNA of more than 11,000 people are finally complete. Together, they provide the most detailed picture yet of genetic variation across the general population. They also give researchers a starting point for finding genetic variants tied to a variety of conditions, including autism.