Autism news
Understanding the challenges of disability care
Wendy and Henry Ponsen with their son Jonathan.
By Robert Virtue (with Diane McCracken)
For 32 years, Wendy and Henry Ponsen have been dealing with the challenges of caring for a child with a disability.
The Ponsen family of Newcastle are up-front about the difficulties in raising a child with a disability.
Wendy and Henry have been caring for their six-foot tall, 32 year-old son Jonathan for all his life.
There've been ups and downs and a myriad of challenges along the way.
NDIS funding model ‘fails autistic children’
Sarah Martin, Political Reporter
Jedd (3) with behaviour therapist Stephanie Miller at the AEIOU Foundation, Huntfield Heights Centre.Source: News Corp Australia
SEVERELY autistic children are receiving less funding in trials of the National Disability Insurance Scheme than they were under previous funding arrangements.
Early intervention service provider the AEIOU Foundation, which set up in South Australia to test its viability under trials of the new national disability funding model, says it cannot operate effectively under the scheme.
AEIOU chief executive Alan Smith said it was able to provide only five days a fortnight of intensive therapy under the NDIS, compared with 10 days where the scheme was not yet in effect, in Queensland.
Programs for the 0.1 per cent of children with autism disorder require about $45,000 for each child, but the NDIS has set a benchmark payment of $16,000.
Michael Ormsby, the boy who died because we didn't do enough
Nine-year-old Michael Ormsby died while in state respite care. The Herald Sun's Ruth Lamperd investigates what went wrong.
BEFORE Michael Ormsby got into mischief, his big brown eyes would dob him in. They would start smiling and people knew he was up to something.
He'd wander off, out of sight, chuckling at his plans. Delighted at how clever he was.
He liked getting into strife almost as much as he loved oranges, the smell of eucalyptus and being king of the castle.
What about the mental health of kids with intellectual disability?
The mental health problems of children with intellectual disabilities are largely undiagnosed and untreated. SriHarsha PVSS/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA
Behavioural method is not an attempt to ‘cure’ autism
Julie with Jack in a film about Applied Behaviour Analysis.
Treetops School in Essex is a state school that uses ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) to educate children with autism. ABA has generated controversy and BBC4’s film, Autism: Challenging Behaviour, follows three-year-old Jack and four-year-old Jeremiah in their first term at the school.
ABA isn’t actually an autism treatment, although it can be used to make a positive difference. It can be applied at any age and not just with children with more severe autism. It’s also used in other areas of education and in health, and among other things good parenting uses its principles. ABA has been used to improve safety, train elite athletes and to increase productivity at work.