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NDIS funding model ‘fails autistic children’

By bobb |

Sarah Martin, Political Reporter

Jedd (3) with behaviour therapist Stephanie Miller at the AEIOU Foundation, Huntfield Heights Centre

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.

Death of autistic boy at Kyneton a 'tragic accident', coroner rules

By bobb |

By Stephanie Corsetti

The death of a central Victorian autistic boy under Department of Human Services care was a tragic accident and not the result of a lack of care, a coroner has found.

Michael Patrick Ormsby, 9, died in 2010 when he ran away from his carer at Kyneton and was struck by a car.

In November 2009 DHS requested the child attend weekend respite care after the school week.

Michael Ormsby, the boy who died because we didn't do enough

By bobb |

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.

Behavioural method is not an attempt to ‘cure’ autism

By bobb |

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.

Victoria state election: Labor promises help for students with autism and dyslexia

By bobb |

EXCLUSIVE

Children with dyslexia and autism could receive assistance at Victorian schools for the first time under an Andrews government, with Labor to announce it would review the controversial funding system.

A Labor government would introduce sweeping disability reforms after reports by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and Auditor General revealed the education system was failing students with disabilities.

Labor will announce on Wednesday that if elected it would:

Education Victoria and "martial arts therapy" for "special students"

By bobb |

Education Authorities in Victoria persist with inappropriate methods for children with special needs. Previous reports are here and here. Disability advocates may have delayed the latest expansion accordingf to the story below, but for how long?

Agency pulls ad for school aides with martial arts training

August 13, 2014

Henrietta Cook, State Political Reporter at The Age

market forces on the loose in the disability sector - economic ideology clashing with morality

By bobb |

Private colleges signing intellectually disabled students despite capacity to repay debts

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Private colleges are signing up vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities for expensive government training loans.

Their high needs also mean that they're unlikely to finish and earn enough money to re-pay the debt.

It comes after the ABC reported last week that some recruiters and colleges had been going door-to-door in public housing areas to boost enrolments.

Claire Aird reports.

flawed NDIA approach implicitly blames parents for autism

By bobb |

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) adopted a flawed approach that blames parents implicitly for their child's autism and poor long-term outcomes. The NDIA is charged with funding early intervention for children with disability … and “disability” includes autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The NDIA's Operational Guideline – Access – Early Intervention Requirements can be downloaded here.

As well as describing the NDIA's eligibility criteria for ASD as gobbledygook (see here), community members regards the NDIA's approach to Early Intervention for children with ASD as flawed. The NDIA adopted the “Seven Key Principles” approach described in a document from a “Workgroup on Principles and Practices in Natural Environments” (see download page here)

There are strong feelings in the the ASD community that the principles the NDIS suggest/adopted are dangerous, misleading and offensive. The NDIA's early intervention principles ignore the relevant science and deny children effective treatment for their ASD. Clearly, the principles were written by someone/persons who are not informed about intervention, treatment or the science of intervention for ASD. Members of the ASD community are deeply disappointed that this document is used as the NDIA's official position on early intervention related to ASD.

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