by Virginia Hughes

Imagine you walked down the street and asked random people what autism is. What would they say? My guess: They’d talk about social skills, and the rising prevalence, and probably the vaccine nonsense. And they’d almost certainly mention that it happens to boys.

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Kyan O'Regan and his mother Jaime O'Regan at the opening of the John Villiers Centre of Excellence for the early intervention of Autism.

Lee Constable

AUTISM can be tough for anyone to deal with but a new centre in Mackay is helping make things a little easier.

By MADDIE WINES July 11, 2014

LEAD: Rebecca Kelly and former governor-general Quentin Bryce at the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Twenty Years Twenty Stories launch last year.

By Richard Hooper Face the Facts, BBC Radio 4

Children with autism are "falling prey to untested approaches" to the disorder, a leading charity has said.

The National Autistic Society said therapies with no supporting evidence were being sold to parents.

The warning comes after a BBC investigation found the use of dietary supplements and biomedical therapies being widely touted as a treatment.

There is no cure for autism and current best practice involves the use of behavioural and educational therapies.

BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts programme found that treatments, for which medicines regulator NICE says there is no clinical evidence, are readily available in the UK including:

Autism doesn't go away when you turn 18, and with scant services available, these adults often struggle most when it comes to finding a foothold in the workplace.

Relying heavily upon the expert testimony of a noted behavior analyst in the context of a hearing held in the federal district court under the Hague Convention, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held that, despite a father’s wishes in an international custody dispute, a young boy with “severe” autism may remain in the United States with his mother and his brother so that he might continue to receive ABA therapy and thus avoid the “grave risk of harm” that he would face if he were to return to Italy, a country where such services are not readily available.

By Charlotte King

A study has been released suggesting the pressures being faced by regional and rural families caring for a child with autism are greater than those in metropolitan areas. 

Carers and their families are fundamental to the quality of life for people living with autism, yet the far-reaching impact of this job can be overlooked.