By LIA SPENCER

A SPECIAL school in Casey has defended their methods of dealing with students who display challenging behaviours.

Several parents have pulled their students from Marnebek School in Cranbourne due to complaints about the school’s discipline policies and the “prison-like” outside settings.

One of the parents has taken her complaints to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on the grounds of discrimination, and use of seclusion and restraints.

By Maia Szalavitz / May 07, 2013

Just weeks before psychiatry’s new diagnostic “bible”—the DSM 5— is set to be released, the world’s major funder of mental health research has announced that it will not use the new diagnostic system to guide its scientific program, a change some observers have called “a cataclysm” and “potentially seismic.” Dr. Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute on Mental Health, said in a blog post last week that “NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories.”

The change will not immediately affect patients. But in the long run, it could completely redefine mental health conditions and developmental disorders. All of the current categories — from autism to schizophrenia — could be replaced by genetic, biochemical or brain-network labeled classifications. Psychiatrists, who are already reeling from the conflict-filled birth of the fifth edition of the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, are feeling whipsawed.

Insel, for his part, is lobbying for a more comprehensive approach. For scientific purposes, he argues, the DSM may have outlived its usefulness. He writes:

Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain… Imagine deciding that EKGs were not useful because many patients with chest pain did not have EKG changes. That is what we have been doing for decades when we reject a biomarker because it does not detect a DSM category. We need to begin collecting the genetic, imaging, physiologic, and cognitive data to see how all the data – not just the symptoms – cluster and how these clusters relate to treatment response…Patients with mental disorders deserve better.

By Loren Grush / Published May 21, 2013 / FoxNews.com

The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has arrived, and the latest changes have caused divisions among those in the psychiatric community.

Often touted as the psychiatrist’s “Bible,” the DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association and establishes the almost universal standard by which doctors classify, diagnose and ultimately treat mental disorders – making it an essential part of the psychiatric profession. The DSM is utilized not only by clinicians, but researchers and health insurance companies as well. Even government officials take interest in the DSM’s criteria in order to determine grant funding, insurance coverage and new health care policies.

The latest version is the DSM’s fifth edition, and it is the manual’s first major revision in nearly 20 years since the publication of the DSM-IV in 1994. The DSM-5’s release brings some radical new changes, which have been met with both praise and disgust from mental health professionals. Some of the most highly debated changes include the elimination of Asperger’s disorder and the addition of a few new controversial conditions such as cannabis withdrawal, gambling addiction and the highly contested disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMD).

So what do these changes mean for those currently dealing with mental health disorders? Read on to learn more about the DSM-5’s biggest changes and the possible impact they may have on mental health care.

Combination of autism spectrum disorders into single category

One of the most publicized changes in the DSM-5 involves grouping all of the subcategories of autism into a single category known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This move effectively eliminates previously separate diagnoses of autism – including autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive development disorder “not otherwise specified” (PDD-NOS).

Adults with autistic spectrum disorders are becoming sought-after recruits at a handful of companies where their intense focus, attention to detail and ability to think differently is valued.

REUTERS
Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 2:25 PM

Some employers are seeking out workers with autism in hopes that they will bring diverse thinking and problem-solving skills to the workplace.

Some call it neurological diversity, others see it as autism's fight back. People diagnosed as "on the spectrum" are suddenly in demand by employers seeking a competitive advantage from autistic workers more used to being considered disabled than special.

Expressing a belief that "innovation comes from the edges", German computer software giant SAP last month launched a recruitment drive to attract people with autism to join it as software testers.

A week later, U.S. home financing firm Freddie Mac advertised a second round of paid internships aimed specifically at autistic students or new graduates.

The multinationals both say they hope to harness the unique talents of autistic people as well as giving people previously marginalized in the workforce a chance to flourish in a job.

"Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st Century," SAP's board member for human resources, Luisa Delgado, said as she announced the plan.

By Stephanie Gotlib

The PM has delivered on Gonski's recommendations for a funding boost to students with disabilities. Money is necessary, but will only go so far - attitudes must change too, writes Stephanie Gotlib

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has called for early intervention for children with learning difficulties to be part of the national disability insurance scheme.

Mr Abbott says the federal opposition supports DisabilityCare Australia in principle, but wants more detail on the government's proposal.

Visiting an autistic childcare centre in Melbourne on Tuesday, Mr Abbott said early intervention education should be included in the scheme.

"I think all of us want to see centres like this supported through the national disability insurance scheme," he told reporters.

Hello there, I am looking to speak with students in the Albury-Wodonga region who would be in their final year of secondary education and looking to transition to employment. I am coordinating a pilot whereby a group of students from the region with ASD are actively engaged in paid employment whilst completing their final year of school.

To be eligible, students must:

ASHLEY HALL: While the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or DisabilityCare, now looks set to become a reality, New Zealanders in Australia claim it discriminates against them.



Australian residents from across the ditch have a unique migration status which requires them to pay taxes, including the increased Medicare levy, which will be used to fund the insurance scheme.



But they won't be eligible for benefits under the scheme.



Simon Lauder reports.

ONE grey, rainy London day, my 11-year-old son arrived home from school with his shirt torn and hair matted. There was a sign sticky-taped to his back. It read: "Kick me, I'm a retard." I ripped it off in fury as a tidal wave of frustration and pity surged through me. "The other kids called me a moron," he whispered, his wide blue eyes filling with tears. "What does that mean? Am I a moron, Mum?"

Trying to protect a child with special needs from being bullied is like trying to stop ice melting in the desert. There were calls to the school, meetings, promises of closer scrutiny in the playground. But basically, when it comes to defeating bullying -- particularly when your child is an obvious target -- a parent might as well be standing up to Voldemort with a butter knife.