Australian officials currently estimate that about one in 160 children are diagnosed with autism, but findings from two new studies suggest it is much more common.

It is not clear whether autism itself is on the rise, or whether better diagnosis is inflating the figures.

...

Researchers from Melbourne's La Trobe University studied 20,000 children as they grew from infants to toddlers.

They trained baby health nurses to pick up early signs of autism.

Dr Cheryl Dissanayake is one of the lead researchers.

Bruce Bonyhady | May 07, 2009

The Australian (see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25439463-32542,00.html)

AUSTRALIA'S disability support system is inequitable, fractured, under-resourced and slowly collapsing under the weight of its own inadequacies, while sub-optimally consuming billions of dollars of taxpayers' money each year.

• Paul Austin
• May 5, 2009

A $925 million social welfare package to help Victorians hit by the global recession will be a centrepiece of today's state budget.

...

The program, "A Fairer Victoria", is designed to help the state's most vulnerable citizens — including new migrants, Aborigines, families with disabled children and people with a mental illnesses — who are likely to suffer most as unemployment rises and the economy slows.

May 7, 2009 - 10:44AM

Young children with autism appear more likely to have enlarged amygdala - the part of the brain associated with registering faces and with expressing key emotions, according to a study released on Monday.

Described in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the study compared the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results of 50 autistic children and 33 control children.

The children's brain scans were taken at age two and again at age four.

Note: for an update, see the comment below ...

Article from: (see http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25419295-5001021,00.html)

By Jennifer Sexton

May 03, 2009 12:00am

• Studies could help in diagnosis and treatment
• Work 'moves research significantly ahead'

• Anna Patty Education Editor
• April 29, 2009

ELIZABETH GAWTHORNE has spent 11 years working with children at Marrickville High School yet is still classed as a temporary employee.

As a school learning support officer, she works alongside classroom teachers, helping children with special needs.

While satisfying, the job provides no security from one year to the next. Further training opportunities are limited.

"I have 11 years of experience and can be told I'm not wanted next year," she said.

from The Age, Letters

24/4/2009

from The Age

• Carol Nader and Farrah Tomazin
• April 22, 2009

Meredith Ward with her son Grant. Photo: Angela Wylie

GRANT can tell that he is different from the other kids he goes to school with. The 13-year-old has moderate autism, interfering with his ability to learn.

from The Age, Letters

ONLY parents of children with disabilities and their advocates would spot the irony in Bronwyn Pike describing students with disabilities with challenging behaviours as being "through no fault of their own" (The Age, 22/4). Ms Pike's descriptions seems to be at odds with typical school responses to these behaviours — detention/ suspension/expulsion.