LONDON

6/04/2009 12:00:00 AM

Children who live in homes with vinyl flooring have double the chance of being autistic, research has discovered.

The finding which amazed even the scientists conducting the study provides one of the first clues as to a possible cause of the condition.

The study, by scientists in Sweden, Denmark and the United States, stumbled across the connection almost by accident.

It is being taken seriously because autism has long been thought to result from environmental factors.

Danny Rose
April 6, 2009

A visiting US autism expert says that while the disorder has no cure, many children with it can be taught to be so "functional" they overcome its most incapacitating features.

The key, says Dr Richard Solomon, is for parents of autistic children to intervene early with sensory-focused play which, he adds, may at first feel counter-intuitive.

DEBORAH SNOW
6/04/2009 12:23:30 AM

SOME of Sydney's wealthiest private schools will receive handouts of up to $200,000 each to refurbish already lavish sporting and arts facilities, under the first leg of the Federal Government's National School Pride program unveiled yesterday.

The federal Education Minister, Julia Gillard, said more than 2000 NSW schools would receive grants totalling $277.5 million to be spent on "maintenance and minor building works".

...

March 30, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

Let down by politicians, burnt out from battling an impossibly unwieldy system, the parent carers of Australia's disabled have reached breaking point, writes Sue Corrigan.

MICHAEL FIELD
24/03/2009 12:53:00 PM
TelstraClear, Telstra's New Zealand subsidiary, has hired one of the worlds best known hackers - a teenager known as "Akill".

Nineteen-year-old Owen Thor Walker became the subject of a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cyber crime investigation spanning the United States, Europe and New Zealand and dubbed "Bot Roast".

New Zealand police finally caught him last year and he admitted to being the ring-leader, code-named Akill, of a group known as the A-Team.

• Carol Nader
• March 18, 2009

POLICE are investigating an allegation that a 12-year-old boy raped an eight-year-old autistic boy living in the same house while they were in the care of the state.

A Coroner's report details massive systemic failure in the mental health system.

The mental health system denied services for, Rowan Wheaton, a young man with fatal mental health issues, because he was also diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder. The Coroner's report can be downloaded here.

Media reports can be found at: