THE NSW Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped investigations into the death of profoundly autistic Canberra teenager Jack Sullivan more than four years ago.

Almost two years since the case was passed to the DPP, the public prosecutor says it does not have enough evidence to press manslaughter charges against a person whose name has been suppressed.

Since Jack's death, his mother, Esther Woodbury, had assumed her son drowned in a bath after an epileptic seizure while in outside care.

By Louise Milligan
Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Why is the number of children with autism doubling every five years? For Louise Milligan, the quest for an answer is deeply personal.

There is no other way to describe the feeling, except to say I felt I had been shot. We were sitting in a psychologist's office, being told that our son, our delicious three-year-old boy, had an autism spectrum disorder.

By Emily Bourke

Thousands of Australian children with autism could miss out on government-funded support and services because of changes to the way autism is diagnosed.

The manual of medical disorders known as the DSM 5, used by psychiatrists around the world, is being updated.

The updated American guidebook for mental disorders is expected to be released in May next year, but already it has many people nervous.

THOUSANDS of children diagnosed with autism could lose access to thousands of dollars in federal support and other subsidies under changes planned for the manual of medical disorders used to guide psychiatrists worldwide.

Autism patient advocates say the first Australian research on the likely impact of the changes suggests 23 per cent of those who qualify as having a form of autism would no longer do so.

The Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, has developed an online resource for ASD students, parents, and tertiary staff. The website development was part of a larger project which aims to support tertiary students diagnosed with ASD.

Here’s the link: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/otarc/info/support

Briefly, each section contains the following information:
• Students: transition and orientation, disclosure, what to expect at university and TAFE, learning at university and TAFE.

Hamish Fitzsimmons

A leading expert on autism is warning of the long-term costs if funds to assist the education of children with autism spectrum disorder continue to be cut.

Researchers say autistic children who are bullied at school often do not receive any help until the abuse becomes physical.

A study of 50 autistic primary and secondary school students by Bond University on Queensland's Gold Coast has found 80 per cent of them have experienced bullying without their teachers knowing.

Dr Vicki Bitsika from the Centre of Autism Spectrum Disorders says it often takes a long time for a child with autism to realise they are being mistreated.

Parents are over-reporting anxiety in their children with autism, while bullying of children with autism at school is going unreported until it escalates, according to studies currently underway at Bond University’s Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Preliminary findings of the first study indicate that parents and care givers often mistake repetitive behaviours such as rocking and hand flapping as an indication that their children are experiencing high levels of anxiety.

The autism/ASD advocacy group, Speaking Out for Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Australian Capital Territory (SOfASD ACT) wrote to ACT political candidates asking about their policies and plans for people affected by autism. There is an election in the ACT in October and the group feels the ASD community in the ACT need to know what prospective governments plan to do to improve outcomes for people with ASD and their associates.

SOfASD asked specific questions about policy and plans for:

• diagnosis
• early intervention
• school age: education and other needs