Karen R Fisher, UNSW; Erin Louise Whittle, UNSW, and Julian Norman Trollor, UNSW

Jen Monnier

In 1987, psychologist Ole Ivar Lovaas reported that he had created a therapy that would make the behavior of some autistic children indistinguishable from that of typical children by 7 years of age¹. His approach, applied behavioral analysis (ABA), involves hours of drills each day, in which children are rewarded for certain behaviors and discouraged from others.

William Clarke, 22, may live with autism and have a limited vocabulary but he is inspiring communities and around the world with his achievements.

It comes as people around Australia help him creatively paint crickets bats and paddles for sale at a growing number of exhibitions.

Captain Quirk

Prepare yourselves. This article’s a big one.

Three years ago, back when Autistic Not Weird’s Facebook page “only” had 7,000 followers [all links open in new windows, by the way], I ran an autism survey. It was a laborious but rewarding task, and I was surprised it got as many as 477 responses.

Ellen Coulter

A mother in northern Tasmania has raised concerns about the standard of training for teachers working with children who have disabilities, saying her daughter, who has autism, was traumatised and teased after being placed in an open box in her classroom.

ANNE Hegerty aka The Governess from The Chase has opened up about having Asperger’s syndrome.

The quiz show star, 60, was officially diagnosed in 2005, two years after first suspecting she might have the condition.

“I think that I saw a documentary on TV (about Asperger’s) and there was just something about it that rung bells in my brain,” Hegerty said on UK TV show Loose Women. “I remember in my diary writing, ‘I’m beginning to suspect again that I have Asperger’s syndrome.’”

Ellen Coulter

A mother in northern Tasmania has raised concerns about the standard of training for teachers working with children who have disabilities, saying her daughter, who has autism, was traumatised and teased after being placed in an open box in her classroom.

Michael Vincent

For some parents of children with autism their greatest fear is how to prepare their child for adult life.

Even simple communication can be a struggle.

"As a parent all you can hope is they're able to cope in the world," Brooke Vujeviks said.

When her son Jordan started high school "he literally walked in the door and looked at the ground — barely any eye contact".