A VICTORIAN school is facing a human rights complaint for reportedly suggesting an autistic pupil weeds and sweep footpaths as occupation therapy.

The family of Gabriel Eyre have told the Australian Human Rights Commission that Balnarring Primary School discriminated against the five-year-old prep boy.

Mum Mirinda Eyre said the school limited his attendance to less than four hours a day and regularly pulled him from the classroom.

She said the school also suggested he sweep paths and pull weeds as a form of push-pull occupational therapy.

John McLaughlin

There’s no single way to teach children with autism. Regardless of which method a school adopts, though, it’s no mystery what helps them to thrive: calm, not chaos, in the classroom; one-on-one attention from teachers, aides and therapists; lessons tailored to the individual child’s needs, whether that means learning not to bite or how to make eye contact while shaking hands; and the opportunity to regroup through soothing activities such as swinging, rolling on mats or listening to music.

The Joint Committee on the NDIS has started a new inquiry into the Provision of services under the NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention Approach.

The Terms of Reference and more information about the inquiry are available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus…;

Submissions to this inquiry are due by the 10^th August 2017.

The Committee is due to report by 6^th December 2017.

More and more is being done to raise awareness of mental health problems at a public and policy level, and understandably so. One in six adults in the UK has a common mental health condition, and one in

Newly created words are among entries in a Māori glossary for use in relation to mental health, addiction and disability issues.

Te Reo Hāpai - The Language of Enrichment - contains more than 200 Māori words, terms and whakatauki (proverbs).

Keri Opai, strategic lead for Te Pou o te Whakaaro Nui - the national centre of mental health research, information and workforce development - headed the development of the glossary.

He says it was evident there was no Māori equivalent for many words, such as autism.

• An eight-year-old boy with autism was locked in a plywood box to calm down
• The box had no windows, just a peephole, and measured eight cubic metres
• His mother, Melbourne woman Emily Dive, is suing the Department of Education
• Lachlan hasn't attended school in more than a year - he can't be accommodated
• Previously he was only permitted to attend school for two hours a day  

Amy English said it was a bitter-sweet moment when son, Alexander, who has Autism, no longer needed National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) support because he had achieved all his milestones and was now ready for school.

The mum of three, said while her and husband, Luke were ecstatic with their six-year-old’s progress they did shed some happy and sad tears.

“It was bitter sweet,” Amy confessed. “We were so happy Alex had reached all his milestones and we were self-sufficient, and it was a good feeling to think Alex no longer needed the $10,000 he had left in his budget and it would go towards helping somebody else. But at the same time, we felt a bit sad because it was like losing a family member. Alex’s occupational therapist (OT), Helen had been working with him for 18 months and she became so important to us.

Jill Slater

Waleed Aly has spoken openly about what it’s like raising a child with autism and why he thinks Pauline Hanson’s controversial suggestion that children with autism should be removed from mainstream classrooms won’t work.