Schools are struggling with a threefold rise in the number of stud­ents with autism spectrum disorders, sparking state demands for extra federal funding.

The number of autistic children in West Australian public schools has more than trebled in eight years, to 4000 stud­ents. In NSW, the nation’s biggest public schooling system, teachers are dealing with 14,000 students diagnosed on the autism spectrum — a 160 per cent increase since 2008.

A4 send a submission to the United Nations for its preparation of a General Comment on the Rights of Adolescents. A4's submission focused on adolescents with ASD.

Use the link below to download A4's submission. 

Here is a personal letter from Bob Buckley to the Executive Officer of Children with Disability Australia (CDA) ...

Dear Ms Gotlib,

I am disappointed by the position you take in the article Inadequate system failing students with disabilities (9 Apr 2015).

While the item says:

Nicky Phillips Science Editor

A study has found children with autism face up to a 4-year delay in their diagnosis. Photo: Supplied

By Sacha Payne

Disability advocates say revelations of a cage built for an autistic child at a Canberra school are just the tip of the iceberg.

The Principal of the school, which cannot be named due to privacy reasons, has been stood down as an investigation is launched.

The cage at the Canberra school was exposed following a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Images obtained by SBS show what some schools use as so-called withdrawal areas for autistic children.

In the wake of revelations an autistic Canberra student was confined in a cage-like structure, former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes says such abuses are widespread and has called for a broad inquiry into the treatment of children with disabilities in the nation's schools.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten immediately backed Mr Innes' call, declaring: "we cannot assume this is a one off case".

Mr Innes, who served as the nation's disability discrimination commissioner from 2005 until last year, said such "appalling" incidents were not confined to the ACT.

Children in classrooms being locked away. Coming home from school with  bruises from being physically restrained. 

It's a horror you might read about happening in some awful foreign town. But it happened here, in Australia. In NSW.