16th Nov 2010

Fundamental changes are taking place in the area of mental health. Amanda Sheppeard looks at the top five controversies identified by leaders in the field. Amanda Sheppeard all articles by this author

THE EXPERTS

Professor Ian Hickie

Executive director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute, professor of psychiatry at the University of Sydney, and an NHMRC Australian Medical Research Fellow.

Professor Gordon Parker

Executive director of the Black Dog Institute, research director of the Mood Disorders Unit, and Scientia Professor at the University of NSW.

Jan McLucas, Jenny Macklin posted Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Today marks the two year anniversary of the Australian Government’s $190 million Helping Children with Autism package, an initiative aimed at providing early intervention services to children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In the two years since its introduction, more than 10,000 Australian children aged up to six years old have accessed more than 220,000 early intervention services through the Government’s autism package.

BY PHILLIP THOMSON 15 Oct, 2010

An inquest into the death of a profoundly autistic Canberra teenager at Canberra Hospital in 2008 has heard that a person may have committed an indictable offence that led to the tragedy.

NSW Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon yesterday suspended the inquest, which began at Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday, to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the person in question.

Jack Sullivan, 18, died on February 18, 2008, at Canberra Hospital.

The foreword to this report says "the value of informal care has increased to exceed $40 billion per annum in 2010, 33% higher than in 2005". It says this is based on $31 per hour replacement costs. Probably, some of the value is estimated based on conjugate/centre-based care - so better care would be more expensive.

This report is not autism/ASD specific ... but is contains valuable and relevant material.

Debra Jopson October 4, 2010

A researcher who has found strong evidence that autism is caused by mercury poisoning has been refused access to data that could point to emissions from coal-fired power stations.

The director of the Swinburne Autism Bio-Research Initiative, David Austin, said the data on autism incidence by postcode could quickly answer the question of whether mercury emissions from power stations are implicated in babies and infants developing the disorder.

Jewel Topsfield; September 15, 2010

VICTORIAN principals are fed up with monster workloads and the state government's failure to properly support students with disabilities.

Less than three months from a state election, a survey shows that principals' assessments of both the state government and the Education Department are the most negative since 2005.

Unsustainable workloads dominate their concerns about their personal situations - principals work an average of 59 hours a week - while the lack of resources for disadvantaged students is their chief gripe about their schools.

STUDENTS with intellectual disabilities are being "caged" inside a fenced-off area at a Hobart school in a security measure parents and advocates have slammed as inhumane.

There have also been reports of another Tasmanian school making its special-needs students wear bright red hats so they can be easily counted within the school yard.

Action for Tasmanian Autistic Children secretary Roger Law said several parents have complained to him about their autistic children who attend Howrah Primary School being confined at recess and lunch each school day in a fenced area away from the other children.

The school has about 10 students with special needs, mainly autism.

CARERS of children with autism and other intellectual disabilities have won the right to apply for disability parking permits thanks to a campaign by two northeast mums.

Helen Howson, of Modbury North, and Allison Dix, of Banksia Park who between them have three autistic boys successfully lobbied the Federal Government to have non-physical disabilities recognised in a new Australian Disability Parking Scheme.