'The phrase that pays': Schools push parents of ADHD children to switch diagnosis

By bobb |

Caitlin Fitzsimmons

One in five parents of children with ADHD have been urged by their school to seek a different diagnosis as a means to gain funding for teacher's aides and other support for their child at school.

Teachers are pushing families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to try to obtain a diagnosis with better support in the school system – mainly autism, but also oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) or extreme anxiety. The national survey of 1184 parents of children with ADHD found 21 per cent had experienced pressure for "escalated diagnosis".

NDIS frustration for mum who asks Minister to attend meeting after [autistic] child denied wheelchair

By bobb |

A woman who says she has been denied a new wheelchair for her severely disabled daughter has invited her local MP — who is also the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme — to sit in on a meeting about the girl's needs.

Gold Coast resident Shannon Manning said seven-year-old Meadow had severe autism and required a wheelchair to go out in public, but had been knocked back because she was "not disabled enough".

Query: AAT internal review

By convenor |
Subject: Re: Response to your correspondence that was received by the Attorney-General, the Hon Christian Porter MP [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 15:53:45 +1000
From: Bob Buckley (A4 Convenor) <convenor@a4.org.au>
Organization: Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4)
To: Kate Lynch <Kate.Lynch@aat.gov.au>

Andrew Bolt's mocking of Greta Thunberg leaves autism advocates 'disgusted'

By bobb |

Australian News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt labels 16-year-old environmental activist ‘strange’ and ‘disturbed’

News Corp’s Andrew Bolt showed “absolute ignorance” when he mocked the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg in a column for the Herald Sun, an autism awareness advocate says.

The high-profile columnist for Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and Sky News commentator attacked the 16-year-old campaigner as “deeply disturbed”, “freakishly influential” and “strange” in the piece published on Wednesday.

partial commentary on NDIS deep dive into autism data - July 2019

By bobb |

Here is my quick/cursory commentary on the ASD data that the NDIS provided 30/7/2019.

This was the Agency's first "deep dive" into their data. Overall, I welcome this increased reporting on the NDIS. Reporting like this helps identify how the NDIS can improve outcomes for autistic Australians. Article 31 of the UN CRPD requires the dissemination of relevant statistics but other Articles of the Convention indicate the NDIS should consult better about what information is monitored and reported.

IT giant giving people with autism employment hope

By bobb |

There's a push in many Australian workplaces towards cultural diversity and gender diversity, but what about neurodiversity? A third of people on the autism spectrum are unemployed - more than six times the average. Now one of the biggest names in technology believes people with autism are an untapped resource of brains that think differently.

Transcript

LAURA TINGLE, PRESENTER: There's a push in many Australian workplaces towards cultural diversity and gender diversity but what about neuro diversity?

Treating suspected autism at 12 months of age improves children's language skills

By bobb |

Andrew Whitehouse; Kandice Varcin, and Kristelle Hudry

Therapies given to infants before they receive a diagnosis of autism may lead to important improvements in their language abilities, according to our new research published today in the journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.

Children with autism typically begin therapy after receiving a diagnosis, which usually doesn’t occur until at least two years of age.

However, our new study suggests that starting therapy with 12-month-old infants who show early behavioural signs of autism may provide additional benefit.

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