Michael McDowell

The first national guidelines for diagnosing autism were released for public consultation last week. The report by research group Autism CRC was commissioned and funded by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in October 2016.

The NDIS has taken over the running of federal government early intervention programs that provide specialist services for families and children with disabilities. In doing so, they have inherited the problem of diagnostic variability. Biological diagnoses are definable. The genetic condition fragile X xyndrome, for instance, which causes intellectual disability and development problems, can be diagnosed using a blood test.

Autism diagnosis, by contrast, is imprecise. It’s based on a child’s behaviour and function at a point in time, benchmarked against age expectations and comprising multiple simultaneous components. Complexity and imprecision arise at each stage, implicit to the condition as well as the process. So, it makes sense the NDIS requested an objective approach to autism diagnosis.

Rick Morton

The first set of national standards governing the diagnosis of autism was released yesterday for public consultation, part of a years-long plan to eradicate big variances in methods and rates of the condition.

Lead researcher Andrew Whitehouse said he hoped the guidelines would be adopted nat­ionwide to standardise diagnostic methods and that one day they would become mandated.

Nance Haxton

National guidelines to help diagnose people with autism have been drafted for the first time in Australia by a team of experts.

The guidelines are the culmination of a year of research, and are designed to overcome the wide variation in diagnosis methods used between states and territories.

Nance Haxton

Up to three times more people with autism have special talents or "savant" abilities than previously thought.

Researchers from Autism Spectrum Australia have found that identifying and nurturing that special talent at an early age is crucial in ultimately helping people with autism find a meaningful job later in life.

Changing employers' perceptions of autism from focussing on the deficits to the advantages of being on the spectrum is also key.

the National Reporting Team's Alison Branley

A Sydney woman says her profoundly disabled brother could be left without a permanent home in three weeks because of serious flaws in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in New South Wales.

Benison O'Reilly

When my autistic son Sam was 14 I decided to send him to Africa. The objective of the journey was to take Sam out of his comfort zone and expose him to new experiences in the hope this would provide a boost to his communication and life skills and give him a shot in the arm of independence. His dad went with him.

Below is a link to a response on behalf of The Hon Christian Porter MP, Minister for Social Security, to A4's concerns about the lack of autistic representation on the NDIA's Independent Advisory Council (IAC).

The Government's response is very disappointing.

David Trembath

Last night’s ABC Australian Story episode featuring Sam and James Best’s journey through Africa illustrates the lengths parents will go to in supporting their children on the autism spectrum to reach their full potential.