Mary Ward

A teenage boy who went missing at Heatherbrae, near Port Stephens, on Tuesday night has been found after he attended his school in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday morning.

The boy made his way back to his school at Katoomba this morning, NSW Police said.

Shannon Jenkins

The New South Wales Public Service Commission has launched a pilot initiative designed to bring autistic and neurodiverse talents into state government agencies.

A partnership between the state government and the not-for-profit enterprise Specialisterne Australia, the Tailored Talent Program aims to address skill shortages in hard-to-fill public service roles such as cyber-security, software testing, data analytics, and coding.

Amelia Dunn

People with autism say they are often misunderstood by police as being suspicious or rude. One Australian organisation is hoping to change that. Being pulled over for a routine random breath test shouldn’t be a reason for anxiety.

But for Emma Gallagher, who has autism, interactions with police can become difficult, quickly.

“The way police communicate is not exactly developed for people like me,” the 31-year-old researcher from Sydney told SBS News.

Caitlin Fitzsimmons

 The NSW government has committed to trial giving schools disability funding on the basis of student need to reduce the prevalence of "diagnosis shopping".

The Sun-Herald reported in August that schools were pushing parents to obtain a diagnosis for their child that qualifies the school for extra funding to support the student with learning and behaviour.

Penelope Green

LARA Cheney was studying early childhood in the late '90s in Newcastle when one of her casual jobs made an impact.

"I was working at Newcastle Temporary Care, at a respite home, supporting children attend social clubs and in their homes, and for a while I had a boy who was about seven stay at my house on a Tuesday night," she recalls.

A spectacularly unhelpful response from NSW Government.

Lisa Wachsmuth

Just weeks after starting sessions at Wollongong's new early intervention centre, little Samson Howari stretched out his arms, looked his mum in the eye and asked for a cuddle.

For most parents of toddlers that's pretty cute - for the mother of a two-year-old with a severe level of autism, it was monumental.

Murray Trembath

Support is being sought from Sutherland Shire businesses to help equip a new primary school for children with autism at Loftus.

Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) has received conditional development approval for the school on the site that already includes a TAFE college and University of Wollongong campus and the Cook School for children with challenging behaviour.

"Aspect is planning a staged build to allow students to move in, while some building continues," a spokeswoman said.