Annah Fromberg

Laura Ferris was just six when she moved from interstate to attend Tasmania's Giant Steps school which had a growing reputation for its work with autism disorder.

The not-for-profit independent school was founded in 1995 by a group of dedicated parents and local community supporters who were committed to ensuring specialised education for children on the autism spectrum.

The mother of an autistic teenager who is being held in an adult mental health ward at the Launceston Hospital since March says he has been held with adults at times and that health staff has suggested he could be moved into youth detention.



The parents sought help for the child who was self-harming and the state government is now modifying a group home so that the teenager can he held in care. 

from http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2016/s…

Tamara McDonald

Tasmania has the highest rate of people living with autism in Australia.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data for 2015, released on Wednesday, showed an estimated 1 per cent of the population in both Tasmania and South Australia had autism, the country’s highest rate.

The lowest was 0.5 per cent in Western Australia.

An autistic teenager, who studied at Hobart College last year, received his TCE in the mail only to be told a month later that it was a mistake and he hadn’t passed.

That was after a year of misinformation from the college, about whether Jacob O’Beirne would receive his tick for numeracy through a Ticket To Work program.

The centre behind an successful early intervention program for autistic children in Tasmania's north-west hopes to expand its services to other parts of the state.

University research has found children at the Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre in Burnie have experienced big improvements.

Data collected from 98 children over four years showed most had improved in behaviour, communication, language development and motor skills.

The centre has been running for the last six years and is the only regional autistic learning centre in Australia.

The following is the current editorial in the Newsletter issued monthly by ATAC  [Action for Tasmanian Autistic Children].  ATAC  was established to provide free advocacy for all those who have difficulty with government and other bureaucratic bodies when they want to gain services for members of their families who are on the spectrum.  Another key function of ATAC  is to fight for the  recognition of Autism as a brain disorder based in neurol

The Tasmanian Government will investigate claims an autistic child was left isolated and unsupervised in a classroom for days on end.

Seika Purdy said she found her autistic daughter Jordan asleep, alone and unsupervised at a primary school in Tasmania's south last week.

Ms Purdy claimed it had been happening for about two weeks, after an incident of alleged bullying involving another student.