Page 3290 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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autism spectrum and the impact of the NDIS on autism services. She did that on 16 May this year, and I will return to that in a few moments.
Autism spectrum disorder is primarily a disorder of social communication that is generally identified in young children from around two years of age. There are three main areas in which children on the autism spectrum have difficulties: social interaction, communication and associated behaviours such as rituals, obsessions and sensory issues. There are no firm conclusions that have been drawn, as I understand it, about the causes of ASD, but there is increasing evidence that the rate of autism is increasing in the community, with autism now affecting around one in 160 people, with a higher prevalence amongst boys than girls. There is no cure for those with ASD as such, but certainly evidence indicates that specific early intervention can bring improvements, and there is no doubt that a clear pathway for assessment, and then support and therapeutic input, is something that is highly valued by parents of children with ASD.
The nature of ASD in very young children often means that there a range of difficulties experienced that are language related, but also behavioural. There are also challenging behaviours for parents to manage—repetitive behaviours, rituals, poor play skills, obsession with objects or routines, and aversions to particular textures or tastes of food that make mealtimes difficult. It is little wonder that parents and carers need support and guidance.
While the finer details of intervention are not the same for every child, there is a broad suite of strategies that are considered to be a good place to start when commencing intervention. It is those things that mean that specific autism facilities can be established specifically geared to meet the communication needs of children with ASD.
Over the past two decades there have been significant changes to the services that are provided to children with ASD in Canberra as government has sought to respond to an increased number of children being diagnosed. The government has outlined the services that are now available in the paper that was tabled in the Assembly, but it is safe to say that 15 years ago most of the specific ASD services did not exist. The federal government’s funding, through the helping children with autism initiative announced in 2008, acknowledged this growing need in the community for support for access to early intervention and provided up to $12,000 per child once a diagnosis had been made. There are more community advocacy and support groups and, hopefully, a growing community awareness.
I assumed, when I saw this MPI today, that Ms Lawder was here to prosecute the case for an autism-specific school in the ACT, something that was confirmed by Mr Doszpot’s media release. I must admit to being slightly disappointed that Mr Doszpot has sought to politicise this issue in the way he has made his comments. I made it clear in my speech when we debated this in the Assembly recently that I was open to discussing this idea further, both with Mr Doszpot and with parents and autism advocates. However, there has been no approach to me in that regard since that debate.
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