Autism The Australian 4 March 2007

4 MARCH 2007

John Stapleton

MORE than 10,000 Australian children suffer from some form of autism, according to new research.

An exhaustive three year study, commissioned by the Australian Advisory Board on Autism Spectrum Disorders and funded by the Commonwealth Government, set out to determine exactly how many people suffer from autism in Australia.

The study, led by Perth paediatrician Dr John Wray, found that one in 160 Australian children aged between six and 12 years have some degree of autism - that is 10,600 children in that age group.

The report, The Prevalence of Autism in Australia: Can it be established from existing data? found that as many as 125,000 people in Australia suffer from some degree of autism. Given the difficulties faced by many families with a member suffering from autism, half a million Australians could be impacted.

The report is to be presented at the Biennial Australian Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders held on the Gold Coast later this month. It was compiled using diverse data sources including health departments and Centrelink, and is consistent with overseas findings on the prevalence of the disorder also known as Asperger syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

A significant proportion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed in their preschool years, usually when they are two or three years old. Others are not diagnosed until their primary school years. With a growing awareness of the disorder, an increasing number of adults are also being diagnosed for the first time, even though they and their family and friends have known they were ``different'' all their lives.

Advisory Board spokesman Mick Clark said the report provided an accurate sounding on the prevalence of autism related disorders for the first time. It found that that there are waiting times for diagnosis of up to 24 months across the country, with particular difficulties in rural and remote areas. He said diagnosis and assessment services varied between states and territories and a national approach was needed. Diagnosis was the critical starting point for families to access intervention support services which maximise positive outcomes for both the family and the child.

``In most cases, early intervention followed by schooling that uses autism-specific interventions can bring real improvement,'' Mr Clark said. ``We should act promptly  to give those who have an autism spectrum disorder the best chance in life.''

He said the report backed up the Advisory Board's call for early intervention for pre-schoolers and for them to be provided with a minimum of 20 hours of autism-specific early intervention and family support each week.

The report called for a national approach to data collection on autism and claimed privacy leglislation was a barrier to examining the validity of Centrelink diagnoses to determine whether the increasing number of people seeking funding for Autism and Asperger Disorder reflected a true increase in the incidence of the disorders.