TV program equips doctors with the skills needed to begin tackling autism
August 17, 2006In order to better equip rural and remote health professionals across Australia with the information and skills they need, the Rural Health Education Foundation will re-broadcast its Learning Difficulties and Child Behaviour: Autism Spectrum Disorder program, presented by a panel of experts, on Tuesday 12 September 2006.
“Autism” is a word parents dread hearing but faced with a child with this disturbing developmental disorder, being able to get an early diagnosis and then treatment is a crucial factor in effectively tackling what is an increasingly common brain development disorder.
Late diagnosis
Today, despite the fact that signs may be obvious before the child reaches their first birthday, most children with an autism spectrum disorder are not being diagnosed until they’re three years old.
Part of the problem is that autism is a brain disorder that is not very well understood and the disorder seems to manifest itself differently in different children. Typically, autism appears in a child’s first three years of life. That is when parents find that their child cannot develop normal social relationships, use language properly (or not speak at all), exhibits compulsive or ritualistic behaviour or may fail to develop normal intelligence.
Experts now recognise autism occurs in one in every 153 people, with males up to four times more likely to be affected than females. Symptoms range from mild to severe and may result in a child not being able to function independently in school or society.
Addressing the burden on families
According to one program panellist, Ms Judy Brewer Fischer, Chair of the National Family Carers Voice (NFCV) and the parent of an 11-year old boy with autism, “families with autistic children are still finding there is a big delay in getting a diagnosis when late access to treatment significantly impacts the child, his family and society as a whole later in the child’s life. The word ‘autism’ wasn’t mentioned to us until our son was nearly three years old!
“Now while the bad news with autism is that it’s life-long, we don’t know what causes it and it’s becoming increasingly prevalent in our society, the good news is that with early intensive intervention, these children can make extraordinary progress,” she says.
“In Australia at the moment, parents carry the whole burden for autism treatment from the time of diagnosis onwards. It’s not just the cost, which forces families to find up to $30,000 a year and in some cases even sell their homes to obtain the right treatment for their children; it’s also a question of dealing with the general lack of support services. This is especially so in regional and rural Australia where there are no autism pre-schools that make such a difference to the child’s development.
“Once a diagnosis is made, I believe we need GPs to take a more central role in regularly seeing the child and controlling treatment,” Ms Brewer Fischer says. “This is especially the case in the country where the GP is all that families have at hand, as access to allied health professionals and case managers is limited or non-existent.”
More support needed
Another program panellist Dr Verity Bottroff, educationalist at the Department of Disability Studies at Flinders University in South Australia, stresses the impact autism has on families and their desperate need for support. She has just completed a three-year study on the impact of autism and found every one of the children in the study (100 per cent) suffered victimisation and bullying at school.
“People need to appreciate that these children have social and communication deficits and our world creates enormous stress on them,” she says. “It’s critical that families with autistic children have access to a case manager as soon as the child is diagnosed. That case manager can then bring together all the necessary services for the child on an ongoing basis. These children require an enormous amount of attention. Particularly at those crucial developmental transitions when they start school, move from primary school to secondary school, from secondary school to the workplace or adulthood. That’s when the child and their families need everything running smoothly.
“It’s important doctors and carers are also aware that many of these children will have other disabilities. One third for example will have epilepsy, others will have learning difficulties, dyslexia, mental health issues and other problems,” Dr Bottroff says.
How to view the program
Learning Difficulties and Child Behaviour: Autism Spectrum Disorder will air on the Foundation’s satellite network at 8pm on Tuesday 12 September and again at 12.30pm on Friday 15 September 2006.
The program can also be purchased on DVD or VHS video, viewed online via video webstreaming or listened to via an audio podcast.
Program presenters and sponsors
Specifically designed for GPs, pharmacists, nurses and allied healthcare professionals, the program is sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Panellists include: Dr Norman Swan, Presenter of the Health Report, ABC Radio National, as the Chair, with Professor Bruce Tonge, from Monash University, Dr Verity Bottroff, Dr Clare Cunningham from the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Dr Anthony Warren, from the Autism Association of NSW, Wodonga GP Dr Bill Walton, and Ms Judy Brewer Fischer.
About the Foundation
Originally established in 1992, the Rural Health Education Foundation produces and broadcasts interactive distance education programs, presented by medical and health experts using satellite technology and the Internet to reach more than 600 receiving sites around the country. To more than 90 per cent of rural doctors and other rural health professionals, the Rural Health Education Foundation is an education “lifeline” to the latest information on health issues.