Tasmania will play host to a new screening tool aimed at diagnosing autism earlier.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The national Autism Cooperative Research Centre has partnered with the Tasmanian government to establish an autism research centre in the state.
The base will conduct research into the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance tool, which will be used in Tasmania over the next two years.
Child Health and Parenting Service nurses will use the screening tool to identify children who have a higher chance of being diagnosed with autism at routine health checks at 12, 18 and 24 months.
Disability advocate and mother of children on the autism spectrum Kristen Desmond said the connection with the centre would be of “enormous benefit” to Tasmania in the future.
“This will allow for early intervention which, when it comes to autism, is critically important,” Ms Desmond said.
This will allow for early intervention which, when it comes to autism, is critically important.
- Disability advocate Kristen Desmond
“There are many, many challenges around how we support children with autism in the Tasmanian community, and it’s really important that we are looking at how we get better outcomes.
“It will give families and people choice that they don’t necessarily have now and it helps the child and health nurses to know what to look for, with some of the things that might be flags.”
The only concern Ms Desmond has was whether there were enough services available in the state for those with autism to access after being diagnosed.
Human Services Minister Jacquie Petrusma said the state government would contribute more than $800,000 over four-and-a-half years towards the centre.
“Until recently there were no early screening tools that were able to demonstrate high predictive accuracy rates for very young children with autism,” Ms Petrusma said.
“This tool was trialed in the Maternal and Child Health system in parts of Victoria, where results from large-scale studies supported its use helping earlier diagnosis.
“This is part of our election commitment of $1 million over four years to support the introduction of a long term strategy for autism support in Tasmania.”