The Hodgman Liberal Government is delivering on our commitment to improve support for people living with autism – especially our infants and children, with a new screening tool that will lead to earlier diagnosis, and therefore more timely intervention and support.
Minister for Human Services Jacquie Petrusma, recently joined CEO of Australia’s Autism Cooperative Research Centre (Autism CRC) Andrew Davis, to launch a new initiative to support people with autism.
Minister Petrusma said the State Government and the Autism Advisory Panel (AAP) have entered into a research partnership with Autism CRC to establish an autism research base in Tasmania.
"This partnership will see Tasmanian children and their carers participate in, and benefit from, ground-breaking world-class research through an innovative surveillance tool used by Child Health and Parenting Service nurses, to identify infants and toddlers having a higher chance of autism,” Minister Petrusma said.
“The Social Attention and Communication Surveillance tool will focus on identifying autism earlier, as part of a research project in Tasmania over the next two years, which will be conducted at routine health checks at 12,18 and 24 months.
“The Hodgman Government will contribute over $800,000 over the next four and a half years towards the world’s first national, cooperative research centre focused on autism.
“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.
“Until recently there were no early screening tools that were able to demonstrate high predictive accuracy rates for very young children with autism.
“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 - which means earlier support and intervention for those children who need it, giving young children the best opportunity to have improved cognitive outcomes.”
With the Budget back on track the Hodgman Government is able to Build Your Future and reinvest in essential services to support people in our community with disability, to give them the best opportunity to reach their full potential - from birth to adulthood.