A report commissioned by the Education Department found Wyndham and Brimbank had more than half of the west's students with autism receiving Program for Students with Disabilities (PSD) support.

But few of the students have the benefit of local support services.

The review was prepared last April but released only this week after a freedom of information request by Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland.

It noted autism was the fastest-growing disability in the state, up 21per cent in the past four years. Students funded for autism under the PSD more than doubled from 1946 in 2006 to 4103 in 2010.

"The majority of students supported under the [autism] category of the PSD are in their primary years, which will place increased pressure on secondary mainstream and general specialist schools to provide for this cohort over the next two years," the report found.

Autism Angels president Dina Tamburro said the findings came as no surprise, as there were no support groups in Wyndham for parents of children with autism.

Ms Tamburro said schools were well behind in being able to meet the growing need for teachers and aides to be trained in supporting students with autism.

She said it was important for parents to have the choice of mainstream or specialist schools, but the west still had no specialist school beyond grade 3.

Point Cook mother Kathy Downie knows too well how stretched autism education is in the west. She faced a lengthy battle last year to secure her son Liam a place at Western Autistic School. "For the first few years, mainstream school wouldn't be able to cope with him and he wouldn't have be able to cope with them," Ms Downie said.

"With the noise and the crowds, if Liam's anxiety is heightened he can become very distressed and prone to self-harm."

Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn said the government remained committed to an autism school in Laverton before the next election, but his priority was to see the integrated disability education and awareness program running at Moomba Park Primary School in Fawkner rolled out across existing schools.