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A New Opportunity
Chris' story
We are the parents of a six year old boy with Autism. Our
son was diagnosed at the age of 3½ at the Mater Children's
Hospital in Brisbane.
Upon diagnosis, we were informed that a child with Autism
becomes an adult with Autism and less than 20% of children
will develop sufficient skills to lead a normal life.
We were also told about the existing services available and
the waiting list of over 1 year.
It was a relief to finally find out that there was actually
something wrong with our son after having been through 6 months
of hell. There was nowhere for us to go, nor was there anybody
who could answer directly our questions to explain such things
as:
- why he would inflict pain on himself and others;
- why he spent many hours kicking walls, self stimulating
and why he had repetitive and limited speech;
- why he would scream at the slightest thing that was new
to him;
- why toilet training was an embarrassment;
- why he could not and would not dress himself;
- there was no eye contact and he would look straight through
you when you spoke to him, ie. he was in his own little
world;
- he had no educational skills and was unable to carry out
even the most simple task (such as passing a block when
asked);
- we were unable to go out anywhere with him; and
- if we were to travel a different way to our normal routine
this would send him into a tantrum.
He was accepted into a Special Education Development Unit
(SEDU) for a period of 18 months, 10 hours per week, and although
the staff were excellent, one teacher and one aide working
with six children with similar problems meant that any progress
was achieved at a snail's pace, if at all.
As we were not content for our son to finish up in an institution,
we searched tirelessly around Australia and the world and
came across the ABA programme. It was the only programme we
found with documented evidence to back up the success it had
achieved throughout the world.
Our son, now six, has been doing the ABA programme over the
past 16 months and has just finished pre-school. He will begin
Grade 1 next year with one of our therapists as a shadow.
We now have answers to all of the inappropriate behaviours
and can deal with any new behaviours that may appear. It is
difficult to explain the feelings we experience now when our
son comes up to us showing his affection and making direct
eye contact and also to see him sharing and playing with his
brothers.
We had to make considerable changes to our lifestyle and
mortgaged our home to put our son through the ABA programme.
But the improvement in his social skills, dress, toilet training,
eye contact and affection have been nothing short of a miracle.
We would be prepared to live in a tent, if it was required,
so we could continue on with ABA as it has allowed us to function
as a family and to enjoy the company of friends without precluding
our son.
From our experience and heartbreak with the current system
and services used throughout the State, we cannot emphasise
how important early intervention is with these children. In
this State, we are 10 years behind many overseas countries.
Hopefully, with combined effort from government and the community,
we can endeavour to improve our current system.
Next: Joe's story >
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