Most Australians will have heard of Autism. In fact, a growing number of us would be aware that more and more of our children are being diagnosed with his disorder. The figure for sufferers in the US is 1 in 68 kids.
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Any family with an autistic child can relate as to the fact that it is a heartbreaking and difficult disorder and how it comes to completely dominate the family life. Every family member comes to realize that their whole existence, for the foreseeable future, will now centre around helping to make the affected child’s life more manageable.
There have been some improvements in early detection and treatment of the disorder. However, every child that suffers from autism may need different therapy depending on the severity of problem.
To help those families caught up in the problems of dealing with an autistic child, many programs have been developed by early intervention practitioners.
This enables families to begin helping their children cope with the disorder at a much earlier age than was possible even only a few short years ago.
The undeniable truth of the matter though, for all families dealing with this, is that there is no known cure and may not be for many decades to come.
In order to help build an understanding in the community about this disorder April has now been declared as “Autism Month” and blue has been adopted as the official colour. Yesterday was “Blue Day” at the Grenfell Pre School and all parents were encouraged to send their children along to the school wearing blue outfits as part of the nationwide campaign.
The Pre School embraced the concept with delight. This week saw the visit to the school of Anne Jeffries, an early intervention teacher who visits the school every fortnight.
This is because even Grenfell has not escaped the reality of autism in its community. Donna and Andrew Hersant of Grenfell have not one, but three boys suffering from autism.
Two of the boys attend the Grenfell Pre School (Dale 4 and Wade 2½) while Dean (6 years old) attends the Grenfell Public School.
The Pre School was a sea of blue on Thursday as Dean, Dale and Wade along with their big brother David (who does not suffer from the disorder), their Mum Donna and Dad Andrew all proudly attended the special day. The three younger boys even dyed their hair blue.
Donna read an Autism Aware story book to the Star Room Class that explained some of the problems in a manner that could be understood by them.
Donna is also raising money for the Rural and Remote Autism Network charity as it assists families that live in rural and remote NSW. Donna, more than most understands the need for more service providers in these areas. She has been fighting to get a speech therapist for her non verbal son for over 2 years and has had to research ways on the internet to find ways to help him communicate.
This is here fundraising page - https://give.everydayhero.com/au/proud-parents-of-dean-dale-and-wade
Another problem the family will soon encounter is that most funding that is available to families such as Donna’s cuts out once the children turn ten. Adding to the difficulties is that in rural areas a lot of health workers in the field tend to move on every few months.
This makes coping with the problems even harder. Again, readers are urged to access the above fundraising page address to find out how they may be able to help.