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As a parent I look at my son as any other child. As somebody who has the ability to
be a productive member of society just like anyone else.
The coping skills he has developed since he was diagnosed as a child who couldn't talk,
who screamed and ran and flapped hands and couldn't stand noises, to a child who has
done a high school certificate in a mainstream curriculum is huge and that's all through
coping skills and those aspirations that we have of him participating in society and being
able to work in society. Families remain often the main and only support
structure for some adults and without families those adults wouldn't have anywhere near the
level of support that they really need to be able to move into independent living or
into employment settings. So while supporting the persons wish to be independent we should
actually strengthen, not devalue the knowledge and support the family has to offer.
The impact that having Asperger's had on me during school was that the fact out of a school
of about 110, I was about one of six who got bullied which wasn't fun. I used to cry myself
to sleep, I used to whinge and moan to my parents. Being the oldest of two never helped.
Now that I've actually got a proper diagnosis thanks to Aspect Australia, and a number of
people it's turned my family's world upside down.
Camila's been supported with health services all the way through-mental health and allied
health services. She had speech pathology from an early age -- that was important not
because she had articulation difficulties but she certainly had thought process difficulties;
ability to actually frame a response or come up with something in a spontaneous situation.
She was a child who typically learnt from chunking. She ended up learning from countless
Disney cartoons more than she ever learned from me. She had an American accent right
up until the age of 13 and then she developed her British one. There'll be a point where
every child needs external help, therapy, to develop strategies to help them deal with
the anxiety levels particularly through puberty and adolescence.
You can shop around the psychologists. You really do need to ask them to tell you what
experience they've had dealing with people on the spectrum prior to accepting them for
services. The Circle of Friends idea works in high school
as well so that there are trusted designated peers who will connect with that child on
a daily basis, and they're rostered on so there's never any pressure on the children
to be doing it continually. Clubs, they really enjoy clubs, so clubs that
anybody can go to. teamwork within the school is crucial. It
is the most effective tool that can help the child. We arranged meetings within the school
with all of his teachers, both myself and my husband would be at the meeting. Also I
would bring in therapists and that entire team would discuss everything that was happening,
everything that was causing distress. Having that team there, having that assorted
group of people, we were able to explain why a lot of things were happening. As a parent
you need to be confident that your son is going to be able to look after himself. You
need to know that there are other people out there who want to look after him. One of the
most mortifying things is to think that all of a sudden I'm not going to be here anymore
and those things you do to help him through his day to day, you think what's going to
happen, who's going to look after him. It's so important that you do have a wonderful
relationship with all of the services that are made available in order to maintain that
for when you might not be here anymore. And what falls into that is friends. And these
networks we've set up have been difficult, very difficult because it's not something
that comes naturally to him, it's something that he learnt starting at Vern Barnett and
his local pre-school. I am very confident for my son and happy for my son because those
networks that we started are still with him today and his dearest friend is still his
dearest friend.