Parents explain early childhood intervention

(BELINDA:) I think I was a little naïve about what early intervention was going to be.

I thought that I, unfortunately, was one of those parents that thought that autism could be fixed.

So I thought that these people were going to miraculously come out and solve the problem, fix everything and they were going to do it quickly.

(JANICE:) It’s not like you’re going to the doctor where they see a problem and then they fix it straightaway or they just look at the problem not even five minutes and you’re out the door,

No, they really care, you know? They really care.

And having that… that support is a really big thing.

(MELISSA:) When you start off with early childhood intervention, it’s a huge relief, because all of a sudden you’ve got someone to talk to.

(DANIELLE:) People go in feeling so overwhelmed with everything that’s happening within their life, with their children and what’s going on, that you can take one step at time.

They’ll help you through each step of the way.

They’ll prioritise what’s the most important… that the child needs right now, that Tayeton needed back then.

(MELISSA:) Just to sit there and talk about my experience and what we went through in those first six months and then to find out that there’s answers.

So that they’re there for support for you.

They, you know, can help you in a number of ways with other contacts and things that you need to start happening.

It sort of takes the pressure off.

(JANICE:) When you first start off with Noah’s Ark, like I said before, they give… Well, they don’t give you goals.

You both discuss what goals you would like to see your child achieve.

And then they will… If your child is in kinder, or child care, then they just give you the option of either just coming to see you or they can see you and then alternatively see the child care providers or kinder.

(DANIELLE:) Tayeton developed so many skills by just playing in everyday situations with his worker.

Other ways as well that are probably a bit more informal, I suppose, especially with his speech and different things like that.

But it’s all done through fun and games.

(GRANT:) I think the model that Noah’s Ark has got is that they’ve got a group of professionals that come together as a team and they work hand in hand with each other.

And that was really refreshing.

(LINDA:) Mmm. Yeah.

(GRANT:) The fact that the key worker could come in and with her intuition and her knowledge and her skill set, she could then understand what the child needed, what Blake needed and then she could bring in those other allied health professionals into the mix and help us and that was fantastic.

(DANIELLE:) They have a lot of information that… can give to people.

A lot of information to help the individual child.

With Tayeton, they’ve helped on various different levels, because Tayeton has a lot of different issues happening.