After reading your article, ‘Families look for help’ on August 26, I felt compelled to reply.
Having worked for the education department for 15 years within one of those ‘specialised schools already at capacity’, I have witnessed firsthand the consequences of this lack of funding and support that is faced by exhausted staff, stressed students and disgruntled parents, irrespective of the financial pressures encumbered by those involved.
With the diversity of disabilities and degrees of clients with Autism entering our special needs centres, to say that we are ‘at capacity’, is a gross and repugnant understatement.
When not working within the school environment, I work with families in crisis due to a child’s behaviour, in their homes.
While my clients are extremely diverse, I work consistently and intensely with children with Autism, and am continually frustrated that funding is not available to assist these families in their home environment.
The added pressure that these families are confronted with, coupled with inexperience in dealing with challenging behaviours, is alone tearing families apart, add to that lack of funding and you have families fractured beyond repair.
This can only lead, with my layman’s view, to families being an increased burden on the governmental services by way of pensions and costs paid to family members that have fragmented into numerous pieces.
Wouldn’t it be viable to assist these families to stay together with support, than dealing with the emotional and financial fallout?
All schools have behavioural policies to adhere to, this does not extend to the family environment, unfortunately once they leave the classroom parents are at a loss as to how to deal with that child’s behaviour when facing these challenges alone, which has been the main incentive for me to do what I do.
Behaviourists are not considered a ‘therapy’, I am working piece by piece to rebuild families, so that school and home become cohesive, assistance via the government is increasingly becoming intolerable to source.
It is tax payers that keep the government afloat; it is an extreme disappointment that is not reciprocated.
Fighting for families consistently and unyielding.
