Page 2230 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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auditory-verbal therapists with ongoing internal mentoring, while the department of education has no ongoing mentoring, with two-day workshops delivered to it by the Shepherd Centre. Therapy ACT has no specialist experience with hearing impairment.
In a 19 May 2010 article in the Canberra Times, Mr Darrell Bush, whose three-year-old son Tom is a student at the centre, was quoted as follows:
I’ve learnt more through the Shepherd Centre than I do with the Department of Education. The Shepherd Centre teaches families what to do and take it home so it’s 24/7 instead of one hour a week … Tom’s development would stall if the program was closed. He’ll be left behind.
Further in the article the parent also stated that he was angry and frustrated. He said:
… in the scheme of things I don’t think it’s a big number for them to come up with.
Minister, looking at your government’s record of expenditure, when this government can spend $150,000 on statues for shopping centres and monuments beside our traffic-jammed roadways and $22 million on an arboretum, your prioritisation on the important needs of our community certainly requires scrutiny and serious questioning. No wonder you refuse to meet with the community, minister. In a similar testimonial provided to the Shepherd Centre, Ms Martina Johnson stated:
Without the Shepherd Centre in Canberra, my 4 year old child would not have been diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy and would not have been given the opportunity to receive a cochlear implant … Thankfully, the expertise of the Shepherd Centre recognised my child was not progressing at an appropriate rate and recommended further investigations be taken. No other organisation recognised the additional struggle my child was experiencing … As a parent of a child with a disability and special needs in Canberra, I can honestly say the Shepherd Centre provide a vital intervention service.
That is the end of the quote from a Shepherd Centre information sheet. Equally compelling is a letter written to you, minister, by Grant and Marie Williams, the parents of four-year-old Ryan, who is at Noah’s Ark:
There are so many children, through no fault of their own, who need help adjusting to school life. We believe it is imperative for these Children to be helped as early as possible to ensure the best educational outcomes for them. It is also an effective preventative measure that avoids the need for resource intensive measures at a later stage. The ‘Shooting Stars’ program deserves continued funding. By helping children early before they reach school, programs such as those run by ‘Shooting Stars’ help children to become cooperative, independent members of their eventual school class.
That is the end of the quote from a letter to you, Mr Barr. The community of parents and the management of both the Shepherd Centre and Noah’s Ark have been seeking the attention of this minister to state their concerns to him and to ask him to reconsider the decision to cut funding to the Shepherd Centre and Noah’s Ark.
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