Page 3287 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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counselling and linkages with community and to other services. Speech pathologists assist families with communication and social interaction goals, occupational therapists with sensory processing and fine motor skills, and psychologists with behavioural issues.
The priority is working in partnerships with families affected by autism. When a child receives a diagnosis, allied health professionals spend time with families identifying the specific goals that they have for their children. Families are invited to join the series of family support groups and workshops, and this program forms the starting point of therapeutic intervention.
As children with autism may have trouble generalising new skills to different settings, interventions are developed that can be incorporated into family routines and play activities so that learning is incorporated into activities that take place every day and give the child with autism their best chance of learning. This may include setting up support in the home and in the school. Therapy ACT work closely with other service providers, such as teachers and support staff, to provide continuity of service across the autism-specific settings available in the ACT and also into mainstream settings such as playgroups and preschools.
The therapy assistance in schools program provides face-to-face early intervention for more than 250 children with developmental delays and disability each year, including children with autism in specialist and mainstream schools. Therapy ACT continues to develop new and innovative early intervention programs for children with autism. This year they have implemented two pilot trials of children’s friendship training for children aged between seven and eight and nine and 12 years.
The children friendship training is an evidence-based social skills program developed by the University of California, Los Angeles. It is designed for primary school children who are on the autism spectrum disorder. It is an intensive 12-week program run in a group format with concurrent sessions for the children and, importantly, their parents. It enables parents to play an active role in their children’s social skill development and to support the transfer of these skills into their child’s own unique setting.
Early intervention services available through the Health Directorate include medical services provided through community paediatric and child health services, input into paediatric multidisciplinary assessments and ongoing care for medical conditions arising from the diagnosis of autism.
Ongoing care for medical conditions is an important aspect of early intervention for children with autism, ensuring that families have access to appropriate advice to support their children’s health and wellbeing. As a result of sensory disorders, children with autism may experience nutritional deficiencies and behavioural issues that require appropriate medical interventions. Early intervention programs for children with autism are not only delivered by government services. In addition, the ACT government supports Autism Asperger ACT to deliver family support programs and to coordinate grants available through the commonwealth government for eligible children.
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