I find the lack of funding deeply ironic in a smash face into brick wall kind of way. All I've heard for the last 3 years is how important early identification and intervention (where appropriate) are. Saying here's your diagnosis, good luck 🤷♀️ really doesn't square with that. My son's first assessment appointment is Monday, so we'll see what they say about supports.
Thanks for quoting my post Bex. I'm so freaking scared that my autistic child, who's wandering I've been trying to mitigate since 3 years of age, is going to slip out and get into trouble while I'm fatigue crashed or sleeping. I wake up every morning to her sneaking, tiptoed into my room to raid my snack drawer (she has her own, it is stocked) or to search for a device (limited in the mornings due to ongoing morning meltdowns). It's better than the alternative - waking up to find she's gone again - but a realistic fear and a persistent hypervigilance. I have Long Covid. I need to rest and I won't get better without wraparound support for our whānau that sees the whole picture, and not only one of us at a time.
👍💯 It is infuriating that at a time when much more is known & understood about how to support children & their famiilies through neuro-diversity, those resources are not funded/underfunded/pulled out from underneath them after being available 🤬 I follow a writer on Substack, Carrie Cariello "Life Alongside Autism", simply because it gives me hope as to what is possible. In that case the family has a good income, remarkable perseverance and attitude to their roles as parents, and therefore are able to do so much for their severely autistic son towards more independence & fulfilment (not to mention the mother is an exceptional communicator...) 🤔 I could rail against their "privilege" but instead I see a blueprint and lessons for other parents to short-cut some of the "learning curve" & a demonstration in real life of what we should & could be aiming for.
I could "hope" that this appalling incident with the 11yr old girl might prompt a change in this govt funding decisions, but I've learned not to expect such. Repeating my base argument for keeping exposing this stuff though, members of the Opposition see and hear what the public & communities say and can take it on board for developing their policies for election & government, so if we can't move this lot, let's work on the future 💪
100%. Seeing Luxon the very next day go on about how great the Police are when they had failed this 11yo so egregiously in their duties is a case in point. One day it was all, oh yes this is a parents worst nightmare, the next day, it was all, police are so great how very dare anyone criticise them?!
Thank you. I am one of those wondering about the huge delay in contacting Police. My concerns came from questioning the support network around this child and her family perspective. An 11yo non-verbal autistic child and her parents needs are so much greater, and avenues of assistance so reduced. This tragic situation highlights that - where is the government enquiry into the lack of available and accessible supports for this whanau?
I find the lack of funding deeply ironic in a smash face into brick wall kind of way. All I've heard for the last 3 years is how important early identification and intervention (where appropriate) are. Saying here's your diagnosis, good luck 🤷♀️ really doesn't square with that. My son's first assessment appointment is Monday, so we'll see what they say about supports.
Thanks for quoting my post Bex. I'm so freaking scared that my autistic child, who's wandering I've been trying to mitigate since 3 years of age, is going to slip out and get into trouble while I'm fatigue crashed or sleeping. I wake up every morning to her sneaking, tiptoed into my room to raid my snack drawer (she has her own, it is stocked) or to search for a device (limited in the mornings due to ongoing morning meltdowns). It's better than the alternative - waking up to find she's gone again - but a realistic fear and a persistent hypervigilance. I have Long Covid. I need to rest and I won't get better without wraparound support for our whānau that sees the whole picture, and not only one of us at a time.
Beautiful and insightful. Thanks!
Thanks Laurie. I have been ruminating on it the past few days
👍💯 It is infuriating that at a time when much more is known & understood about how to support children & their famiilies through neuro-diversity, those resources are not funded/underfunded/pulled out from underneath them after being available 🤬 I follow a writer on Substack, Carrie Cariello "Life Alongside Autism", simply because it gives me hope as to what is possible. In that case the family has a good income, remarkable perseverance and attitude to their roles as parents, and therefore are able to do so much for their severely autistic son towards more independence & fulfilment (not to mention the mother is an exceptional communicator...) 🤔 I could rail against their "privilege" but instead I see a blueprint and lessons for other parents to short-cut some of the "learning curve" & a demonstration in real life of what we should & could be aiming for.
I could "hope" that this appalling incident with the 11yr old girl might prompt a change in this govt funding decisions, but I've learned not to expect such. Repeating my base argument for keeping exposing this stuff though, members of the Opposition see and hear what the public & communities say and can take it on board for developing their policies for election & government, so if we can't move this lot, let's work on the future 💪
100%. Seeing Luxon the very next day go on about how great the Police are when they had failed this 11yo so egregiously in their duties is a case in point. One day it was all, oh yes this is a parents worst nightmare, the next day, it was all, police are so great how very dare anyone criticise them?!
P. S. Nice to see you "in the flesh" on the YouTube with your friends 👍🫂 Great way to share 👏
Thank you. I am one of those wondering about the huge delay in contacting Police. My concerns came from questioning the support network around this child and her family perspective. An 11yo non-verbal autistic child and her parents needs are so much greater, and avenues of assistance so reduced. This tragic situation highlights that - where is the government enquiry into the lack of available and accessible supports for this whanau?
a wonderful expose of how the children run and enjoy nature. not elopement,….. so negative and the police ….. hopeless
Thanks Dr Bex for bringing us into more of a world that we know little of.