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A NEW SUPPORT GROUP FOR PORTMACQUARIE

Alicia - posted on 12/04/2008 ( 1 mom has responded )

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Hi everyone if you live in australia, port macquarie nsw this is something you will want to read.

my name is alicia i have a three autistic son and have found that there really isnt a support group for this area so i have decided to start a support group / play group it will be a place where everyone will be welcome it will run once a week and continue on during the holidays. siblings of kids with atuism are welcome to as they also need support. i'm hoping it will begin at the beginning of the new year currently are seeking venue and ideas for fundraising etc.

it will run for two hours, the first half will be all about the kids where we will do activities to suit their needs the second half will be for the parents to swap stories and tips. All are welcome if you are interested please let me know, all suggestions are welcome. hope to hear from you soon

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Kerry - posted on 12/05/2008

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hello Aclicia, good on you. Start the ball rolling and you can help many parents and teachers understand and enjoy their autistic kids. Australia has a severe lack of help, especially here in qld. We did have a support group held under the community health groups. So perhaps if you appraoch community health they may be able to help with venue and other support.
Unfortunatly the one around here shrunk and almost folded, the original parents becoming more busy and having less time or patience to keep it going. One of the reasons i didnt keep going was that the swapping of stories ended up becoming a 'sob' story thing and we heard similar storys every time there was a new parent, so it was hard to keep a positive spin on things, and in the end it became too depressing to continue going. Especiallly the age group of the children was a difficulty that you might need to think about. Parents of older autistics had found some ways around things that those of younger children didnt yet have to face (so the help session was no use to the parents with young children, the often just became frightened). and vis versa, parents whose kids were older became bored hearing the things they had already been through, another thousand times.
i would recommend maybe some way of splitting the group when it comes to chatting time? some of the parents who have been doing the autism for a while might want to discuss things with 'newer' parents, while others would like to discuss things with parents who are closer to where they 'are' with autism. Good luck and good on you!

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