October 2014
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IMPORTANT: PLEASE PARTICIPATE
SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ABAI CONFERENCE – Chicago, May 2014.
ABAI CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT
PARENT CONTRIBUTION (A Success Story) LEWIE’S STORY My name is Samantha Clark and I have a son, Lewis who was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism at the age of 3yrs back in 1994. He is my second son; he has an older brother, Josh (born ‘91) and a younger sister, Phoebe (‘98). I didn’t know much about Autism. My immediate imagination went to a child who would be in his own little world rocking all day, and of course Rain Man the movie…
FROM NEW ZEALAND (Another Success Story) Under the headline “Student Shines on Air”, the Cook Strait News, a newspaper in Wellington, reported on 12-year-old Niall’s debut on his school’s radio station. The story was in part about the fact that Lyall Bay School has had its own radio station since 2008, but it also highlighted the competence with which Niall, who has autism, was able to broadcast his story which he had written about a special day he had had at school. (See picture). Niall has been a client of ISADD for the past eight years…
CLOSER TO HOME ABIA (Autism Behavioural Intervention Association) [– not to be confused with ABAI (Association for Behavior Analysis International)] will be holding its third biennial conference at Monash University, Caufield Campus in Melbourne on Saturday April 18th 2015. Previous conferences have been well worthwhile, and valuable for parents and professionals alike. Even worth the interstate trip if you are not from Victoria. Details are: Friday 17 April 2015 Masterclass for ABA Professionals Saturday 18 April 2015 Main Conference Day (for all delegates) For further conference information please contact: info@abia.net.au | 03 9830 0677 Registrations open soon. CONGRATULATIONS. To: Sarah Charlton on the birth of her daughter, Estee Sienna Finlay in June. NEW ZEALAND NEWS Wellington has had a sudden explosion of new families starting programs in the past couple of months, keeping Program Manager Susan Farmer very busy! We welcome our new Kiwi Client families, and hope they enjoy reading Rhubarb. For more NZ news, see below in Parent Contributions section. SINGAPORE NEWS ISADD’s offices in Singapore have recently been redecorated with light-coloured painted walls, which has given the whole place a brighter, more welcoming feel. After many frustrating delays, ISADD in Singapore has a new web-site up and running. It seems this was much needed, as since it came online, enquiries about our services have doubled! The web address remains the same, www.isadd.com LITHUANIA NEWSIn Lithuania, client numbers are increasing rapidly, with a consequent increase in the size of the organization. This has necessitated the appointment of a dedicated Coordinator, Jurgita Race, to take some of the workload away from Case Manager Aiste Galectkaite, who had been doing both Case Management and Coordination. During her recent visit, Jura attended two special celebrations: one was a parent-professional social event organized by Kitoks Vykas – a celebration of Midsummer (St John’s Day), and the second a celebration of ISADD’s tenth anniversary in Lithuania. Pictures of both events below. Also while in the country, Jura was interviewed by Vilnius’s major newspaper, and was featured over two pages in the paper’s “Weekend Magazine” section. HUMOUR SECTIONFinancial Planning explained by an Irishman Paddy bought a donkey from a farmer for £100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. In the morning he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey’s died.’ Paddy replied, ‘Well just give me my money back then.’ The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I’ve already spent it.’ Paddy said, ‘OK then, just bring me the dead donkey’ The farmer asked, ‘What are you going to do with him?’ Paddy said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’ The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle a dead donkey!’ Paddy said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’ A month later, the farmer met up with Paddy and asked, ‘What happened with that dead donkey?’ Paddy said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and made a profit of £898′ The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’ Paddy said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his £2 back.’ Disclosure: The Editor of Rhubarb is Irish. Disclaimer: The advice given above is general in nature, and should not be acted upon without first consulting your financial planner. PHOTO CORNERClick here to view the photo corner |
 Editor :: Daryl Cooper.Publisher :: Bill Davey, Linda Thomas, Audree Poff
Photography :: Various. In the previous edition, I wrote about the concerns expressed by Bob Buckley (and others) that children with Autism may be poorly served by the NDIS. Since then, I have heard nothing more encouraging, and indeed heard more that supports having the concerns. I thoroughly recommend that readers visit the A4 website www.a4.org.au to learn more. I also note that a new phrase has crept into the NDIS rhetoric, namely “necessary and reasonable”. This is used when talking about the services and supports which the NDIS will provide to those with a disability. This has supplanted the original rhetoric which talked about those with a disability “finally getting access to the services and supports they want”. Now, it seems, persons with a disability will get the services and supports they want, IF they are “necessary and reasonable”. And of course this begs the question, “who decides what is ‘necessary and reasonable’?” There is much to be concerned about as the NDIS is being “rolled out” (as the current jargon dictates); in addition to the concerns about what sort of “deal” disabled persons will eventually get, the complexities of the national scheme taking over from the various State disability services are immense, and, from what I have experienced so far, it is a bureaucratic/administrative nightmare. But given the size and complexity of the scheme, it is understandable that implementation will proceed slowly, and that there will be mistakes made which will need correction, unforeseen problems to be solved, fine details to be tuned, and misinterpretations to be rectified. It will be many years before the scheme is (excuse the jargon) “bedded down”; longer than the originally projected five years, I suspect. Thus it is going to be a long wait before we know to what extent the scheme will fulfill the expectations created when it was first announced, and whether persons with a disability will really be so much better served. Daryl Cooper Editor
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