In the early years of Luke Wright’s life, his mother Nikki Wright knew he was different from other children.
He had heart problems; doctors thought he might be deaf; and, eventually, he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Ms Wright knew her son was intelligent- his favorite pastime was to watch cartoons in foreign languages, like Spanish, with full understanding- but he also had problems with his motor skills, and couldn’t write or talk.
“It was all in there but he just couldn’t get it out,” Ms Wright said.
The family tried a number of strategies for helping Luke get by, but it wasn't until Ms Wright came across a relatively new form of therapy, Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), that they began to see improvements.
He began in kindergarten at Meadow Springs Education Support Centre, where ABA is offered.
Where many autism therapies aim simply to help those affected to manage their ASD, ABA attempts to intervene and actually improve the child’s ability to participate in mainstream education and lead a more normal, independent life.
“The program’s to help them not stand out at mainstream [school], help them to integrate, because when they get to mainstream, if they don’t cope socially, they actually just disengage,” Ms Wright said.
But success does not come without its difficulties and stress.
When he started the program in kindergarten last year he entered a rigorous schedule of timed sequencing and matching tasks.
“It’s about getting them to do it without being prompted, otherwise they’ll always be prompt-bound,” Ms Wright said.
“It’s a very different kind of assessment than what they get at primary school.”
From being unable to put two words together one year ago, through ABA Luke has become quite a talkative, confident child, and began school at Pinjarra Primary this year, where he is helped by an aide and still attends Meadow Springs ECS several times a week.
“Now he likes to play ball, now he likes to play ‘I Spy’, he likes to sing, do all lots of things that he never used to do, but it’s only been since he started that program,” Ms Wright said.
On the day the Mandurah Mail visited Luke, he had even spoken at a school assembly, which earlier this year he couldn’t attend because it stressed him out.
The program at Meadow Springs will finish at the end of this year, with Luke going to mainstream classes full-time.
He will still be supported by an aide, but his family will have to keep up the ABA at home.
Though she has her hesitations, Ms Wright is much more confident for her son’s future: “If you had‘ve told me a year ago, I would’ve said, look, I’m really concerned, but now I’m not that concerned.
“We had therapists say to us, he’ll never walk, run, but he does, and he jumps, and he can go on the trampoline, he can climb now, and go to a place like Chipmunks, whereas he couldn’t do that even six months ago… Now he’s starting to write. That’s massive, we never thought he’d be able to write.”
Ms Wright said she was pleased to see the state government’s commitment to improving services for children with ASD.
She said education minister Peter Collier had been very supportive of Luke’s journey.
“We’ve been very lucky… some people don’t even know they’re entitled to therapy or funding,” she said.
Mr Collier first met Luke’s mother as an opposition MP.
“I’ve taken interest in Luke since he was born and have seen how the programs at his schools have made such a difference,” Mr Collier said.
“What has become obvious to me during my many visits to schools is that there was a need for additional resourcing for children with ASD.”
Mr Collier said 16 schools would be selected to run the $32 million specialist ASD programs by 2020.
Though the funding is not specifically directed at ABA, it is one of the services offered.
Mr Collier said the funding would help make services for children with ASD more accessible to parents.
”Students will be able to enrol in one of 16 schools running these programs, no matter where they live,” he said.
“They’ll be taught in small groups by specialist teachers for some of the time and in mainstream classes with additional support for the rest of the time.”
