Adrian Ford’s vision is to be able to offer an appropriate
place (or education) in pre-school or school for every child
with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Mr Ford, the Chief Executive Officer of the Autism Association
of NSW, said: “This sounds ambitious, but I believe we
can achieve this with the support of our communities, the schools
and the NSW and Commonwealth Education Departments.
Mr Ford was speaking at the launch of Autism Awareness Week
by The Hon. Dr Andrew Refshauge, Deputy Premier of NSW and Minister
for Education & Training at Parliament House today (May 6).
The Association and the NSW Education Department has a fruitful
relationship stretching back 30 years. The Association offers
a range of educational opportunities for children with an ASD
from 2 ½ years to 18 years old through six base schools
run by the Association and 38 satellite classes within mainstream
NSW Department of Education & Training (DET) and Catholic
Education schools throughout metropolitan and regional NSW.
“In 2003, we offered 347 school places through a combination
of our base schools and satellite classes within mainstream schools
and this has provided more children with ASD with the specialised
support they require to manage their disability and to transition
into the wider community,” said Mr Ford. “ A total
of 61 children with ASD were successfully transitioned into mainstream
schools from Association satellite classes in 2004”.
ASD are lifelong disabilities. People with ASD have difficulty
relating socially and communicating to other people, and may
display repetitive behaviours and/or restricted interests.
Mr Ford added: “The growth in school places has been
funded by both NSW and Commonwealth Education Departments, and
we are indebted to the NSW Department of Education &
Training for almost half of all government income
received by the Association. The Association and DET are currently
exploring a more planned and co-operative approach to establish
more satellite and DET autism classes. This is indeed encouraging.”
Autism Association of NSW, the leading autism specific service
provider in NSW, first began as a small school in 1966. The school
was founded in the northern Sydney suburb of Forestville by the
parents of a small number of children with autism for whom resources
were either unavailable or inadequate. Today, the Association
operates the largest disability-specific non-government school
system in Australia.
Information courtesy of Autism Spectrum Australia
(Aspect) www.aspect.org.au
