Up to 1,500 babies will benefit from the pilots which will be evidence-based and implement best practice design interventions for infants showing early signs of neurodiversity.
Hailing it as “about time and long overdue”, a Lidcombe family is praising the initiative after having a tough time when their son was born.
When Lucy and Chris Doherty’s son Alex was aged around nine months, they began to realise he was ‘different’.
They noticed he showed acute interest in some things but was also missing milestones for his age.
Lucy reached out to a community health nurse but made the mistake of telling her she suffered with anxiety following the birth of Alex’s older sibling.
From that point on, Lucy was dismissed as an “anxious, pushy mother” but a year later sought help from a paediatrician not disclosing her anxiety and was told “your son has a 60 percent chance of having Autism Spectrum Disorder, read this book”.
“That was it, we left the clinic, autism booked tucked under our arm, and no idea what to do.”
The Dohertys have persevered and now at 15, Alex is a clever young man with strengths in maths and computer coding.
“He is a chatterbox at a regular high school, has a red belt in martial arts, plays the guitar and even got to meet the Pope,” Lucy said.
“The key with autism is early intervention and these new initiatives will make a huge difference to so many families.”
A total of $22.1 million will fund the initiatives and address the issue of developmental concerns not being detected early enough and provide strengths-based and family-centred support to improve outcomes for young children and their families.
