AEIOU News
NEW early intervention services for young children on the Sunshine Coast
Fri, 6 Aug 10
MEDIA RELEASE
06 AUGUST 2010
NEW early intervention services for young children on the Sunshine Coast
A new Autism and Early Learning Centre to be up and running early 2011 on the Sunshine Coast. Commonwealth and QLD Government members announced innovative plans to build a new AEIOU centre on the Central Coast located on the USC campus on Friday 6th August.
According to Dr James Morton, founder AEIOU Foundation the new AEIOU facility on the Sunshine Coast will provide a program of integration for children with autism.
“The centre will be the first inclusive childcare where children can play and learn from each other, the structured teaching strategies and well trained staff will benefit both academic and social outcomes for all children regardless of their ability or disability,” James said.
“The Sunshine Coast is the hub for the AEIOU Regional Autism Program, families on the Central Coast will be able to access the best services and advice from trained professionals closer to home, taking the stress off many local families who currently travel long distances to access support for their children” he said.
The University has announced it will offer a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education next year. AEIOU Founder Dr James Morton says the facility will have an on-site speech therapist, early childhood teachers and occupational therapists.
“The centre will provide great work experience opportunities for students at Sunshine Coast University studying Early Childhood teaching, Occupational therapy and psychology. Staff and students with children are looking forward to the convenience of a childcare on site,” James said.
Over half of the people enrolled at the campus are mature age, that is over 25 years old, and many have child care responsibilities in addition to their work and academic commitments.
The land the new centre will be built on was provided by the University of the Sunshine Coast and will be built by early 2011, the Regional Autism Program has the capacity to provide 75 child care places, including 25 full-time places for local children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Delay (up to 15 of those places will be in the centre).
The Gillard Labor Government is providing the AEIOU Foundation with $1.8 million in capital funding to establish a new specialised child care centre that will provide places for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Delay and mainstream child care places.
The Queensland Government is providing recurrent funding of $450,000 a year to support specialist staff based at the Sunshine Coast centre to run a regional support program.
The new initiative was inspired by Annastacia Palaszczuk MP and is an excellent example of the way in which the government and non-government sectors can work together to help give children with disability the best possible start in life.
This funding is already provided for in the Budget under the Helping Children with Autism package.
The new AEIOU centre will create a gateway for early intervention to reach families in regional parts of Queensland through the AEIOU Regional Autism Program which is set to launch in Emerald Monday 9th August 2010.
As many as 1 in 160 children in Australia have autism, there is still no known cause or cure however it is widely researched that early intervention will give children the best opportunity to transition to mainstream schooling and greatly improve the lives of the children and their families.
For more information please feel free to contact Laura Daley on 3320 7555 or email laura.daley@aeiou.org.au.
