2017 Tax Appeal

Recently, we asked our families to tell us what AEIOU has given them, in one word. Overwhelmingly, they replied: hope. After this, recurrent themes included confidence, gratitude, communication, independence and ‘future’. When one word didn’t suffice, one mother told us AEIOU had paved the way for a new life together as a family.

The challenges our families experience are real and they can feel relentless, which is why evidence-based early intervention is so important. Autism isn’t easy, but there is hope. And there is help. On behalf of the families we support, thank you for taking the time to understand their experience and celebrate their success. We can’t do it without you. Please give to AEIOU Foundation’s Winter Appeal and continue to help a young generation to reach their life potential.

AEIOU mum Elizabeth Asher says it best. Her son Bruce has achieved many goals at AEIOU and she says despite the initial shock of her son’s diagnosis, she has new confidence for what the future holds for Bruce.

“Bruce’s development was on par with his peers until he reached his first birthday, but we noticed his speech was a little delayed. We believed he would progress in his own time, but he would rarely make eye contact, was particular about routines and would scream and thrash if I drove a different route in the car. He would bite himself when he experienced any overwhelming emotion. It was hard to watch.

We are a Defence family and moved from Brisbane to Melbourne just before Bruce turned two years old. In the following year, we noticed he had actually lost speech and words like Mum, Dad and bye were no longer being said. Instead, he would simply grunt and point. When we took Bruce to a GP, they asked within minutes if we had considered autism. Going through the process for a diagnosis, we experienced so many emotions. We were sad, shocked, relieved and even excited. Now living in Adelaide at the time, we had no family or friends around, and Bruce’s behaviours made it impossible to socialise in order to gain support. We decided to move home to Queensland in mid-2016, where I attended an AEIOU Open Day to see how it all worked.” “I was impressed and delighted at the level of passion and enthusiasm the staff show for what they do. I was determined to get Bruce in. 

Bruce started at the Gold Coast centre late last year, just shy of his fourth birthday. In his first week, I saw dramatic positive changes. He independently sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It’ while I drove him to AEIOU, something he had never done before. I cried when I dropped him off that morning, and a lovely staff member gave me a hug and said this was only the beginning. She could not have been more right. Already this year Bruce has successfully toilet trained, and is dressing himself. He sings songs, engages in and initiates play with other children, and enjoys participating in art activities. He asks me every day what the weather is and tells me if it’s sunny or cloudy. He is soaking in so much learning and has even started to write. Only a year ago, he wouldn’t even scribble with a pencil.

Since coming to AEIOU, our family unit has become more fluid. While Bruce still needs to be in set routines for certain things, it is easier to distract him enough to avoid a meltdown. We also pass on the strategies we learn to our older children to help them to also communicate and connect with Bruce. That’s not to say it is all smooth sailing and we do still struggle at times, but we are all so much better equipped. We look forward to watching Bruce grow with such excitement and promise.”

At AEIOU we specialise in providing high quality, autism-specific early intervention. We support children to learn vital skills, creating a lifetime of opportunities. Our team of therapists, teachers and facilitators are experts in their fields, ensuring the very best outcomes for each child.
More than 220 families enrol their children at AEIOU each year, and like the Asher family, many of these families move from interstate and overseas to enrol their child, or commit to long commutes.

Please help us to continue supporting these families, by donating to AEIOU Foundation this Winter.

All funds raised directly support the children in our program.