- Mum urges early care for all who need it
- By Stephen Lunn, Social Affairs Writer
- The Australian
- 28/02/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 258 articles in 2009 )
MARGARET-ANNE Otton doesn't want her three-year-old daughter, Sophia, to be treated as a special case.
The Sydney mother of two just wants her eldest child, who has a hard-to-define mix of serious developmental problems, to have the same access to government funding for early intervention programs as kids on the autism spectrum.
Ms Otton said her heart leapt last year when the Rudd Government announced it would spend $190 million over four years providing early intervention treatment for those with autism. While she was happy for the parents with autistic children, she realised Sophia, despite having greater needs than many, would miss out.
"All children with serious development disorders should be entitled to early intervention ... It's not just my child, it's lots of others," Ms Otton told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
Last September on the ABC's Q&A program, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten drew a healthy round of applause after telling Ms Otton that Sophia, who has a handful of words and is not yet able to run, should receive the same government support as other children with more easily defined developmental problems.
"Your child doesn't have to fit into a box," Mr Shorten said at the time. "The point is, she's a child and she's alive and she should have the same rights."
Five months later, both have appeared on Q&A again and Ms Otton says nothing has changed. Indeed, Mr Shorten conceded on Thursday night's program under questioning from Ms Otton that there would be no extension of the early intervention package from autism to a wider range of disorders in the May budget.
"How do we get an early intervention package that is more extensive and covers all impairments?" the Labor MP said. "That ain't going to happen in this budget."
Ms Otton said that unless changes were made quickly, it would be too late in Sophia's case to get funding to implement an early intervention program similar to the autism programs to improve her quality of life. All the research shows the best results are when the work is done early.
"My gut feeling is Bill Shorten is a genuine man," she said. "I think he genuinely cares about this situation and wants to do something. But I have very little faith anything is going to change in the immediate future."
Mr Shorten said yesterday he had discussed Sophia's case with Ms Otton several times.
"The Government is looking at ways to improve access to early intervention assistance for children with developmental delays, which will help the Ottons and other families in similar situations," he said.
The $190 million autism package was "only the start", Mr Shorten said, and he was aware other children and parents would benefit from support services.
The Sydney mother of two just wants her eldest child, who has a hard-to-define mix of serious developmental problems, to have the same access to government funding for early intervention programs as kids on the autism spectrum.
Ms Otton said her heart leapt last year when the Rudd Government announced it would spend $190 million over four years providing early intervention treatment for those with autism. While she was happy for the parents with autistic children, she realised Sophia, despite having greater needs than many, would miss out.
"All children with serious development disorders should be entitled to early intervention ... It's not just my child, it's lots of others," Ms Otton told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
Last September on the ABC's Q&A program, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten drew a healthy round of applause after telling Ms Otton that Sophia, who has a handful of words and is not yet able to run, should receive the same government support as other children with more easily defined developmental problems.
"Your child doesn't have to fit into a box," Mr Shorten said at the time. "The point is, she's a child and she's alive and she should have the same rights."
Five months later, both have appeared on Q&A again and Ms Otton says nothing has changed. Indeed, Mr Shorten conceded on Thursday night's program under questioning from Ms Otton that there would be no extension of the early intervention package from autism to a wider range of disorders in the May budget.
"How do we get an early intervention package that is more extensive and covers all impairments?" the Labor MP said. "That ain't going to happen in this budget."
Ms Otton said that unless changes were made quickly, it would be too late in Sophia's case to get funding to implement an early intervention program similar to the autism programs to improve her quality of life. All the research shows the best results are when the work is done early.
"My gut feeling is Bill Shorten is a genuine man," she said. "I think he genuinely cares about this situation and wants to do something. But I have very little faith anything is going to change in the immediate future."
Mr Shorten said yesterday he had discussed Sophia's case with Ms Otton several times.
"The Government is looking at ways to improve access to early intervention assistance for children with developmental delays, which will help the Ottons and other families in similar situations," he said.
The $190 million autism package was "only the start", Mr Shorten said, and he was aware other children and parents would benefit from support services.
Source: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25117232-5013404,00.html
1Will not be visible to public.
2Receive notification of other comments posted for this article. To cease notification after having posted click here.
3To make a link clickable in the comments box enclose in link tags - ie.<link>Link</link>.
4To show an image enclose the image URL in tags - ie.<image>https://fredspage.com/box.jpg</image>. Note: image may be resized if too large
To further have your say, head to our forum Click Here
To contribute a news article Click Here
To view or contribute a Quote Click Here