Angels in our community working to help Autistic children

An Illawarra based business, Angels for Autism, has developed a support kit for families to be used in the home to make life a little easier for the child and the running of the entire household.

“Many families in the community find it hard to know what to do, what therapies are required and where to turn first when they have a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Angels for Autism Director Tracy Sassall said.

“It can be an overwhelming experience when first given the diagnosis.

In developing the Autism Support Kit for the home which is based upon our Autism Support Kit for schools, children and families will be starting to be familiar with the kit from an early age and this will give them the tools to assist in the day to day routines and transition them into school more easily.”

Joanne Hennessy said her 10 year-old Autistic son Brayden had responded really well to the Autism Support Kit.

“The kits are fabulous. They’ve made life for the whole family a lot easier,” Ms Hennessy said.

“What I love about them is that they provide a step-by-step visual guide on how to complete different tasks such as getting ready for school, bath-time or bedtime.

“Brayden will go to the visual task board and follow the prompts and he can fold down the tabs once he has completed each step – this gives him a feeling of independence and sense of accomplishment and he likes knowing that there is a beginning and an end to each task.”

Enterprise & Training Company Limited (ETC) has donated $15,000 towards Angels for Autism’s development of the home based Autism Support Kit.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to support Angels for Autism through the ETC Community Support Fund,” ETC’s Illawarra Business Coordinator Annelies Voorthuis said.

“The fund is designed to help organisations improve the social and economic development of local communities and we are confident the money we are donating will help make a more positive future for our community.

“Since 1989, ETC has placed over 51,000 Australians into jobs, trained more than 23,000 people, helped over 34,000 small businesses to start-up and grow, and contributed in excess of $25 million to the local communities in which we operate.”

The next round of the ETC Community Support Fund opens on Monday 14 July and closes on Sunday 31 August.

Visit http://enterpriseandtrainingcompany.com.au/csf/ for more information and/or to apply.

For further information about Angels for Autism and the Autism Support Kits visit www.angelsforautism.com.au