Hope for those with Autism

Grab your tissues and watch this video.

A new centre, the first of its kind in Western Australia, designed to help children with autism and developmental delays, was launched in East Fremantle, near Perth, Western Australia on Wednesday of last week.

The centre, known as the Learning, Education and Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.), aims to ensure that children suspected of having autism or developmental delays are diagnosed and receive intensive treatment at the earliest possible time.

L.E.A.R.N. was established by Perth woman Mandy Mason, whose daughter was diagnosed with autism in 2006 at the age of two. That’s Mandy and Juliette in the video.

I had the privilege of interviewing Mandy during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM last week. It was a delight to hear the passion Mandy has for the centre and the help that is being provided for dozens of families.

You can hear my chat with Mandy by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

If you’ve had experience with Autism I’d really appreciate hearing a little bit of your story through the comments section of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR281108_1550.mp3]

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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3 Comments

  • The earlier the intervention, the better outcome for the child.
    That is good news, this centre will do wonders for so many others, too 🙂

  • That is awesome stuff Rodney. There really is hope. What a huge improvement after only eight months!

    My overwhelming thought after watching this is that in years gone by kids with Autism and similar conditions were often abandoned in homes and parents told to have another child. Imagine how many lives would be different if LEARN was available then.

    Thanks for sharing this on your blog. I will be sharing it with others.

  • Phew, well you did warn us. What an emotionally charged video. When I did my swimteacher conference in Oct we had a workshop on Autism as well, there’s a school in Bayswater with a pool and we had one of the ladies talking to us, it’s amazing what they can do today for little kids.
    Thanks for sharing.

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