Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Australian mothers provide autism information to other parents


The mothers are part of the parent-led Blue Mountains Action and Support Group in a more rural part New South Wales and try to assist other parents of children with autism in finding resources, The Blue Mountains Gazette reports.

"A lot of us have already been through it and there's a real resource base here — we know pediatricians, we've used speech therapists," says Sarah Kelly, whose 10-year-old son Caius has moderate autism. "We're here and we understand how hard it is."

"When a child has just been diagnosed parents are in shock. They really need support," said Dee Conlon, mother of six-year-old Ethan. "It's at a time when they have to motivate themselves to get the services for their child, and I think a lot of the time people go into denial and don't even accept the diagnosis because it's too big."