My first experience with Lifestart was in 1999, when my son was 2 years old. At this time, my son had some obvious, but undiagnosed developmental delays, including a severe speech disorder and low muscle tone. I was told about Lifestart by my son’s speech pathologist and after some initial doubt decided that it couldn’t hurt to have a look. This first step was probably the hardest that I had to make. Approaching a new group of people whose children all had special needs was daunting. Up until that time, I had tried to pursuade myself that my son’s delays were nothing to worry about. But as time went on, the differences between him and his peers became more apparent. I had started to feel alienated from my friends and their children. Their kids were all walking and talking and getting up to all sorts of mischief - we still had so far to go.

So we attended the Inner West playgroup and were welcomed into what felt like a family. My son and I no longer felt like outcasts as there were other families with similar issues to us. I came home from the first playgroup terribly excited, happy at last to have found people that I could relate to. We kept returning and each playgroup session saw my son playing and learning from a Speech Therapist, Physiotherapist and an Occupational Therapist, not to mention the other children. There were volunteers at the playgroup who helped care for siblings and I was quickly drawn into a parent support network.

From a personal perspective, the support that we as parents of special needs children can offer each other is a wonderful thing. To be able to talk with other parents who could understand what I was experiencing. I recall one mother who initially came to Lifestart playgroups in tears every week. Her frustrations with the issues of raising a child with special needs were proving too great for her to cope with. However, we all knew what she was experiencing and be able to offer support. I’ve seen many a parent, myself included, shedding tears of frustration - however surrounded by parents who can empathise with the day to day struggles, we somehow seem to make the obstacles more manageable.

My son participated in the playgroups for about a year, and around this time his delays were becoming more obvious. We were also having problems with some behavioural issues. So Lifestart came to the party with 1:1 consultations for him. I had a Special Educator visit us regularly at home to provide early intervention for Sam and advice for me about how to deal with his problem behaviours.

In 2001, my son finally received the diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and with that came a new set of challenges for our family. And as always, Lifestart was there. The staff were there to advise me and be a sounding board for my ideas and the parents were there to lend a shoulder.

Autistic children and adults have their own way of viewing the world and I needed a lot of help to try and understand his world. Lifestart provided me with many of those insights. For example, my son relies heavily on routines to provide him with comfort in such an uncertain world. Knowing what will happen next is very important to his peace of mind. Our special educator showed me how to use pictures to help him plan his day in advance. We now have a huge monthly planner white board hung in his bedroom so that we can show him not only what will happen this afternoon, but what will happen next week. And exactly when that upcoming, longed for event will take place.