Noni and Joshua Hill, Big House director Andre Van Eymeren, Tracey O’Brien and son Matthew.
By Paul Dunlop
THREE Pakenham mothers have banded together to form a support group for parents of children with Aspergers Syndrome.
The mums, who each have children who suffer from the condition, have joined church group Big House Communities to run the Cardiniawide group a first for the area.
“Children with Aspergers Syndrome are said to ‘walk to the beat of their own drum’,” support group facilitator Tracey O’Brien said.
“While appearing ‘normal’ to their peers, Aspergers children have a unique way of viewing the world around them.
“They lack the ability to empathise with others, make friends and learn what most would consider the social norms.
“All this can lead to the Aspergers child being isolated, avoided, labelled as ‘different’, ‘naughty’ or even ‘antisocial’.”
Asperger experts say that for parents of these children, each day is a new learning process.
Trying to understand why their child thinks, acts and says the things that do is challenging to say the least.
A lack of general understanding of this condition doesn’t help the situation either, Ms O’Brien said.
“Constant criticism is heaped on the parents of an Aspergers child, as generally people perceive the child merely requires a firmer parental hand. That somehow the parent has failed in their child rearing and that discipline in the home is severely lacking.”
In order to address these issues and offer much needed support, Big House Communities is helping to establish the group.
“Parents face challenges every day with their children, helping them learn the basics of how to get along with others, take responsibility for themselves and their actions, what it means to learn in a classroom and so on,” Big House Communities director Andre Van Eymeren said.
“However this becomes a lot more complex if the child is simply not able to recognise the social behaviour that most of us take for granted.
“The support group will be informal regularly meeting in houses for coffee mornings and the sharing of ideas, strategies, support and humour.”
Guest speakers who have first hand knowledge of these issues are planned to share their insight.
The first meeting will feature an Aspergers adult who will speak on his experiences of growing up with the syndrome.
The group hopes to develop a set of guidelines that will not only be of use to other parents but also be incorporated in schools, clubs and any area providing a service to children with Aspergers.
For further information please contact Tracey O’Brien on 5940 1858 or Andre Van Eymeren at Big House Communities on 5941 8147.
