I awoke this morning to an email from the Director of Harri's ABA centre to inform me it had to close it's doors effective immediately. The reason, lack of funding support from government. The centre Harri attends is the only one of its kind where I live in Perth. It is run by a BCBA from New York, and has always been committed to excellence and respect for the young children who attend. It was more than a therapeutic environment to us, it was a community. A place of connection with other families. And a place where Harri was valued, adored and was making great progress.
To think any autism service can close it's doors due to lack of government support in this day and age is quite perplexing, and for our family and all those who attended the centre, incredibly sad.
To think any autism service can close it's doors due to lack of government support in this day and age is quite perplexing, and for our family and all those who attended the centre, incredibly sad.
How terrible.
ReplyDeleteYes SS, and the thing is I live in an economy that is booming thanks to the mining sector here. There's plenty of money about.
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to see such a wonderful centre close its doors. Not fair. Where will Harri and the others go?
ReplyDeleteThanks Penny, Harri will go back to the other service Ive blogged about previously, and in the meantime I will run programs at home. As for other parents, I don't know. My heart breaks for them.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that, such a shame. Very hard when this happens; when you find a good place and good progress is being made, and then it's taken away despite its success. Perhaps something or someone will hear about the closure and step-up to get it back on track, and in the meantime it might be worth letting the government know about the loss and the consequences of the loss, from a parent's point of view.
ReplyDeleteThanks a&O, the government are well aware. The issue was all over the news and print media last night, with Ministers being asked to respond. I think it's the end of the line for this service sadly.
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