Scathing attack on lack of autism services

A support group for parents of children with autism has launched a scathing attack on the level of service in the HSE Mid-Leinster region Laois Offaly Families for Autism (LOFFA), in a hard-hitting statement, accused the HSE of failing to meet the needs of their children. The group said it had for many years been concerned with what it claimed was the growing lack of therapy provision to children with autism in the HSE Mid-Leinster region. It claimed the failure to provide sufficient early intervention in Laois/Offaly was severely compromising the future of children with autism in the region. It said in the past seven years, its membership has grown from 80 to 250 families and continues to grow every month. Chairman of LOFFA Gerry Loughlin said: "There is a mountain of evidence which shows that the best outcome for these children is achieved by intensive early intervention such as Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy and Psychology." He explained the alternative cost to the State, where children have failed to receive the early intervention they required in their formative years, was €100,000 annually for each child who requires a residential place for the remainder of their life. "The outcome for both the individual and the State is solely dependent upon the quality and quantity of early intervention," he argued. Mr Loughlin said the individual can face a lifetime of frustration and fear because they have not been given the opportunity to learn to communicate, or understand the world around them. The local HSE early intervention team has responsibility to look after children up to five years of age. However, LOFFA has claimed that when concerns regarding autism emerge, generally at the age of two, it can take over a year for the child to be assessed by the HSE early intervention team and a further two to three years to be seen by an occupational therapist. "By the time the child reaches the end of the waiting list he/she is too old to be seen by the early intervention team, so rather than providing them with the therapy they need, they are referred to the end of yet another waiting list. "It is very clear to all that many children are slipping through the net, their needs neglected, and their futures severely compromised," he said. In Laois, the current waiting list for Occupational Therapy is three years and 150 children long, although LOFFA believes there the waiting times in Offaly are slightly less. He also criticised the cutbacks in resource hours and SNA support to children in mainstream schools. And he claimed there was a policy within government departments to deny assistance to families on first application, forcing parents to spend hours appealing such services. "This time would be far better spent on their hands and knees interacting with their child, rather than on their hands and knees interacting with faceless administrator who have no clinical competence, trying to explain the many and varied complexities of autism," Mr Loughlin added.