Published: Wednesday, 19th November, 2008 12:00pm

Concerned parents call for autism support

Bright Stars autism support group are making an urgent plea for families affected by autism to get in touch with them, so that they can rally support for their ongoing efforts for a special school for children with autism to be set up in this region.

The Kingscourt-based group currently has five members but they believe there are many more people who would benefit from the Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) tutoring that they are seeking to have made available in the Cavan area.

'We want anybody who is touched by autism to know that we"re here. This is a problem that"s not going to go away,' said Bright Stars member Maeve Leahy, whose little son Josh has autism.

The group of concerned parents have been campaigning in recent years for the Department of Education to provide the ABA tutoring, a special type of teaching that arguably helps address the behaviour of autistic children with some reports suggesting that children will improve sufficiently to progress to mainstream education if ABA is provided early in childhood.

Bright Stars organised a major fundraising event in Cabra Castle on November 9, and Maeve was 'overwhelmed' by the response from the local community. 'The venue was packed to the doors for the event. We couldn"t believe all the support we had and we would like to thank everybody for that,' she said. Among the acts on the night were Tom O"Rourke"s Joe Dolan tribute, Scoil Rince Reanna, The Runaway Boys and former rock "n" roll dance champions, Ann and Pat Watters.

The night raised €10,000 and all proceeds will go to providing ABA education for the children.

The Bright Stars group are working with Kevin Whelan, CEO, Irish Autism Action, who has voiced his support for the cause. 'In partnership with Bright Stars Irish Autism Action want to lobby to establish autism-specific education provisions in the Co. Cavan area. The challenge is to identify to the State that there is sufficient need for this service to warrant its establishment. The only way we can do this is by community support,' said Mr. Whelan.

The group recently had a meeting with the Department of Education in Navan, where they also met a representative of the National Council for Special Education. Maeve told the Anglo-Celt that while these worried parents have a long way to go with their battle the meeting was 'a step in the right direction'.