My gorgeous smiling baby met all of her milestones beautifully. It was a surprise for when as a toddler she fell behind her peers, and just never caught up. The GP looked at me strangely when I described her obsession with food/gorging and certain toys/games she would fixate on, and the pediatrician also had no answers, just to wait and see. She was an extremely social child (still is!) so autism wasn’t on their radar. When she was diagnosed by a psychologist they were somewhat surprised. I was too, until I read about it, and my gorgeous girl ticked most of the boxes. Like the psychologist said, she is “over friendly”, and I still hear many people not diagnosing because of “friendliness”, without really breaking that down (i.e. it isn’t a true two-way conversation without help with the social rules). Aside from that, diagnosis is just the beginning of a long journey. It was a nice surprise to find that there was funding and support – but which support is the big question? I felt bombarded with all the information, and with a child who ran around the room instead of participating in different therapies, I felt I was wasting time and money.

Preschool wasn’t a huge issue, as she loved the routine and the adults! But school – WOW! What a roller coaster ride that has been! We thought we were doing the right thing by going to a school that was for children on the autism spectrum. Unfortunately she was so anxious in that environment that her day was about behaviour management, I don’t think she learnt a single thing. We found that she was out of control at school and therefore at home. We started with the Three C’s and had great success at home as we had a common language to communicate with that took the confusion out of everyday life. Unfortunately, school kept escalating. Home was clear – school was confusing – so I had to home school her.

Through it all Naomi was a wonderful advocate that my daughter could succeed in mainstream school, especially if the school also took on the Three C’s! We found a lovely school (after being pretty much rejected by our local school for being too high needs), and the teacher took on the program for the whole class. My daughter has now been in mainstream, with no teacher’s assistant/funding for 1.5 years. She is older because we had to repeat the lost years from her old school, but socially she is younger anyway, so she fits in and is keeping up (and excelling in science/maths), despite her challenges with sensory issues and language.

She now has a lifelong skill of knowing what is green and how to manage when she isn’t having a good moment or day. We are now getting back into her therapies because she can be in control to participate (i.e. the smiley chart comes to speech therapy, it is a lovely way to help motivate a child through the hard times).

Without this program I really don’t know where we would be. It has been a life changer for us, especially since our five year old was labelled as “violent, destructive, and complex”! I am so glad we threw those labels away and chose Naomi as our child’s support and advocate.
Lou

“Naomi Richards is the most compassionate person I know. Our little boy has Pervasive Development Delay and with her expertise and understanding he has come so far. He looks forward to his special time with ‘Omi’. I would highly recommend her to anyone with a child with special needs.”.