Lily Leigh and Maria Mulhall at the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel
Mick Burnett, Louise Moran and their son Oisín at the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel
Guest speaker Denzil Jacobs with Oisín Moran
Committee members Paul Brennan, Ben Brennan, Mary Moran, Triona Kirwan and Louise Moran at the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel
Pictured at the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel Denis and Deirdre Pender with Elaine and Paul Doogue
Liam and Breda McDonald with Annie and Paul Brennan
At the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel Gareth and Aideen McLoughlin
Cllr Fintan Phelan and his wife Sinead
Anna-Lisa Brennan, Katie and Gavin Walsh and Ian Redmond
Louise Moran and Chloe Murray
Pictured at the Autism Heroes Gala Dinner in the Talbot Hotel Michael Hoy, Joan Moran, Nicholas Comerford, Emmet Mulhall, Natalie Shaw and Chloe Murray
Lauren O’Toole and Eddie O’Byrne
By Sarah Slater
CHILDREN are missing out completely on early intervention, which is key to a child’s success, believes local mum Louise Moran.
Her son Oisin received an autism diagnosis when he was three years’ old while living in Perth, Western Australia.
Ms Moran explained: “He had weekly therapy from the moment he was diagnosed. Oisin went through early intervention school-age therapy and home therapy – all on a weekly basis.”
However, five years later, the family returned to Ireland when Oisin was almost eight.
“The shock of how poor the services were here was when I started Autism Heroes … before early intervention, Oisin had very minimal speech, very little social skills, had to work extremely hard on emotional regulation and he also received a diagnosis of sensory processing disorder.
“We couldn’t really go out to a restaurant or go to the shops as it would mostly end in a meltdown, especially if someone happened to look at him or speak to him.”
But now he can get up on stage, as he did at the recent gala dinner in front of a packed room, is in a mainstream school, has excellent social skills and emotional regulation skills.
Ms Moran continued: “All this is a direct link to his time at the Autism Association of WA and especially early intervention. So our goal for Autism Heroes is to provide services to autistic children with a model very similar to the Australian one.
“Our gala dinner was a fundraiser and awareness to how poor the services are. The waiting list in Ireland is years long and the waiting list for services is even longer.
“Children are missing out completely on early intervention, which is key to a child’s success. It can mean the difference between a child speaking or not for the rest of their life. It’s so important to get our message out there.”
Ms Moran started the group two years ago, when she held a coffee morning in Killeshin. “I expected one of two people to turn up, but more than 30 did, so Autism Heroes has snowballed.
Minister of state Seán Fleming, who attended the gala dinner, has given a commitment to Ms Moran to bring her group to the attention of those in Leinster House.
“I have a roadmap of the Australian model, which can be easily implemented here,” she added.
The first-ever gala dinner raised up to €4,000, with some 150 people in attendance. “A huge amount of work was put into organising this big event. A lot more people have jumped on board to help with the gala dinner planned for next year, so I’m thrilled,” concluded Ms Moran.
