New appointee extra help for autistic children

Autistic children and their families in the Whanganui District Health Board's region will be gaining with the appointment of an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) co-ordinator who will work in the district two days a week.

Social worker Sasha Naicker will cover this area while Sheree Wilton will cover the MidCentral DHB area providing a full-time ASD service for children and their families, who until recently had little or no support.

Having regional roles across the centralAlliance region are not new, having Ms Naicker employed two days a week in Wanganui and Ms Wilton, three days a week in Palmerston North, is a variation on what has been done to date.

South African-born Ms Naicker and her colleague are among the first ASD coordinators to be appointed to New Zealand's 20 DHBs.

Ms Naicker says she became interested in autism while working for Wanganui's Open Home Foundation where some clients were autistic.

"Inspired by their families, I researched the condition and learnt that if children are diagnosed early, the interventions and support that are available can make a significant difference to the children and their families," she said.

But children at the low end of the spectrum often fell through the gaps because they did not qualify to receive the same support given to those at the high end.

"It's widely recognised that children with autism behave differently with some children's behaviour more extreme than others," she said.

Ms Naicker said working with paediatricians, schools, parents, GPs, public health nurses and anyone else involved in the child's life and linking families to the right resources was a critical part of her work.

Meantime, Tim Dunn has been appointed regional occupational therapy professional adviser to provide professional leadership and advice to occupational therapy staff and managers across both health boards.

Mr Dunn has worked as an occupational therapy adviser at MidCentral Health for several years and other clinical areas.

He began his career in Wanganui in 1990 working with the elderly in what was Wanganui Hospital's Newcombe Ward and then at Lake Alice Hospital.