16 Carter’s story At the age of three Carter was non-verbal. The child care centre said, ‘give him time’. They thought his speech might have been delayed because ‘his siblings were talking for him’. But his mother knew something wasn’t right; he wouldn’t talk, seemed distant and wouldn’t play with other children. At the age of three (two and half years into child care), Carter was officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). His specialist tried to speak to the child care centre about their experiences with him but struggled to get straight answers. The specialist recommended some services for Carter, including SDN Beranga. Carter’s mum signed him up for SDN Beranga’s waitlist, and in the meantime visited the centre with Carter. They spent two hours at the centre, with Carter exploring every inch. Carter started part-time at SDN Beranga, and they taught him to communicate through images so he could explain what he liked and what he didn’t. This meant he became less frustrated, his confidence evolved, and the tantrums lessened. He learnt how to express when he was happy and when he was sad. A lot of the screaming stopped as SDN Beranga helped unlock all of Carter’s feelings. As his mum says, ‘SDN Beranga allowed Carter to be a little kid. With his communication skills, he also learnt how to play with the other children. They even got him dressing up! ‘In the past my other, older children struggled to interact with him. Now my whole family takes turns to read to him at night. The effect SDN Beranga has had on all of us is indescribable.’ After 18 months SDN had provided Carter with all the necessary skills to transition out of the centre. Carter is now six and in a local mainstream primary school class. Carter’s mum continues, ‘The moment I realised that things had really changed was on day three of orientation [at school]. He got up on stage with his class and sang a song and was even doing the actions. I had never seen him sing before. I was in tears; it was the final piece of the puzzle. He even got invited to his first birthday party recently — I obviously responded YES immediately! I am so incredibly appreciative of SDN Beranga and proud of my son!’. Carter was in a mainstream child care centre from the time he was six months old. At around 18 months his mother was told by a paediatrician that she believed Carter had autism, but the child care centre he was going to at the time didn’t agree.