I'm a mother with an autistic daughter running the Auckland half marathon to raise money to help local kids with learning disabilities.
Auckland
In September last year my daughter Scarlett (pictured) then just turned 3 was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism and a global developmental delay. Given her typical development till about the age of 2 and a half this came as a massive shock as I had never heard of regressive autism.
It has taken me a whole year to really understand what this means and learn to understand her needs and how to help her to develop new skills. She is an amazing girl and I know she will achieve great things with the right assistance.
She has a teacher aide at kindy from the ministry of education but due to minimal funding she only receives a few hours a week. I was shocked to learn that once she starts school she may not receive any additional funding despite her difficulties with understanding and concentrating on what people are saying.
Knowing what autistic people are capable of with the right support (think Mozart, Bill Gates and Charles Darwin), I think we have an opportunity to make a massive impact on the lives of children with autism and other learning disabilities.
I am thankful that we are in an incredibly privileged position, if Scarlett needs teacher aide support we will, with some careful accounting, be able to pay for it but there are a huge number of other families who aren't so lucky.
When my friend suggested to me last year that I run a half marathon with her I dismissed it thinking I had never been a runner and in particular had no desire to run 21km! However, the more I thought about it I realised if I could make it through the last year I could absolutely run 21km. Better yet it could be the something I could do for myself and offer the opportunity to help others. In training I am now up to 16km running in Titirangi hills so I really know now that I can do this.
I am asking everyone to please sponsor me to run the Auckland Half Marathon on 28 October. The money raised will go to funding additional teacher aide hours for kids in need in West Auckland's Fruitvale School. I chose this school as I met 2 parents at a recent autism course who's son goes to the school and they told me what a great school it was and how their son was really making progress. I know the school could do so much more if they had some extra funding.
Even $1 per km I run will give one child an hour of one-on-one learning they wouldn't have otherwise had so please help if you can!
As a parent of an autistic child who understands the needs of children with learning difficulties, I wanted to fund additional teacher aide hours for local kids in need of extra support.
The money will go to Fruitvale primary school to fund additional teacher aide hours for their students most in need.
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