About Oscars100

While Sue never inferred Oscar showed signs of typical behaviour of kids living with autism she did notice traits that differentiated him from other kids in his group. We will never be able to thank Sue enough for having the courage in her convictions to make us aware of her concerns. Without Sue, Oscars Autism may have gone undiagnosed for years.

While shocked at Oscars initial diagnosis of Autism, both my wife and I decided to act straight away and enrol Oscar into private therapy to begin to understand what we were dealing with and how we can best manage it to give Oscar every opportunity in the world. Luckily for us we had money saved for home renovations that we could use to pay for this therapy.

Oscar was enrolled into speech and occupational therapy first. This therapy continued for four months along with a succession of paediatrician and psychology sessions until we received the final diagnosis that Oscar was a child living with Autism. Over this period of time we had racked up bills in excess of $5000.

Unfortunately not every family is in a financial position to be able to put their child through private therapy. While the Government Funded System is fantastic and full of some of the most caring and helpful people, they are extremely over worked and under resourced. Financial assistance from the Government is provided, and is substantial, but can take upwards of 18 months to receive and as early intervention is the key to living with Autism this delay in funding can be crucial to the child’s development.

Since the initial Oscar diagnosis he has come a long way and his younger brother Archie has also been diagnosed on the spectrum. While they may face challenges through life, they already has a loving network of friends and family who are always there to get them through. What they has been able to learn since the initial diagnosis has been inspiring and as a result we wanted to use this inspiration to help other families with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Early Intervention programs have been recognised to dramatically improve the performance of children with Autism, preparing them for mainstream education and even eventual independence.

Oscars100 raises funds to supply state of the art technology used to help deliver early intervention programs. This includes items such as iPads, Tablets, PCs, Interactive Whiteboards and smart TVs.

Since its creation in 2013 Oscars100 has provided over $50,000 in donations to organisations such as Amaze (Autism Victoria) and Irabina.