As a parent of a child with disabilities, future planning has become increasingly important. As both my son, Matthew, and I grow older, it’s vital that he has the right supports in place to build life skills and continue developing his independence. We’re a close-knit mother-son unit, with no immediate family nearby other than an elderly aunt and uncle in NSW. It was important to me that Matthew had opportunities to build fundamental life skills and improve his social connections. Many of life’s little lessons - like learning to tie shoelaces, cooking a simple meal, or for a young man, learning how to shave - can be easily taken for granted. For my son, these have been significant milestones, and DLi’s Specialist Behaviour Support Team has played a key role in helping him achieve them. Matthew has been working with the team for several years now. Their support has helped him grow his day-to-day skills, including cooking, and build confidence in social settings. As a mum, nothing brings me more joy than seeing him come out of his shell, connect with others, and discover new interests - like his love for ten-pin bowling.

As a parent, there is no greater joy than seeing your child achieve – even more so as the parent of a child with disability. Our son Ben has Autism, Auditory Processing, speech and communication delays, which have meant that some of life’s milestones have been more challenging for him to achieve. We noticed that he was quite behind in his social skills, particularly in the important areas of budgeting, routines, and healthy meal planning and preparation. Social engagement was a major priority – he was really struggling to build friendships and needed support to develop those skills. Megan from DLi has worked closely with Ben to build new skills and implement a plan to help him initiate and sustain conversations. It’s been wonderful to see him now heading out with groups of friends on weekends. He’s more confident, more social, and we’ve seen a marked improvement in his willingness to connect with others. Consistency has been key. Having all of his supports – his Support Coordinator, Support Workers, and of course Megan – on the same page and working together has made a real difference in helping him reach his goals. As ageing parents, and with our other child having moved out of home, we used to feel we needed to be at home to help Ben manage everyday life. Since working with DLi, we’ve been able to step back. Ben now needs far less day-to-day support from us, which has been life changing. We even went away on holiday recently, confident that he could independently care for himself and the family dog. We enjoyed the break, he enjoyed the independence, and the dog was alive when we got home – wins all round!