A BRAVE mum fears for the mental health of her 12-year-old autistic son whose self esteem is so low she has had to black out the windows of her car to prevent him from being seen in public.
And it’s all the result of him having no access to vital therapy.
The Oireachtas yesterday heard how children have been suffering since the therapy service was withdrawn from schools in 2019.
Suzanne O’Flynn said when her son Luke attended the Sonas Special Primary Junior school in Carrigaline, Co Cork for four years he thrived.
He moved to St Killian’s Special School in Cork in 2018 and was unable to access multidisciplinary services including occupation therapy, and speech and language services.
The once happy and active boy has regressed.
He is now housebound, suffers severe anxiety, reduced school hours and limited social interactions.
SELF ESTEEM ISSUES
Luke’s self esteem has plummeted so much that his mum cannot sleep at night because she fears the worst after he told her “I don’t want to be here. I want to die”.
Suzanne told PJ Coogan on 96FM’s Opinion Line that the meeting with TDs was positive but “the penny would really want to be dropping at this stage”.
She added: “They’d want to be getting it. Parents are crying out for help. We shouldn’t have to, but we have to.
“My son is 12, so I’m kind of fighting the system about 10 years at this stage.”
She continued: “It hasn’t even started for the schools that have got it in September. There’s no therapist coming to any schools. So the pilot scheme already has failed.”
The distraught mum was full of praise for the Sonas school Luke attended from age three to six.
She said: “My son was non-verbal, he was a major flight risk and everything. And the work that Barbara and her team did there, changing lives was amazing.
“Luke is a fantastic kid. He had his issues and his struggles but we worked together. We got loads done and then for it to be taken away from him and the detrimental effect that has had on him is nothing short of horrendous.
‘HOUSEBOUND’
“My son is housebound. He doesn’t leave the house. He’s on reduced school hours and reduced school days.
“He can’t cope. He goes around with a hood up. He doesn’t want people to see his face. His anxiety is through the roof. He doesn’t want to interact with anybody. He’s locked away in his room all day. It’s horrendous.
“Early intervention is a major key. We did all the early intervention. We’ve done everything we were asked for. I went to every course that was asked of me. I attended every meeting that was asked of me and it was all taken away.
“So all the progress he made in Sonas, has all been erased.
“I had a very happy, go lucky child, don’t get me wrong, we had our meltdowns and our issues. We had all the norm that comes with his diagnosis.
“But I had a child that was in water from March until October in wetsuits with me.
“We were out and about. We were in every forest in Ireland, every walkway that could be found, every beach that we could go to, we went to.”
‘IT’S HORRENDOUS’
She continued: “Now he can’t come outside the door. The extreme is where our car windows have to be completely tinted out in black so people can’t see him.
“It’s horrendous when you’re looking at your child suffering. I always kind of knew what to do or where to go or what to say and for the last few years, I’m just here looking going, ‘I don’t know what to do for him anymore. I don’t know what I should do, what I can do. Who can I talk to?’
“I’m writing letters, I’m sending emails. We’re battling constantly, trying to sort everything and it’s falling on deaf ears.
“You’re being passed from post to pillar. It’s a multidisciplinary team that is needed throughout a child’s life when they’re on the spectrum. In school it makes a world of a difference. I’ve seen it. He’s living proof of it.
“I’ve seen what it’s done for him and I see what it hasn’t done for him.
“Now I’m on 24/7 watch almost – three, four hours sleep, max.
“I’m usually sitting in my kitchen at three o’clock in the morning wondering what’s the next step? Where do I go next? What can I do to help?
“He said he doesn’t want to be here? Can you actually go into bed and close your eyes and switch off your brain and actually relax your body? It’s impossible. You can’t.”