My son began the weekly social skills program run by Autism Action a couple of months before his 5th birthday. He has a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome and many sensory related issues. He's also one cheeky, stubborn, questioning little boy! We had been seeing a psychologist to help with his behavioral problems when it came to interacting with other people, children in particular, as he was quite aggressive and although he could tell you about 'social rules' he seemed unable to implement them in practice. His kindergarten experience was extremely negative resulting in his father and I withdrawing him from the program. Although we were doing our own early intervention at home, we were in need of a peer group for him, within a supportive framework.
When I heard about the social skills program run by Autism Auction, I put my name down and spoke to the psychologist about it. She had suggested we stop the sessions with her because my son was so oppositional and 'silly' and nothing was being achieved-- essentially we were just wasting our money. The psychologist suggested we give the social skills program a go, but that she felt it probably wouldn't work with my son due to his extremely stubborn, oppositional and defiant behavior and his tendency to hit other children and throw things around and deliberately be silly. To be honest, I agreed with her and felt that my challenging son would be one of those "too hard" children.
Before the program began, I spoke on the phone with Sian and Narelle, as well as exchanging email with a lot of background information on my son.
I'm very well versed in Asperger's and have read extensively about the conditions and behaviors my son has as well as various strategies for early intervention, yet whenever I'd talk to a professional I was treated as if I knew nothing, or worse, that I was not doing anything to help my son in terms of early intervention. You can imagine my relief when Sian and Narelle listened to me and not once assumed I didn't have a clue. Even more, they told me they would work with me and follow any cues I thought best to give-- they definitely understood that I knew my son best. I had previously experienced the opposite of that with some professionals, who assumed to know my child better than I did and as a result, give us advice and strategies which simply didn't work and made matters worse.
I was extremely impressed with Sian and Narelle's willingness to work with me instead of just telling me what to do and at the same time I was more than happy to defer to them both and learn from their experience. After talking to them, I began to feel a sense of hope that my son would improve his problem behaviors because Sian and Narelle really seemed to 'get it', even without me having met them.
The first session went as expected, with my son being all over the place, hitting, spitting, being oppositional and defiant (he gets very overwhelmed and can react negatively, whether impulsively or not). I was very impressed with the calm manner in which Sian, Narelle and Biddy dealt with this. It took a few weeks for my son to settle in, even though he'd still get a little worked up and carried away for most of the sessions. Again, the staff were wonderful with him.I also appreciate that Sian, Biddy and Narelle will advise you on a 'better' way of handling a given situation. 
They do so in a supportive way, not in a way that makes you feel stupid or incompetent. They fully understand what it is like for parents of children on the spectrum and their compassionate approach is one that I will always be thankful for. I felt supported and listened to throughout the sessions.
The changes in my "too hard" son have been amazing. During one session, the children were working in groups of three at a table, discussing friendship. I was stunned to see my son willingly walk to the table and sit with the other children and work cooperatively, engaging beautifully when it came to sharing and waiting his turn. At his kindergarten he would never have done this, instead he would have upset the work of others, provoking them, hitting them and so on. He was never able to work cooperatively because there was no supportive environment, which in turn escalated his behaviors.
My son also has very low self esteem and due to the treatment he received at his kindergarten, he came away with the feeling that he was 'bad', 'rude', 'and horrible’ (words that had been used to describe him). I truly believe that the positive approaches used by Autism Action have helped him increase his self esteem and confidence, especially where friendships are concerned, and erase some of the poor feelings he had about himself.
He had no friends, as he would quickly alienate other children with his dominant, 'anti-social' behavior. He never received an invitation to birthday parties or play dates. Parents in the park would tell him he was a nasty little boy (he wanted to play with the children but didn't understand the social rules involved and that pushing a child over is not how you play).
Nobody saw him the way his family did, which is a delightful, happy, bright little boy who just wants to have friends and be liked. He would sometimes cry at home saying "I don't have any friends because nobody likes me".
I'm sure there are people reading this who may have a similar experience of being the parent of the child nobody wants to play with. It creates a deeply sad place in your heart, especially when you see that your child wants to have friends but nobody is willing to give them a chance. So you can imagine how overjoyed I am now that my son can interact more positively with other children. There have been many occasions where he has run over to me at the park, happily shouting "guess what Mummy! I just made a friend!" I have seen him carry on conversations with children with no prompting from me.
Autism Action have helped my son with these successes. People who hadn't seen my son in a while all commented on how he has really improved. He will be a 'work in progress' for some time to come but Sian, Biddy and Narelle have been instrumental in helping him along his way. Better yet, he has really enjoyed his time there and talks of his friends :)
I will always be grateful to the wonderful, dedicated team at Autism Action!
-FC Dec. 2009