The father of an autistic child broke down on live radio, sharing the proud moment his family found out about their son’s top VCE score
Camille Bassanese is autistic and found comfort in a spoon set sold at Kmart before they were discontinued. Her mum Nedra D’Souza approached Kmart and they not only searched for more spoons but will bring their old range back.
The dad of an autistic boy tearfully shared the moment he found out his son scored a 99.45 ATAR on his Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), sharing the hurdles their family overcame to achieve the result.
Identifying himself as just Ross, the Victorian dad shared his story on 3AW and said his son was the “most inspiring young man” he’d ever met.
“Our journey started 15 years ago when my son was told by the paediatrician that he’ll never go to a mainstream school and today he got a 99.45,” he said.
Ross said his wife stopped working to support their son and became an integration aid at his school. The dad-of-two also said there were times in the early stages of his son’s schooling where he and his wife had to pick him up from school early due to difficulties, with fears their son might not become an “independent adult”.
While they weren’t anticipating such a high score – Ross said they just wanted a mark which displayed his work ethic – his son eclipsed expectations and won valedictorian at his school.
“He’s done everything and he’s gotten this amazing score,” continued Ross.
“There was some significant punching in the air and some bubbly to calm the nerves.”
Now that he’s achieved the mark, Ross said his son wanted to pursue game design, a decision which he supports fully. Sharing the advice he gave to his son, Ross told him to “not worry about money and just do what you want to do and be happy.”
On Twitter, listeners shared their praise after the segment aired on Thursday morning.
“His young fella with #autism was told he would never go to mainstream school. This morning he got a score of 99.45. Amazing work,” tweeted one listener.
“What a legend! Those with #autism offer such a wonderful perspective of the world that often we wouldn’t have otherwise! All the best to him,” shared another.
Sharing his words of advice to other parents of autistic children, Ross said their parenting approach was to “try everything as long as it did no harm”. This included experiences with food to karate and other activities to help build resilience and develop as best he could.
“We never thought we’d get to this position, we never thought we’d get him through school,” he said.
“Ten years ago it was a very bleak, dark, place we were all in … but today it’s everything.
“It's just been a long and hard journey, there’s no doubt about it but for him to get that score today, it’s been the best thing in my life.”
from https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/best-thing-in-my-life-dad-breaks-down-over-autistic-sons-9945-vce-score/news-story/bb9e8706fb77f58e1038b1263beb26f9