Can you remember the day your child opened their first present?
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Martin de Graaf and Amber Rout can. Their son, Leo, was eight years old, and needed months of therapy to get there.
"That birthday, he opened all his presents. At Christmas he opened every present under the tree and everyone else's," Mr de Graaf said. Even the little decorative presents on the tree.
"After eight years of your child not opening a present, it gets pretty depressing, when you have birthdays and Christmas, and every other kid's excited," Ms Rout said. "You give him all these presents then you wake up in the morning and they're all still sitting there. I've got to open them."
Ms Rout said Leo probably didn't understand there was something inside the wrapping. Leo has autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability and needed therapy and care to live "like a normal child". When the family moved to Moruya, a carer looked after Leo a couple of hours a fortnight, and he saw a speech therapist once a month - it wasn't nearly enough.
"We really needed therapy and services to help control Leo at that stage because he wasn't sleeping, he was crying, melting down all the time, sensory overloaded," Mr de Graaf said.
High school's daunting, but now we know we've got this team behind us
- Amber Rout
Leo is sensitive to noise, could not concentrate, pushed people away and hit himself when upset. Ms Rout coped day-to-day: "It was lonely and very isolating."
The couple even separated at one stage. "It was too hard," Mr de Graff said.
Then everything changed. Occupational therapist Jessica Hannan arrived in the area, and worked with Leo opening presents, blowing out candles, playing balloon tennis, and even eating cucumber and carrot instead of bland, processed foods. "It's little, tiny things people take for granted," Ms Rout said.
Mr de Graaf said NDIS helped them afford one-on-one care, and brought therapists to the area: "Without NDIS, I don't think we'd be in the position we are now. Therapists had no incentive to come to the area." The family can now afford two casual support workers, and a weekly occupational and speech therapy session. Mr de Graaf said the family had made more progress in two years, than in the first eight. "High school's a bit daunting, but now we know we've got this team behind us, and behind Leo, we feel a bit more comfortable," Ms Rout said. More online and on Friday.
"I wanted Leo to grow up on the coast, it's a beautiful place to grow up. It's where I grew up."
Ms Hannan won the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award at the 2019 Eurobodalla Business Awards.
Mr de Graaf said he hopes she never leaves.
"We would do anything to keep her here," Mr de Graaf said.