Amber Durante was spending thousands of dollars on toys and books for her son, who has Asperger’s, only to discover they were unsuitable.
And she suspected dozens of Ballan neighbours were in similar situations.
So a few years ago, Ms Durante started the Embrace ASD Wellbeing Library in a bid to help families test items before they commit to buying them.
It’s been a hit.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm when I was in the process of setting it up,” Ms Durante said.
“And now we’ve also built a bit of a friendship group as well.”
Autism-specific items, such as “chewables” and weighted blankets can be very expensive. And not all work for every child on the spectrum.
Ms Durante’s hopes of building a network to save families thousands of dollars are coming to fruition.
A family borrows an item, toy or book, trials it and decides whether or not it suits their children’s needs before returning it to the library.
The next library session is on Thursday, March 10, from 11am-2pm at the Ballan Primary School’s community room, 14 Duncan Street.
For more information, call 0430 343 473 or visit www.embraceasd.net
