By Priscilla Moca
A sensory library offering books and equipment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has received a $5000 funding boost.
Ballan’s Embrace ASD library was among 26 projects that received funding in Moorabool council’s summer grants program.
The library will use the money to increase the range of products available at its Ballan Primary School site.
Embrace ASD president Amber Durante, who started the library five months ago, said the group would be able to offer a wider range of special-needs equipment and literature.
“Occupational therapy and sensory equipment, visual aids and homeschooling literature are all incredibly expensive, and there’s no guarantee your child will respond to that equipment,” she said.
Ms Durante said the idea for a library came after she purchased a $300 weighted blanket for her son, who has Asperger’s syndrome, but he refused to use it.
“If we had a place we could’ve gone to borrow it, we would’ve known. So that’s why it’s been set up; let’s get it right first and then buy.”
Ms Durante said families from Melton, Deer Park, Geelong and Ballarat use the library, which opens twice a month and is currently stocked with equipment donated by families.
The funding will also support a sensory music program for children with autism, Asperger’s, ADHD and other special needs.
Eight projects did not receive funding, including $5000 applications from the Ballan Recreation Reserve committee and the Coimadai Avenue of Honour Restoration Association.
Recreation reserve president Simon Ross said the money was needed for a kitchen refurbishment. “We’re all volunteers here, and like any community facility, it’s run by generous locals who put time and their own money into it,” he said. “We even got our own deep friers together.”
Mr Ross said the kitchen was used for functions every weekend and twice a week for football. “There’s a minimum of 300 people who use it per week, so it’s a well-used communal facility,” he said. “We preach good health and fitness yet we can’t practise it.”
Coimadai Avenue of Honour Restoration Association chairman Ken McDonald said
the grant would fund paving around a memorial cairn that was recently relocated to Merrimu Reservoir.
A Moorabool council spokeswoman said both projects were being considered for different grants.
Applications for the winter grants program open August 1.
More details: www.moorabool.vic.gov.au
