Amiera turned 4 years old on the 8th of August 2017. She cannot talk and has very low muscle tone in her left arm and cannot sit up straight from a lying position. She suffers from migraines when exposed to crowded places like a shopping mall, where different colours like neon lights also affect her.
She doesn’t make eye contact and has a lot of sensory issues. She hates to wear shoes or have her clothes over her elbows or knees. She doesn’t want to be covered with blankets at night which makes it difficult in the winter. She cannot distinguish the difference between hot and cold. These sensory issues must be taught by an occupational therapist.
Amiera has been unofficially diagnosed with high functioning autism. The government cannot officially diagnose a child with autism until they are 5 years old. Until then, they are seen as late developers. This is way too late for a child on the autism spectrum. Early intervention is key in order to prevent further regression. Amiera has already regressed as she was able to speak around 15 words. Amiera has been offered an excellent opportunity to be assessed for two weeks by a non-profit organisation that specialises in children on the Autism spectrum. During the two weeks she will receive consultations with an Occupational therapist, speech therapist as well as a Kinetics trainer. The two-week assessment has been greatly subsidised, but fees are still involved. Amiera lives on the West Coast, and they will have to travel three hours to get her to the assessment, and three hours back each day.
The O’Donnell family are in desperate need of some financial assistance for petrol expenses. Amiera’s father has stomach cancer and is unable to work and her mother’s finances are spread thin as Amiera has siblings in school and University. Amiera loves all animals and is an extremely happy child, but when she is in pain she cannot explain where. This has been really scary at times and she has been admitted into hospital several times with the doctors just guessing what’s wrong. No donation is too small and would be greatly appreciated.