MISSION STATEMENT

Rainbowland Play Time provides support services for families with a child/children who has autism or developmental delay. With the fundamental focus being inclusion and support, Rainbowland Play Time offers a range of activities and information for the whole family in a fun, caring and relaxed environment.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Rainbowland Play Time's New Location

We are very excited to announce that effective 22nd August, all Rainbowland Play Time sessions will be held at the CanDo4Kids Townsend Building at 23-25 Famechon Crescent, MODBURY NORTH.


We are very grateful to CanDo4Kids for allowing us to use their wonderful purpose built facility, which includes a hall,outdoor playground and kitchen.


Monday, June 14, 2010

Rainbowland Autism Services Featured at Learn to be Buddies


Guest post by Allison Dix from Rainbowland Autism Services....

Our Family...


Our three children were all diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder in July 2007. Kristie, who was 8 at the time, was diagnosed with a Asperger’s Syndrome. Our twin sons, Jacob and Aaron, were diagnosed with autism one week shy of their 3rd birthday.
Rainbow Play Time

Shortly following the diagnosis, Shane and I vowed to help support families through the whole process as we intently believed that it didn’t have to be as difficult for others as it was for us. This vow lead to the inception of our family support group, Rainbowland Play Time in March 2009. With a focus on family inclusion and support, this group runs once a month on a Sunday, has no age limits and welcomes the entire family and their support networks to attend for a gold coin donation.


Rainbowland Play Time has been a gift not just to the families who attend, but to our family. We have made some wonderful friends and been witness to some fabulous milestones experienced by the children and their families. My favourite moments have been when children ride a bike for the first time at Play Time. The delight on the face of the child and their parents is so precious and makes it all so worthwhile.

Into the political arena...

Shane & I were fortunate enough to be selected for a meeting with the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, at the Federal Cabinet Meeting & Public Forum held on 28th July 2009. We raised issues pertaining to the inaccessibility of the newly implemented early intervention funding from the Helping Children with Autism initiative, the crisis and inequities for children with autism within the education systems around the country and the struggles faced by families. To our surprise, we were also granted an impromptu meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children Services, Bill Shorten.

Rainbowland Autism Services...

Rainbowland Autism Services Inc. was incorporated in November 2009 and granted charity status. A board, comprising of 6 members was established. The incorporation of the organisation will ensure much greater opportunities for the families it supports.

Autism Rainbow Day...

After a family discussion in the kitchen regarding the lack of autism awareness within the community and how more awareness would greatly benefit families and society at large, Autism Rainbow Day was born. On 30th April this year, the inaugural Autism Rainbow Day was held, with 15,000 international members on the dedicated Facebook cause. The day was very uplifting and positive for those who participated and it was wonderful to see people greeting others with a “Happy Autism Rainbow Day”.


I have received some wonderful feedback from educators about how they now have a much greater appreciation of what autism is and how inspired they are when learning about the obstacles that need to be overcome for people on the spectrum to become functioning members of society. Our daughter’s Year 6 class teacher initiated meaningful discussions about autism throughout the week in the lead-up up to Autism Rainbow Day and Kristie’s life and achievements were celebrated by her peers. What has been really touching is how some young students from the school have since approached me in the court yard to talk about Autism Rainbow Day. I also got quite emotional when I saw pictures of the children wearing their special masks on the big screen at the school assembly. Autism Rainbow Day will be held on Friday 29th April in 2011.

A Tribute...



On 13th May this year, Tony Zappia – Federal Member for Makin paid tribute to the work we are doing through Rainbowland Play Time and Autism Rainbow Day. It was such an honour for us that he dedicated his entire Parliamentary Speech to our work.


In his speech, Tony says:

“In Australia autism is estimated to affect one in every 160 Australian children and around 30,000 Australian families. The estimated cost of autism to the Australian community is around $7 billion per annum. The social impacts on and costs to the children and those 30,000 families in the form of learning difficulties, limited social opportunities for the children and very high rates of parental depression and separation are immeasurable. There is no cure for autism but providing the right kind of early intervention can be very beneficial for children and, in turn, ultimately saves millions of dollars in costs later on.”

He then went on to say:


“Speech therapy, early intervention, occupational therapy and home modifications all help, but for the families they come at a cost, as does the destruction to the school life of the children, which raises an additional concern. Many schools are simply unprepared; they do not have the resources or the expertise to deal with children with autism. In that respect, autism-specific preschools such as that in Brisbane are a terrific start.”

Tony has been such a wonderful support to our organisation and is the Patron of Rainbowland Play Time. Through his work, he is also advocating for all families living with autism in Australia.

Our goal...

Rainbowland Autism Services strives to provide support services for the entire family. When you support the network of people who are the main influence in a child’s life, you are directly supporting the child. We also provide support to families of children with developmental delay. Too often these families don’t have access to support services in the absence of an ASD diagnosis. We continue to work assiduously in expanding our support services and generating awareness about autism at a global level through Autism Rainbow Day.


For more information, you can visit our website at http://www.rainbowlandautismservices.com/, or email us at rainbowlandautismservices @ gmail.com

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To find out more about having your charity, service or business spotlighted on the Learn to be Buddies Blog, contact us or visit http://www.learn2bebuddies.com.au/pages/becomeasponsor.html

Monday, May 24, 2010

Autism Rainbow Day 2010


Autism Rainbow Day 2010 was a great success.  With 15,000 global members on our Facebook Cause 'Autism Rainbow Day - Global Awareness Campaign' thousands of people celebrated the day from all over the world.
We were very busy on the day visiting local supporters.  We attended the Oasis Community Childcare Centre, The Office of Tony Zappia MP (Federal Member for Makin), The City of Tea Tree Gully and Modbury Hospital.

We wish to thank everyone who celebrated the day and helped spread the word about autsim awareness.

HAPPY RAINBOWS



Sunday, May 23, 2010

Thanks to the CTTG Community Services Forum for Their Kind Donation


We wish to thank the City of Tea Tree Gully Community Services Forum for giving us a very generous $500 to purchase art, craft and activities for the children to play with.

Art and craft is the most popular of all activities and so to have the funds to provide enough art, craft and activities for the rest of the year at least is so wonderful.

The children got to use the art and craft materials for the first time today and they had a ball.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Party POSTPONED due to EXTREME Temperatures

Unfortunately, we have had to POSTPONE the Christmas Party to Sunday 17th January due to extreme weather conditions. Although the centre is air conditioned, we do not feel confident it will cope with 43 degree temperatures.

If it is 36 degrees or more on 17th Jan, we will again have to postpone. Fingers crossed we get lucky. We will confirm if the party is going ahead on this blog on Saturday 16th Jan.

If you would like to attend the party on the 17th, please RSVP to Allison at rainbowlandplaytime@gmail.com. Please provide your mobile phone number so you can be personally contacted if the need arises.

Thank you for your understanding,
Allison

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

CHRISTMAS PARTY, Sunday 10th January 2010


On behalf of the Rainbowland Play Time Committee, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that the new year will provide you with much love, laughter and happiness.

To get the year started on a fun and happy note, we have planned a belated Christmas party for our Rainbowland families.

The details are below:

When: Sunday 10th January

Time: 2-5pm

Where: Greenwith Community Centre

Special Guest: Bozette the Clown at 3pm.

What to bring: Please bring your own drinks. We will be providing gluten and casein free party food for the kids. This caters for the children who are on the special diet as well as the children who don't havea any diet restrictions.

Who is Invited: Any family who has already attended Rainbowland Play Time, or any family who is interested in being a part of the group. Support people are most welcome, including friends and family.

RSVP: Allison at rainbowlandplaytime@gmail.com by Friday 8th January. If you can RSVP earlier, that would be most appreciated to help with catering.

The Rainbowland Play Time Committee are very much looking forward to celebrating the festive season with all our families.

HAPPY RAINBOWS

Friday, November 20, 2009

Sunday 22nd November Session is CANCELLED

Unfortunately, the session scheduled for the 22nd November has been cancelled due to illness. We hope to see many families at our last session being held the following Sunday on 29th November. Same time, same place.

HAPPY RAINBOWS,
Allison