Luca’s latest achievements

3rd January 2017

With the help of his trusty waterproof hearing aids, his wonderful swimming teacher Sonja as his support person and some extremely inclusive Surf Lifesaving Instructors today Luca completed all 6 sessions of the Ocean Grove little Nippers Surf Ed program. It was his most recent achievement, but one of many over the last 18 months. He also competed in his first “mini swim meet and was proud to achieve his Level 3 Blue Belt in Taekwondo. He spoke in front of a crowd of 130 people at “A Night out for Luca.” He went on school camp. He performed in his first piano concert and participated in several Fun Runs. The supervisors at his School Holiday program remarked on how much improvement they had noticed in Luca’s social interactions since they had last seen him.

If you had asked us several years ago whether this level of independence and achievement was a possibility for Luca it would have seemed at the time to be asking and hoping for too much. Ten years ago our main dream for Luca was to live.

Luca couldn’t have achieved all this without the thousands of hours of behavioural intervention that have culminated in personal skills that allow him to enjoy and actively participate in everyday activities with confidence. Applying the skills he has learnt into everyday life opens up more opportunities and possibilities to him now and into his adult life. This is why we devote so much time and effort (and fundraise!) toward his ongoing development.

Watch a video of Luca working with his therapists to demonstrate the progress of the “STAR” program (stop, think, action, review):