Bronwyn Sharrock and Jolanie Roos recognised a need in Heidelberg and surrounding towns, as they have autistic children themselves and decided to fill this need. They opened the first Autism specific centre on May 2 in Heidelberg called Elsha’s Voice Centre for Autism. As children with Autism struggle to adjust even in “special” schools, these dynamic teachers decided to get involved and give these children the education and attention they need.
Bronwyn has an N6 Diploma in Edu Care and a Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) Makaton Level 1 & 2 (Makaton is a language programme using signs and symbols to help people to communicate. It is designed to support spoken language and the signs and symbols are used with speech, in spoken word order).
Jolanie also has Makaton Level 1 & 2 and a degree in B.Ed junior, senior and FET phase, Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), Auditory Integration Training (AIT) and Special Needs Adapted Program (SNAP)
“Every child has their own specific cirriculum as we work on their ability and not their age,” Bronwyn said.
Trying to make things easier for parents, this centre offers Occupational Therapy (OT) once a week on Wednesdays. The OT is headed by Jackie Selley, whom is a sensory OT which is exactly what children on the autism spectrum need. The centre also offers haircuts once a month, Marius from Glam Hair helps with the haircuts.
“Haircutting is very traumatising for children with autism,” Jolanie said.They start preparing the children a week beforehand, by putting up a photo of Marius and also rehearsing putting on the cape and sitting in the chair.
Caring for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is challenging and affects family life. ASDs are neurological complex conditions impairing social interaction and communication, such as difficulties to respond to social interactions or deficits in understanding nonverbal communication. Moreover, persons diagnosed with an ASD have restricted behavioural functions, such as stereotype behaviour or inability to adjust to new situations (Strock 2007). Children with ASD struggle with communication, social skills and sensory and auditory processing.
“At Elsha’s Voice we strive to teach them skills and tools to help them cope in society. We teach life skill orientation and offer support in making challenging everyday life skills easier. We use Makaton as a form of communication as many of our children are preverbal and find it frustrating to not be understood.” Said Bronwyn.
“Our program is very goal orientated and we follow a strict schedule with them, as consistency is key,” Jolanie said. Their days start at 07:00 with outside play and breakfast. At 08:00 it is time for songs and rhymes, which the children love, goal orientated, one on one work begins at 08:30.
The centre tries to keep the fees as low as possible so that families can more easily afford the needed therapy and care for their little ones, as the cost of a special needs child is six times higher than that of a neurotypical-child. For them to be able to do this, community support and donations play a big role and they are grateful for the support they have received thus far.
School times are from 07:00 until 13:00 and offer an aftercare centre for when school is out. The centre accepts children from the age of three.
For any donations or queries about the school, Bronwyn Sharrock can be phoned on 084 851 4023 and Jolanie Roos on 082 566 7030 or an email can be sent to elshasvoiceasd@gmail.com.
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