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Breaking the bubble of autism AEIOU Foundation Annual Report 2011/2012 WELCOME TO AEIOU FOUNDATION... Breaking the bubble of autism Autism affects everyone Since 2005, AEIOU Foundation has REGISTERED OFFICE: AEIOU Foundation is a registered been providing Queensland families charity (CH1818) under ‘The Collections differently, but many families N70 Recreation Road with access to high quality, yet affordable Act’ of 1996 and is endorsed as Nathan QLD 4111 can relate to the analogy of early intervention, specialised care, family a deductable gift recipient under being separated by an invisible support and respite. The service we provide Telephone: 07 3320 7500 the Subdivision 30-BA of the Income barrier, as if their child lives inside in our centres is part of our commitment Facsimile: 07 3277 5500 Tax Assessment Act 1997. to deliver exemplary education services PO Box 226 Nathan QLD 4111 A full list of our centres across a bubble. At AEIOU, we strive with therapy support across Queensland, Postal: Queensland is available within to break through that barrier. with plans to expand interstate. As we [email protected] Email: this report, and on our website. grow, we understand the importance Website: www.aeiou.org.au of expanding our services to provide greater support across children’s lives ABN: 19 135 897 255 as they develop into adults. AEIOU Foundation Annual Report 2011-2012 1 ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012 Contents PART ONE: PART TWO: Our Business 2 Our Fundraising and Our mission 2 Community Engagement 29 Our vision 2 Our fundraising 29 Highlights 29 Our purpose 2 Community engagement 31 Our values 2 Our campaigns 31 What is ASD? 2 Our ambassadors 33 Message from the Chair 3 Creating a centre of excellence 35 Chief Executive Officer’s Report 4 From the cover, a family story 5 PART THREE: Our Families 36 Performance Overview 2011-2012 6 Financial snapshot 6 How we work with our families 36 Operational performance 6 Lynn Wright Memorial Fund 37 OUR REPORTING PROCESS Year in review 7 PART FOUR: This is the third annual report submitted The year ahead 9 Our Concise Financial Report 39 by AEIOU Foundation. This report About us 10 documents the Foundation’s financial, operational and community performance Who we are 10 for the financial year ending 30 June Our structure 12 2012. Your feedback is welcome. Board profiles 12 To contact us, phone 07 3320 7500, Our executive team 16 or email [email protected]. About our curriculum 18 Education and therapy support highlights 19 About our centres 20 Our research 28 2 AEIOU Foundation Annual Report 2011-2012 PART ONE: Our business OUR MISSION OUR VALUES To enhance the lives of children with autism • Action and their families through early intervention • Excellence coupled with practical and caring support. • Integrity OUR VISION • Outcomes To be recognised as the leading provider • Unity of quality early intervention for children with autism and to ensure that every child WHAT IS ASD? is given the best opportunity to reach Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is their full potential in life. a lifelong condition characterised by difficulties in three main areas, including OUR PURPOSE social interaction and relationships, AEIOU Foundation is a not-for-profit communication and language (including organisation that was established to body language and facial expressions), provide unprecedented support for young and repetitive behaviour and routines. children with autism and their families. Autism Spectrum Disorders include AEIOU is one of Australia’s leading Autism, Asperger Syndrome and Pervasive providers of high-quality, full-time early Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise intervention for children who are aged Specified (PDD-NOS). between two and a half and six years. The most recent Australian study indicates The program is provided in 10 locations Autism affects 1 in 160 Australian children. across Queensland, including Bray Park, In 2012, a new study found 1 in 88 people Bundaberg, Camira, Carrara, Hervey Bay, in the United States are diagnosed with Nathan, Sippy Downs, Toowoomba and ASD. Autism can profoundly affect families, Townsville. We also provide care, education and can influence a parent’s ability to work, and therapy support in Emerald, with create sibling social disadvantage, and can support from Xstrata Coal and Tim create a sense of isolation and depression. Fairfax Family Foundation. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females, and the exact cause of autism is not known. However, research shows early intervention can make a difference and improve the chance of a child learning new skills and adapting to their environment. AEIOU Foundation Annual Report 2011-2012 3 Message from the Chair AEIOU Foundation is an energetic AEIOU has a strong, viable business model A growth in service provision continues to Funding the program is one of our organisation, and our team is driven and is recognised for the quality of its be a focus for AEIOU with a goal to ensure biggest challenges. We strive to keep service. It is clear to me that AEIOU is not families outside of Queensland have access parent fees down, and ensure the program to achieve outcomes based on just a ‘place to work’, and likewise, for our to high quality intervention and support. is affordable. That means we raise around excellence and unity. This is clear families, AEIOU is more than a place to Every year families relocate from interstate, $10,000 per child, per year. We rely on when we look at the year in review, receive education, therapy or respite. It is intrastate and across suburbs to access our philanthropic donations and a variety and forecast for growth. all of these things, and more, with AEIOU service, moving away from family, friends of supporters from the community and offering a unique sense of community. and support networks. It is a reminder that corporate organisations. By supporting It is for this reason that some of our while Queensland has achieved a great deal AEIOU, you are making a direct impact most staunch supporters are families for its families, there is a need for service on the life of a young child and their who have previously enrolled a child improvement on a national level. This year, family, creating a pathway to greater within the program. AEIOU has continued to investigate viable independence, and I thank all of our prospects to establish services interstate, supporters for the contributions they Every year, children from AEIOU centres earmarking the ACT, New South Wales, have made to the families we support. transition to mainstream schooling South Australia and Victoria for expansion. environments. As AEIOU grows, so too There are now 10 centres across does the number of children entering Along with education, therapy and family Queensland and as we enter a new and prep and year one, and beyond. While support, AEIOU is also committed to raising exciting chapter, I thank our Management early intervention creates the foundation awareness about autism, to shine the light Board for their commitment to the for this transition, we know that these on the condition which affects more than organisation and to the children and children and their teachers need support 1 in 160 families every year. To coincide families we support, along with our at every step. For that reason, AEIOU with International Autism Awareness Day, team who help to break the bubble established a partnership with Griffith AEIOU joined the global campaign to of autism every day. University to deliver the Autism Centre ‘Light it up Blue’. When I looked to the of Excellence. skyline in Brisbane in April, I saw a city united. Iconic bridges and buildings across the city turned blue, for a campaign supported by local, state and national governments and businesses, on a scale James Morton of which has never before been seen Chair, AEIOU Foundation in our city. 4 AEIOU Foundation Annual Report 2011-2012 Chief Executive Officer’s Report There’s one thing that stands out More so, it is recognising that the children As an organisation, AEIOU provides Action, Excellence, Integrity, Outcomes this year, and it is progress. This is we provide early intervention for are support to children and their families and Unity are at the core of AEIOU: it has growing, and so too is their need for during this time, but there is a greater been the Foundation’s ability to take action, not merely about AEIOU expanding, ongoing support. There’s no cure for need than what we can resource alone. to strive for excellence, to be innovative, although it has been a year of autism, and while education and therapy For this reason, AEIOU and Autism to be outcomes-focused and to create consolidated growth for the can change a child’s life, it is only the Queensland are currently developing a unity which has contributed to every organisation. tip of the iceberg. Good research is website to provide resources for families success the organisation has celebrated. paramount, and AEIOU is pleased to and teachers during the transition phase, It is with this approach that we continue deliver and facilitate a number of research connecting them to advice and resources our commitment to futures: to the lives projects to measure the program, identify which result from the experience and of children with autism beginning with family implications of having a child expertise of the team at AEIOU and early intervention. At AEIOU Foundation, with autism, the value of emerging Autism Queensland. the sky is the limit. I take this opportunity technology, and more. This year also marked the launch of to thank the team for their dedication, In 2012, AEIOU established a new our first inclusive centre at Sippy Downs, our Management Board for their ongoing research and psychology team.

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