Jack is a sensitive and caring 5-year-old boy. He has boundless energy from the moment he wakes up, always on the go. He loves swimming and riding his scooter fast and prefers to dress up rather than wear regular clothes.

When Jack was a baby, I noticed some unique patterns. He would cover his ears and scream if I pushed his pram into a shopping mall. He would be awake multiple hours each night, he was fascinated with fans and spinning wheels. He would have the biggest tantrum if something wasn’t exactly as he expected and cry himself to an exhausted sleep. I would later find out this was an autistic meltdown.

When Jack turned 2, his brother Luka was born, and it was then that I really started to notice a significant increase in autism specific behaviours, including no communication. I went to get an assessment and my concerns were confirmed.

Jack was forced out of his daycare because parents were worried his behaviour would impact their children. On top of the sadness my husband and I were feeling watching our son suffer in a world that didn’t understand him, we also felt deep rejection and made a resolution to find our family a place of belonging.

At this stage, Luka was not a concern developmentally. However, the chances of him also being on the spectrum were high. I kept my focus sharp and braced myself.

We left Singapore and returned home to Australia. Jack turned 3 during our hotel quarantine, it was one of the hardest times my family endured. Jack regressed significantly and overnight stopped eating and had severe behavioural challenges like we had never experienced before. It took unwavering determination and a steady upward climb to start again. Jack started receiving therapy and intervention support, but the few weekly hours were not helping him make any progress.

Fortunately, I was able to meet and talk with some remarkable mums. Each had a similar story to us and a couple of them had children attending Giant Steps. The school seemed like a magical place, I needed no convincing and set about making enquiries.

Fast forward to the year Jack started at Giant Steps – within 6 months he was able to say 1-2 words, he could ask for things. Jack was beginning to understand how to use a visual schedule to see what his day would consist of, and he was learning how to expand his social and play skills. Most importantly, he loved going to Giant Steps and we finally felt part of a community that was committed to understanding and helping him.

As we watched Luka grow, the signs were different to Jack’s early signs, but it was clear I was now the very proud mum of two neurodivergent sons. It’s funny when it happened the second time around, I was more informed and much better equipped to assist Luka. He started necessary therapies before his 2nd birthday.

Since starting at Giant Steps, Jack has developed and is showing beautiful potential – his life is forever changed. We will always feel gratitude and appreciation for how Giant Steps has not only helped Jack, us as parents, but also Luka, who will start in the Early Years Program in 2024.

Miracles do happen and luck is based on personal perspectives. I feel very, very lucky to have both my sons get the best possible start. The belonging our family feels now is insurmountable.

Kathy Krnel

Some days, Alona is cheerful before school. Other days there’s high-pitched screaming. Sometimes she’ll get out of the car very quickly, if she hasn’t just fallen asleep as we reach the gate. Some mornings it takes a while to get her moving, with a balanced measure of cajoling and patience required from her teachers who greet her at the car.

Some days, I know that Alona is in a cheerful and compliant mood. Other days I sense from the moment she wakes that it is going to be a more difficult day at school, probably one filled with high-pitched screaming and plenty of time outside the classroom. But no matter what Alona’s mood is on any given day, I know that the staff at Giant Steps Melbourne are equipped for the task and will manage whatever behaviour comes their way. They will do so with humour, love and passion for their job.

Alona began her schooling journey at a beautiful mainstream school. As the extent of her special needs became more apparent, Alona’s mainstream school was committed to making it work for us. We are truly grateful for this. However, as time went on, it was clear that Alona was not in the right place for her to reach her full potential.

Alona cannot read, and she cannot write. She is 16, but she has the learning capacity of a young primary school child. To suggest that she should sit in a mainstream classroom with her age group is not to have met a child like my daughter.

Alona is witty, friendly, extremely sociable, and loveable. She is the class clown at Giant Steps, and she knows every word to all Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber songs. Her teachers use these skills to teach her literacy and maths. She also loves Collingwood Football Club, and her teachers use this passion to motivate her to stay in the classroom. Alona is also partial to a chai latte and one of her education goals is to maintain her ability to sit at a cafe to help her stay connected to the community. Her teachers take my daughter on the tram, teach her how to tap her myki and send me photos of her feeling very proud of herself.

If Alona had continued in a mainstream school, she would always have been the student that cannot complete the tasks set by the teacher. She would be disruptive, frustrated and angry. Realistically, she couldn’t even sit in the classroom at all.

At Giant Steps, Alona has six children in her class, with multiple educators assisting them. She has a program tailored to her, with her teachers maintaining data on whether she is engaged or not. Her educators know her instinctively and intuitively, and constantly readjust their goals and expectations.

Keren Zelwer

Future Generation Australia is Giant Steps’ largest recurrent corporate donor. Their key focus is to support charities in Australia that operate in the youth-at-risk sector. It is a Listed Investment Company (listed on ASX with a ticker code FGX) with a unique business model. It invests with best-in-class Australian equity fund managers who manage the capital on behalf of FGX shareholders pro-bono. In return, FGX donates 1% of its Net Tangible Assets each year to selected charities, Giant Steps among them. What’s more, FGX shareholders can select which of the charities on the FGX platform they direct their donations.

FGX has been one of the longest supporters of Giant Steps, with founder, Geoff Wilson, having a good understanding of challenges experienced by autistic children and young adults. This year we received $434,949 making the total amount received from FGX since 2015 as donations $2,728,685. Giant Steps receives one of the biggest annual donation allocations because several of FGX shareholders are either Giant Steps families or Giant Steps supporters.

Investing in FGX shares is a way to support Giant Steps whilst receiving fully franked dividends. However, like all equity investments, shareholders take the risk that the share price will fall. For example, in February 2020 when COVID caused share markets to crash, FGX share price fell sharply before recovering gradually over the next year or two and then declining over the next couple of years as interest rates rose sharply and events such as the war in Ukraine have suppressed markets.

Want to learn more about how Future Generation make it possible to invest with impact:

View a 2-minute video about Future Generation

Visit the Future Generation website

You might also like to watch a webinar recording with Giant Steps parent, Steve Anthony, and one of the FGX fund managers, David Paradice, being interviewed by FGX CEO, Caroline Gurney.

Disclaimer
These comments are provided to you for information only about an important Giant Steps supporter. Giant Steps cannot provide financial advice. You should consult a financial adviser to learn if buying FGX shares would be a suitable long-term investment for you.

In 2013, Alex began his journey at Giant Steps at the age of 4. He moved through the different classes until we were given a gentle nudge in 2017 and it was suggested that it was time for Alex to transition to a different setting to accommodate his needs.

Simply put, Giant Steps changed Alex and our lives. When Alex arrived at Giant Steps he had a number of sensory issues, very time rigid, routines-based and any slight adjustment would result in a meltdown. He had limited speech, struggled to wear anything but very soft t-shirts and soft shorts or anything with a tag (still does) and his diet was limited to one brand of hot chips and plain dry toast.

The teachers, the school and the other families at Giant Steps became our lifeline and slowly but surely, helped Alex experience, grow and start to adapt. We felt so secure at Giant Steps because Alex was understood, celebrated, loved, safe and happy.

Stepping out into other environments was challenging, even terrifying, because nowhere compares with Giant Steps and their support and understanding of our kids.

Alex transitioned into MUSEC for year 4 and we realised we needed to quickly find a high school option that would suit his needs and abilities. It was daunting and disappointing to see the lack of options for kids like Alex; academically capable but still very limited with social skills and the ability to regulate emotions.

We were fortunate to find a program where Alex could start in year 5 and move between a supported classroom and mainstream classes, all the way through till the completion of high school. Alex is currently in year 9 at Hills Grammar and having a pretty good year.

Alex continues to grow and along the way has developed some amazing skills, particularly his ability to play the piano and sing. To our great surprise he auditioned and participated in the school musical earlier this year which involved weeks of after-school rehearsals and four evening performances. On opening night, Alex exclaimed “this was the best night of my life”.

Alex is an avid shopper, loving to sift through shelf after shelf of DVD’s and VHS at op shops all over Sydney. He is a huge collector of DVD’s and VHS – all arranged in alphabetical order and he can recite any fact about them!

It is fair to say, we continue to have good and bad days, and funny days – like when he sent an email to the whole year group rescheduling the school assembly! He has grown from a little boy who was so repetitive and restricted in what he did, to the young man he is now; where he enthusiastically volunteers to be a part of almost everything at school.

Giant Steps was the turning point in Alex’s life and to this day we can still reach out and ask for help when things are challenging. Thank you to all the staff, families and supporters for all you do, Giant Steps will always hold a special place in our heart.

Julie-Ann and Dom Biasi

As the year draws to a close, we would like to acknowledge our wonderful corporate sponsors, parents and friends whose contributions go such a long way towards making our fundraisers in Sydney and Melbourne a success. Special thanks to everyone who supported the recent 3 Day Bike Ride in Gippsland, our annual Greek Night, High Tea, Hopes, Wishes and Dreams Ball, Giant Dinner, Scarecrow Festival, Gingerbread House Kits and the gutsy individuals taking on physical challenges to raise money for Giant Steps.

We’re excited to announce our biggest fundraising event of the year is taking place on Saturday 15 June at the ICC, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Save the date for our Luminous Gala Ball. Sponsorship packages and tickets available in the new year.

Celebrate the successes of our children and young adults, the little wins that become huge milestones for us all and the overwhelming support of our community.

The 2023 Giant Steps Melbourne Impact Report is available to view and download here.

From everyone at Giant Steps Sydney and Giant Steps Melbourne; our amazing students and adult participants, creative staff, inspiring parents and dedicated Board members, we want to wish you a happy holiday season.

Have a great summer, we look forward to seeing you in 2024!

Giant Steps Australia is a registered charity and donations are tax deductible.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT