Goring family’s bid to help autistic daughter

But for a Goring girl who suffers from severe autism, playing, talking and even communicating the most basic of needs are all but impossible.

Angie Ratcliffe, of Coleridge Mews, was diganosed with the condition, which impairs social interaction and the ability to communicate, when she was 18 months old.

As a result, the year-three pupil at Palatine School, in Palatine Road, is unable to speak properly, struggles to relate to other people and is not toilet-trained.

Her inability to speak means she is sometimes forced to communicate by crying, leaving her parents, Nigel and Babs Ratcliffe, struggling to guess what she wants or needs.

“We first realised that she knew she couldn’t communicate when she was watching Balamory,” said Nigel.

“She went to the screen and burst into tears and then came to us and touched her lips and said the word ‘speak’ in the best way she could, which indicated she couldn’t speak, but wanted to.”

After seven years spent struggling to communicate with their own daughter, the couple now hope a modern form of treatment, which comes from America, could be the answer to Angie’s struggles.

The Son-Rise Program holds courses in London which help carers and parents develop methods to improve their children’s communication and developmental skills.

But the course, which lasts for one week, is not cheap, costing $3,600 for two people.

The couple learned about the treatment when they received a mystery package through their letterbox, which contained a DVD of a BBC documentary about a boy with autism whose behaviour had drastically improved after he was treated at the Son-Rise Program’s centre in America.

But it was meeting the parent of an autistic child, who lives in Lancing, and seeing the progress their child had made through the same treatment, which convinced Nigel of how effective the course could be.

Since July, the couple have turned Angie’s room into a treatment room, where they have practised some of the methods recommended by Son-Rise.

The couple plan to raise money for the treatment, but are also hoping people will donate towards the cost.

Nigel added: “We just want to unlock Angie’s ability and we want her to be able to express her own original ideas.”

To donate to the cost of treatment, email [email protected] to make arrangments.