Case studies

Matiu

Matiu, born in 1998, is a young man who was referred to specialist services when he was two years old, as it was apparent early on that he had behavioural and developmental difficulties. Matiu’s mother used alcohol, drugs and cigarettes heavily through her pregnancy with him, and she left him at the age of two, after her second child was born. Matiu’s grandmother, *Hine, became his main caregiver but found the role to be a challenging responsibility, even with respite care from other whanau members and friends.

At five years old, Matiu was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and autism, exhibiting violence and aggression toward others and anxiety toward even mild change. He required constant supervision as there was no apparent pattern or trigger for his behaviour, which included running into roads and attempting to ingest household chemicals. As a result of his unpredictable behaviours, Matiu had been stood down from school four times, and excluded from three different schools by the age of seven. In fact, Matiu only attended school full-time for one term during his first year of school.

When Matiu was nearly seven years old, agency managers from the Ministry of Education-Special Education, health and the disability sector agreed to apply for HCN funding as, despite long-term intervention attempts by a range of professionals in the home setting, he was not in school and Hine was not coping at home. The goals of Matiu’s Interagency Plan were to:

• ensure his successful transition to school and maintain his attendance and academic progress
• maintain the stability of care in his home environment
• reduce his anxiety and challenging behaviours
• develop his coping skills to manage his anxiety.

The Interagency Team identified the need for a comprehensive specialist assessment across environments to assist with aligning routines, expectations, effective and consistent teaching methods, care practices and areas for skill development. There were additional assessments to be completed by an Occupational Therapist to address his motor skill development, and by a Speech-Language Therapist to address his communication needs.  The resulting intervention plan would be implemented by a Behavioural Support Worker in the school environment, by a mentor in the community and by whanau at home. 

Matiu’s cultural development was identified as an area for consideration and Matiu’s whanau elected to address this themselves, focusing on his behaviour management, connectivity and social interactions.

While the plan implementation was initially slow, Matiu began to transition to school. His daily classroom activities were adapted by his teacher, educational psychologist, occupational therapist and speech-language therapist. Within the community, he began to access swimming, music and karate classes, as well as his marae and kapa haka. Across all settings, whanau, teachers and support staff developed consistent strategies to respond to his behaviours, and teach him the communication and self-help skills he needed to develop his independence. The Team also promoted effective communication between Hine and Matiu’s school by holding team meetings there.

Now 10 years old, Matiu has regular visits with his mother and sisters. He walks to school on his own and plays with other children in the playground. He says he wants to be at school and that he has lots of friends. He has some one-on-one attention during classes, which is allowing him to make slow but steady progress in learning. His school says that Matiu is not out of the woods yet, but they currently have core services to support him, although he will continue to present challenges in the future.

Hine is thrilled with Matiu’s progress. “He is growing up,” she said.