Autism Care Ruling Offers Parents Hope

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Byline: BY JOHNNY CALDWELL

A CO Armagh woman who has remortgaged her home twice to pay for specialist care for her autistic son says she is optimistic about the future following a landmark legal ruling.

Helen Byrne, from Portadown, has not received any financial help from her local education board towards the cost of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) treatment for her sixyearold son, Mikey.

It costs her and husband Tony around pounds 24,000 per year.

But Mrs Byrne is hopeful after the South Eastern Education and Library Board was ordered to pay the full cost of the therapy for seven-year- old Belfast boy Paul Murray.

Helen's son has been …