The parents of a young boy with autism and a rare eating disorder have spoken out about their difficulties with accessing healthcare.
11-year-old Riain Pliszka from Cashel in Co. Tipperary was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, and it led to the additional development of an anxiety disorder.
Riain also suffers from a rare eating disorder, called Avoidant Restrictive Food intake disorder (ARFID). His parents Caitriona and Rafal first noticed the condition developing when their son was just 3 years old, when he began to experience food and sensory aversions.
“He loved his food, especially sausages, which were his favourite, and he had loads of words, but over the next few months everything happened quite rapidly,” Caitriona explained to the Irish Examiner.
Riain quickly became malnourished and had to be admitted into hospital, which resulted in him receiving a drip and the first insertion of a nasogastric (NG) tube. He has subsequently had to adapt to wearing the NG tube every day.
Caitriona details that she is constantly worried about Riain’s health, and that protein drinks are the only thing preventing Riain from becoming seriously malnourished again. “He is always on the lower level of the centile chart and has often fallen off the chart on weight measurements,” she noted.
“We tried food after food after food of different types, textures, colours, but we also had to watch, and still do,” she admitted. “The packaging must also not change. Play therapy, physiology sessions with parents and various other plans were tried but none have worked.”
Because Riain has a combination of autism, anxiety, and ARFID conditions, his family are struggling to find a service that can provide the help that he desperately needs. They have recently been told that their son is on the waiting list for CAMHS, but they say it is not enough.
"We have a duty to care for our son and family and we will fight for him and his needs and entitlements. We won't fail our son,” Caitriona insisted.
A spokeswoman for the HSE has said that its national clinical programme for people with disability is currently receiving guidance to help develop its pathways to supply the necessary services for children with disabilities.
