Ben Paine says he’s worried his daughter Maddie may experience skill regression without access to autism support services. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)

It was 4:30pm on a Wednesday when Canberran Ben Paine found out his daughter’s combined childcare and specialist autism early intervention centre would not open the next day, or ever again.

“It was quite surreal,” Mr Paine said.

“The centre basically functioned as her childcare centre, her preschool, and her therapy centre.”

His four-year-old daughter Maddie, who is non-verbal, received a level three autism diagnosis just over a year ago.

For almost a year, she has been attending a centre, run by the AEIOU Foundation, with an individual learning plan that included speech pathology, occupational therapy, and behavioural therapy.

Maddie was receiving occupational therapy, speech therapy, and behavioural therapy at the AEIOU centre before it closed. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)

The AEIOU centre in Garran was the first of its kind in the ACT when it opened in 2021, to the great relief of many Canberran families with young autistic children.

But on Wednesday, the early intervention care provider — which has centres in Queensland, South Australia and the ACT — released a statement announcing its board had appointed external administrators, with all centres closing effective immediately.

For Mr Paine, it has meant having to take time off work to care for Maddie, with no other suitable childcare available on such short notice.

“There’s no preschool that’s available, so she’s basically going to miss preschool as a result of this, as far as I’m aware,” he said.

“It’s going to be very difficult, there’s no similar services [to AEIOU] available in Canberra.”

Mr Paine said his biggest concern about the sudden closure was that without consistent support services, Maddie may begin losing the progress she had made in her therapies.

Ben Paine says he took money from his superannuation to pay for Maddie to attend AEIOU for the past six months. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)

“Maddie met all of her milestones in the early days up until about 18 months, which is actually fairly common in autistic children,” he said.

“She started to regress after that age, and I’m worried that could happen again if the treatment is disrupted and we’re unable to organise something to cover this period before preschool.”

In order to send Maddie to AEIOU Canberra before she had National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding, Mr Paine had to take money from his superannuation — and he said he may have to again if that’s what it takes to get Maddie the support she needs.

“We’ve had to actually dip into our super funds again to fund AEIOU for the past six months,” he said.

“We hoped that would mean that we wouldn’t kind of be victim to the whims of government spending decisions, but apparently the centre just can’t operate under the current environment due to all the other cuts to other people’s NDIS funding.”

AEIOU Foundation enters liquidation

In its statement issued earlier this week, AEIOU cited millions of dollars in funding shortfalls after “a sustained period of financial pressure across the disability services sector” for its liquidation.

A spokesperon for NDIS minister Jenny McAllister says the NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will continue to ensure participants receive the supports they need. (ABC News: Mary Lloyd)

Today, a spokesperson for NDIS minister Jenny McAllister said the Queensland government was working with AEIOU and affected families “during this difficult time”.

“The NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will continue to work to ensure participants receive the supports they need and work with the administrators to support the exit process,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“The NDIA does not directly fund providers but allocates funding to NDIS participants to purchase NDIS supports.

“Business decisions, including whether to continue offering services through the NDIS, are a matter for individual organisations.”

‘We have to remember children are at stake’

AEIOU acknowledged the news of its liquidation would be “deeply concerning” for the children and families who relied on their services.

But for Autism Awareness Australia CEO Nicole Rogerson it’s not just concerning, it’s “devastating” for the hundreds of autistic children that require early intervention, and for their families.

Nicole Rogerson says the importance of investment in early intervention for autistic children cannot be understated. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)

“We know for young children with autism, they need early intervention services that provide speech therapy, behavioural therapy,” Ms Rogerson said.

“We don’t have enough early intervention services in Australia as it is, let alone good quality ones.

“So the closure of one that had such a strong reputation for 20 years is nothing short of a lost opportunity.

“I think it’s an amazing opportunity for some of the state governments to step in and take over this service.”

Ms Rogerson said the importance of investment in early intervention for autistic children could not be overstated.

“We have to remember children are at stake here,” she said.

“The fact that this service provider has closed down means those children don’t have services tomorrow.”

‘Autistic’ vs ‘person with autism’

The autistic community includes people with diverse views and preferences for language. Some people like to use “autistic person” (known as identity-first language), some like to use “person with autism” (person-first language), and some don’t mind either.

That trend is reflected in this article, though the ABC respects the right of everyone with lived experience to use the language they prefer.