Kmart Australia sources special spoons for Sydney girl with autism

A worldwide search and a heartfelt gesture by retail giant Kmart has helped Camille Bassanese, who has autism, source some colourful spoons she became fixated on.

For the past two years Camille Bassanese’s mother Nedra D’Souza has been dreading Christmas 2021, when her daughter’s lifeline would run out.

But a worldwide search and a swift decision by a retail giant has changed this little girl’s life.

Camille is a high-support needs autistic girl who became fixated on Kmart’s brightly coloured Anko baby weaning spoons.

They are an essential mental health tool for the 12-year-old to self-regulate, calm, reduce anxiety and provide oral motor regulation.

So in late 2019 when Kmart changed the colour of the spoons, Ms D’Souza said her daughter’s “world came crashing down”.

“Not a day passes that she doesn’t beg and plead with me for those old spoons — more than a hundred times a day — and while she has limited verbal speech, she has mastered the word ‘spoon’,” the Caringbah mother of two said.

Nedra D'Souza's daughter Camille Bassanese is fixated on a discontinued line of baby spoons. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The precious cargo is on its way to Caringbah. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“It has caused her so much anxiety and distress that at times, she will self-injure.

“Her diet has deteriorated markedly, she has burning reflux and screams and headbangs from the pain.

“We have even had to seek the help of a specialist gastroenterologist and expert feeding therapist but the success of their treatment hinges on these spoons.

“We’ve tried every other baby spoon on the market but nothing compares to the original.”

Ms D’Souza said she had a small stash to last until Christmas, bringing them out when Camille was at her most stressed.

Twelve months after receiving no success through Kmart’s customer channels, Ms D’Souza sent a desperate letter to senior management and The Sunday Telegraph.

Last week, Kmart searched the globe and found 300 of the discontinued spoons “tucked away in a corner of the supplier’s factory in Ningbo in eastern China”.

“These are currently on their way down to Australia, which we are very pleased to pass on to Nedra and Camille,” Kmart Australia retail director John Gualtieri said.

Kmart has helped source some of the discontinued spoons from an overseas supplier. Picture: Kmart

“We’re really glad we were able to find some of the old spoons and are pleased to change the design back to the original colouring so that Camille, and perhaps other customers, can see the benefit.

“The spoons in the original colour should be back in stores by mid next year.”

Ms D’Souza said the decision by Kmart is life-changing, adding: “I am overwhelmed with gratitude.”

The Children’s Hospital Westmead chair of child mental health Professor Adam Guastella said the autistic brain can process information in a sensory driven and structured way.

“Those systems that are generated become very, very important and it is very common to see people rely on those systems for safety and comfort,” the autism expert said.

“When we make accommodations like this and support people on the spectrum, it can make a huge difference in their ability to work, function and participate socially.”

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]