A mother told today how she has put herself into heavy debt to pay for pioneering treatment for her autistic son.

Ainsley Johnson spends around £1,000 a month on employing specialist therapists to come to her Bradford home for 30 hours a week to teach three-year-old Joseph.

But Ainsley, of Low Moor, said every penny of the £10,000 she has so far shelled out has been money well spent - despite having to borrow from friends and relatives and sell some of her possessions.

"When he was diagnosed he could not speak ten words," she said. "He did not have any interest in anything and would sit in a corner. He was like a child without a brain," Ainsley, of Hydale Court, said.

"He has gone from a child that could only speak a few words, to a child that you would not know had autism.

"It shows there is a chance for children who have autism and it should be the right for every child who has the condition."

Joseph, who also attends Netherlands Avenue School and Community Nursery, has spent a year having the intensive therapy for his autism through a course called Applied Behavioural Analysis, which is run by the Autism Partnership at the University of California in Los Angeles.

The intensive therapy involves his teachers finding out where his development is lacking and addressing it. "He just thinks he is playing, but he is learning all the time," said Ainsley, who also has a six-year-old daughter, Faith.

She heard about the treatment after trawling through information on autism when he was diagnosed with the condition at the Child Development Centre at St Luke's Hospital in Bradford, in June 2000.

Since then Joseph has made remarkable progress - but at a price. Now she is pinning her hopes on funding from Education Bradford.

"After reading through various books on the subject of autism therapy I came across one from America called Applied Behavioural Analysis which has a 90 per cent success rate, with 45 per cent of children making remarkable progress.

"No other therapy I have read about had such a success rate and I made inquiries about setting up my own programme in England.

"I have been paying for Joseph's treatment for almost a year," the 32-year-old said.

"His programme costs about £1,000 per month to run. He has a consultant from the University of California who flies over four times a year, a programme supervisor based in Leeds and three individual teachers that are trained by the programme supervisor, plus all the learning aids to buy.

"While I am hopeful that I will receive funding eventually from the local education authority, it has been 17 months since I had my first interview.

"I have teachers who need paying every week. I will be left in debt that will take years to clear, but as far as I am concerned it is worth it.

"It means that I can sleep at night knowing that I am doing everything I can for him."

To help in the short term the family has organised a fund raising evening at The Midland Hotel, in Bradford, on Saturday, January 19.

There will be a three-course meal, entertainment and an auction of items including Bradford City and Bulls tickets and a signed England cricket bat.

A spokesman for the Autism Partnership at UCLA in California said: "Four decades of research at UCLA has empirically demonstrated the effectiveness of intensive behavioural treatment for children with autism.

"In particular, early intervention can significantly improve the ability of these children to learn and function more adaptively."

Peter Roycroft, communications manager for Education Bradford, said Joseph's was a case they had been discussing for some time.

"We will be looking at it again now we are in the New Year."

The charity evening is being sponsored by Mario's Hairdressers at Market Street, Bradford, and tickets cost £20. For more information or tickets call (01274) 732135 or (01274) 780145.