THIS SITE IS IN THE PROCESS OF CLOSING DOWN.
GO TO OUR NEW SITE: http://northernriversasnetwork.wordpress.com/seminar-pottsville/
RESOURCES FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM FAMILIES SEMINAR 19/10/2011
Following are speeches that were presented at the seminar and a very brief summary of some speakers’ talks, copies of information that was not available on the day, and extra information that there just wasn’t time for. If you picked up something important on the day and I have not mentioned it in the summaries, let me know and I’ll add it.
A big thank you to those who shared their stories, to Meg who donated her time to speak to us, Barb for letting us know about her AS art classes, the Support group members who represented their groups and to the service providers who presented information on their organisations. Thank you also to PBNC for providing the sandbar room for our use, for their administration of the day and all the volunteers from PBNC who worked on the day to make the seminar possible. Thank you to Angela Maxwell (manager of PBNC) who is ever supportive of possibilities to create community.
We are grateful also to Carers NSW whose grant provided the morning tea.
The information has the following order:
- The Autistic Spectrum and Communication
Meg Perkins (psychologist) Speech
SCHOOL
- Alanah
12 year old student speaking on how school life has changed for her since her aspergers diagnosis . (speech)
- Gayle Moore
Autism Support Teacher
Contact details
4. Advocates when communicating with schools
5. Some extra information on schooling from Debbie
6. Aspect Northern Rivers Educational Outreach Service & Satellite Classes
7. Aspect Far north Coast Centre for Autism
8. Homeschooling. Personal recount by Debbie
RESPITE INFORMATION
9. Commonwealth Respite
10. Your Choice
11. Tweed Valley Respite Services
OTHER
12 Ballina District Community Services Association (BDCSA)
Intensive Family Support Service
Geoffrey Murray & Megan Perrin
13. ASD Art Classes.
Barb Suttie
14. Summary of feedback from the seminar and proposals for Seminars to run next year
( Support Groups information can be found by accessing the tabs at the top of this Website)
1. Meg Perkin’s Speech
(click on speech twice to enlarge – not double click)
2. Alanah’s Speech
3. Gayle Moore
Department of Education and Training Support Teacher
Ph 6685 1204
gayle.moore@det.nsw.edu.au
4. Advocacy
An advocate will not speak for you but offers moral support and will assist you to be heard if you are having troubles negotiating with your child’s school.
5. Some extra Information on Schooling from Debbie
Higher school certificate : You may legally take 5 years to complete your HSC, not just 2 as they traditionally do in schools. I met a mother from the Grafton area whose son was doing year 12 over 2 years – half the subjects one year and the other half the next year. If your child suffers anxiety or needs a slower pace to aid organisation, you may consider approaching your school about this.
Other Options: You can do year 12 at Tafe
: year 12 online through Oten
: distance ed
: home schooling
Asperger Services Australia has the booklet ‘Which School?’ written by parents.
Available through their website: http://www.asperger.asn.au/
Costs $22
We have a copy in the Side by Side library.
It deals with the Queensland school system but has lots of good general advice.
6. Aspect Northern Rivers Educational Outreach Service & Satellite Classes
Meghan Williams
Aspect has classes for ASD students in schools at Alstonville and Mullumbimby.
Aspect uses class rooms in these schools and students wear the uniform and can attend certain mainstream classes but the classes are part of Aspect and not the school.
Class sizes are small (6 kids from memory)
The aim is to integrate the asd students into mainstream classes.
There is no provision for high school on the far north coast as yet.
This arm also operates an out reach program where they will come to your school and advise. There is a fee for this service.
Contact Aspect for more info.
You want to speak to Meghan Williams 6628 1009
7. Aspect Far north Coast Centre for Autism
This office deals with early intervention (under 7 years).
They also run the following seminars / workshops at varying locations :
Early Days
Autism Introductory Workshops
Positive Partnerships
For parents / carers of school students
also available as an online course
http://www.autismtraining.com.au/public/index.cfm?returnTo=%2Findex.cfm#0
Recipe for Success
Behaviuor Support Workshop
Contact Aspect for more information
8. Homeschooling. Personal recount by Debbie
This talk was accompanied by an intensive slide show so may read a bit disjointedly.
Text in green are quotes from the slide show.
I think it’s more than what I thought. When people say “Oh it must be so hard” I go “No it’s a piece of cake compared to the futile fights I was wasting my time on with school”. I’ve realised I’ve done a 360 degree and all that effort has been put into something so positive, I think it’s more than I could ever have hoped for.
Linda
Issues in Educational Research, 20(3), 2010.
The experiences of mothers home educating their children with autism spectrum disorder
Theresa Kidd
Curtin University of Technology Elizabeth Kaczmarek Edith Cowan University
Today Im talking about our experience of home schooling.
I’ll be touching on:
* Educating through special interests
* Learning styles
* And socialisation and home education
I like to make parents aware that home based education is a viable alternative.
It is a choice that can be mixed with distance ed and conventional schooling.
Terry and I have 3 children. Roxy now 19, Zac 17 and Ethan 14.
Terry was diagnosed 2 years ago. Our children are not diagnosed.
We are leaving it up to them to decide the relevance an understanding of aspergers has to their lives.
We did not homeschool because we thought our children were on the spectrum.
The decision arose from a number of factors.
Firstly, at the age of 5 I felt our kids were too young to be separated from their family.
Secondly, I had my own ideas about education. I believe it is pretty pointless teaching someone something they don’t want to know. I believe it is easy to learn about things you are interested in.
Lastly and most importantly, I could see characteristic or behaviours in our first son that reflected behaviours in his grandfather. His Poppy has a diagnosis of what was then called manic depressive. At the time our children were due to start school, the youth suicide rate was constantly in the headlines. Optimistically, I wanted to give our children the skills to pursue their interests. To find their joy in life and go for it. And to be able to celebrate and appreciate life.
I now realise the behaviours I was observing were related to aspergers syndrome and not bipolar disorder.
So we started out with a chief goal for the primary years – competence in the three R’s,
Taken at their own pace,
Ready for more academic studies at secondary level.
This I hoped to achieve through pursuing the children’s interests.
Fortunately our children had strong passions for me to explore.
With Roxy, we began our journey with a natural learning approach.
The catch cries of this approach are ‘learn from living’ and ‘the world is our classroom’.
We followed Roxy’s passions.
For 3 years Roxy was Snow White. Each year I made a new, larger Snowwhite outfit. Roxy could not leave the house unless she was attired as Snow White. The whole family was drawn into the story. We often had to act out scenes. Usually the ones of high emotion such as the woodcutter threatening Snow white with a knife.
I thought we had a potential actress.
For Roxy, dressing up was a way of life.
Roxy is very artistic. She would probably be termed a ‘visual learner’. Roxy expressed herself through art, music and dance.
If I wanted to make a subject appealing, I presented it in a visually appealing format or set it to music.
The natural learning approach saw us journeying to museums, art exhibitions, Libraries and plays and dance concerts.
An example of this approach Is the ‘flower fairies project’ you can see on the screen
We visited an exhibition of paintings by Cecily Mary Barker (author and illustrator of The flower fairy books)
Following this we constructed a garden and planted Roxy’s choice of flower seeds and bulbs. We read the books, watched the garden grow, watched the movie Fairy Tale and used the whole experience as a basis for writing, botany, maths and reading.
All of life was a learning experience.
Although we read many books, we did not open a ‘textbook’ or exercise book (except for spelling which Ill explain later) until grade 5’. At that time the kids were into Pokemon and I discovered pokemon maths books. Thence began formal maths lessons.
Previous to that we had done the grunt work – learning the tables by song, fingers and counting, adding and subtracting with lego bricks in bundles of tens and hundreds cutting sandwiches into halves and quarters and using entertaining maths computer programs.
In her later primary years, Roxy spent much of her time producing magazines related to her interests – like horses, Harry potter.
One of the joys of home ed is having the time and the space to pursue your interests to the fullest.
When writing stories, Roxy would often spend the first day planning the title page and experimenting with which font on the computer to use. At first this – what I saw as a delay – annoyed me. But eventually I could see there was some underlying thought process going on during this procedure. Back then I thought it was connected to the story planning.
Roxy is now passionate about typography. Somehow, I think the typography and the story creation were interlinked.
ZAC
When Zac hit age 5 only his family could understand him when he spoke.
It was not unusual for him to stand with his hands over his ears screaming for us all to be quiet. He could not tolerate Roxy’s music. He spent most of his day in the backyard up a tree observing birds, insects and other wildlife.
As a preschooler Zac was obsessed with dinosaurs. He knew all their names and watched walking with dinosaurs over and over.
We visited the natural history museum many times
A visit to the zoo saw an obsession with the komodo dragon develop and a life long love of reptiles begin.
We delayed reading and writing until we had ironed out Zac’s speech difficulties.
I did not have a problem with this. His speech may have been delayed but he was obviously developing in interesting ways in other areas. He thought in a different, more lateral manner (and still does). He is a born naturalist.
Inspired by the book ‘Backyard Wildlfe’ we took photos of all the animals we found in the back yard. Categorised them according to their attributes and pasted them into a scrap book.
Later when Zac was learning to write, we wrote the names on the animals. As his writing progressed, we wrote descriptions and information on the animals.
I have a suspicion that education shapes the way we think.
I was willing to let our children enjoy their own free thinking space for as long as possible without the influence of preschools or early education. I waited for them to show interest in reading and writing.
But by age 7 I could see that child led learning would never result in Zac learning to read. He was obviously dyslexic like his dad and would avoid anything to do with reading or writing. Unfortunately, to get by in our society an understanding of the written word is crucial.
Thence began an intensive phonics program. We wrote letters in sand, modelled them in play dough, wrote them in paint. Much repetition with a different approach each time to prevent boredom. We adopted formal spelling lessons and bought a spelling textbook. It was a long, hard slog.
Writing was laborious and time consuming for Zac. As soon as all the kids were competent with printing, I put them all through a typing computer program. By the end of primary school they could all touch type competently and use a spelling checker.
The natural learning approach did not suit Zac.
He wanted to know ‘what are we doing today? What are we doing next? When do we finish?
Zac needed routine. He needed a set time table so he knew what was happening. He needed to know when ‘schooling’ was finished and his time began.
I adopted a more formal approach for Zac.
Zac learnt in motion. If I was reading him a story, he needed to have something in motion in his hands. This usually involved lego powered by elasticbands, or the insides of some toy or device.
Much of his early years were spent with a battery and wires in his hand. From his early years hanging out the side of the pram watching the wheels go round I thought we had an engineer
We used motion in maths. We bounce a ball while we counted by 2”s. We constructed pyramids from cardboard in geometry. Everything was hands on.
Instructions involved reading, so they were resorted to only when all else failed.
Information for projects was often sourced from TV wildlife documentaries and direct observation, rather than books.
I used Zac’s love of animals, electricity, inventing, construction, archery and fletching and fishing to further his reading and writing.
In the early years, we did not have ‘topics’, I just made him write about what he was already doing.
Co-ordination problems saw us trying a variety of sports. I could see that exercises would soon be groaned over as boring. Eventually we found Karate and then taekwondo.
One of the advantages of home ed for Zac was the ability to pace instruction.
If concentration was bad or things weren’t working you could ease off, have a day off.
Likewise when things were working you could forge ahead. I found Zac’s attention often went in fits and starts and I could accommodate that.
Ethan, our youngest, was a different kettle of fish.
He learnt by observation.
He had to watch and be confident before attempting anything.
This made my job easier when he had 2 siblings to observe and learn from.
Unfortunately his need to be correct all the time led to some anxiety.
All of them had problems when they got questions wrong in maths. None could grapple with the concept of learning from your mistakes. A maths error could lead to angry outbursts of behaviour. This was remedied at high school level when they could self correct.
Ethan was the first to comment on Zac’s dyslexia. 3 years Zac’s junior, he outstripped him in reading and could see Zac having difficulties with words he could master.
All the kids loved science and we had hands on kitchen science experiments chosen by them each week. We then recorded them to further their reading and writing.
Ethan soon adopted science and computer as his loves.
Seeing Ethan’s general level of competence, I eased up on him and let him self direct his studies except for basic maths and english while I concentrated on Zac’s dyslexia and Roxy who was now beginning secondary studies This was fortunate for Ethan who taught himself many computer skills which were beyond my level of competence.
Secondary studies
When Roxy hit high school age she vacillated between going to high school or staying home. As she could not decide, I decided for her and continued to home educate.
For two years we did ‘school at home’ mirroring subjects taught at school so that she could easily slot into the school system if she wished. I prepared lessons for her in english, maths science history and geography from textbooks and library books.
With the heavy work load, there was less time for the art and craft subjects she loved. The only high -light for her was attending computer studies at ACE (adult & community education, Tweed) with Terry. It was planned to give her a taste for learning institutions outside the home with Terry acting as a bridge. They studied photoshop, website design, 3D animation and indesign.
Using these skills, Roxy made many websites. Some were for the home ed group that we were involved in at the neighbourhood centre.
After 2 years of teaching her things she didn’t want to know using lots of my time, I reassessed. I read a book on unschooling teenagers to boost my confidence. For the third year of high school I offered Roxy the choice to do what she wanted provided we continued with English and Maths.
For 6 months she created wonderful designer knits, experimented with jewellery design and beading, continued making websites and designing on her lap top and making animated movies for our yearly homeschool film festival.
She did the layout for a friend’s childrens’ book.
And She had a one-off stall at the local Pottsville markets and sold her knits.
But after 6months things began to stagnate and she seemed to be spending a lot of her time watching TV. She did not want the burden of planning her own course of study at this age. So we decided it was time for her to venture forth. Terry took her to enrol at Kingscliffe Tafe, expecting to enrol in website design, but the admin staff were horrified that she did not have a HSC or a SC and talked them into enrolling in CGVE – a school certificate equivalence course at Tafe. This seemed like a good introduction to a learning institution.
Mistake. The class was rife with cyber bullying, violence, drugs, kids who had been expelled from the highschool . Terry contacted the head of the computer department and took along some of roxy’s websites to see if she could get into a web design course.
The head was fine with the idea so long as she passed a literacy test.
Surprisingly, Roxy refused. She enjoyed the CGVE class. The work was not overly challenging and that boosted her self esteem. Roxy sailed through the cgve course, simultaneously completing multimedia studies, while we nervously chewed our fingernails.
The next year she completed cert11 IT, then went on to website design but while studying that, discovered the Graphic design course the Tafe runs. Last year she applied for and was accepted into graphic design using the knits, jewellery, websites and movies she had created in her ‘UNSCHOOLING’ year at home as her portfolio.
She received a Tafe merit award for her work last year. This year she is doing the diploma of graphic design.
She is still making magazines and is currently creating an e-magazine (Raw Ink) with 2 friends Ruth and Liana
She is driven and passionate in her studies.
Roxy has found her niche. Somewhere where its not unusual to be passionate about fonts and swing tags. ( The other day she came home from a job interview overjoyed at the intelligent questions they asked (they asked what was her favourite font at the moment).
We have been very happy with the Tafe system. The mix of ages means Roxy is often mentored by the older adults. From our point of view, It’s a much better arrangement than a peer group class as you would find in a school situation.
The Tafe used Roxy to help promote different pathways to learning. (newspaper article) They showed that although Roxy does not have the usual ‘schoolqualifications’ her studies at tafe make her eligible to enter university if she wishes. From our point of view, 3 years at tafe experimenting with subjects she was interested in was a more valuable use of her time that 3 years in school doing only some subjects she enjoyed and compulsory subjects she may actively dislike and ‘filler’ subjects. As tafe is only 3 days a week (plus homework) she has had time to continue dancing, balance a part-time job, her boyfriend and her studies and generally have a happy life.
ZAC
When Zac hit highschool age, he was not in the least interested in going to school.
I already had lessons from the first 2 years of Roxy’s studies so we used those. Because of Zac’s dyslexia, the amount of writing and the pace had to be reduced. I had to read most of it to him or we would never have got through it. Any areas of interest – like weaponry of the roman army or Australians on the Kokoda trail, we supplemented with extra books from the library or, in science youtube experiments.
Maths and science were Zac’s strong subjects. So we completed 4years of highschool.
I was not interested in home educating after that point.
Zac has an interest in online gaming. Only one game – ‘World of Warcraft’ and this began to consume most of his time.
We decide he needed to get out of home. So this year we enrolled him in a TVet course with other year 11 students – the animal care course at Murwillumbah Tafe. This cost us an arm and a leg as Homeschoolers are classed as private schools and billed to do the course. But we were interested to see how he would go in this type of learning and social situation.
Zac and Terry also volunteer at Fleays wildlife park one day a week. Zac loves this and assists a keeper with the animals in the nocturnal house. He also gets to observe occasional dissections with the vet. He has made a friend at the T-vet course and they both volunteer at Fleays.
They have a shared love of reptiles and spend time together going to reptile expos, constructing new enclosures for their pets and having fun with their snakes and lizards.
At the beginning of the year, We also enrolled him in an ACE course at Tweed – a certificate of adult education (school certificate equivalent). This course covered maths and English. This was a great course for Zac as it was a small class. He found the maths very basic and was able to assist other students. He was able to cope wth the English with the aid of his netbook to type on. He had a great teacher who encouraged him to join in discussions and completed the course in 6 months. With that out of the way, Terry and Zac enrolled in a computer maintenance and repair course at Kingscliff Tafe as Zac is handy at repairing our computers when they play up and a bit more knowledge in that area would be useful.
We want to ensure he has a choice what direction he wants to go in – a back up to his love of animal care. In the back of my mind, I’m considering continuing his maths to HSC level, as engineering could be a possibility for him and doing year 11 biology as it would give him a good basis for his animal studies. But I have to find time.
Ethan
After home schooling from 5, Ethan chose to go to High school.
We completed year 7 at home, then we enrolled him in year 7 the next year – so that he would not have to worry about the academics and could concentrate on the social adjustment.
Ethan was overcome with anxiety.
After consultation with the school counsellor, he entered school at a reduced participation level – 2 lessons a day for the first 2 weeks. 4 lessons a day for the next 2 weeks etc working up to full attendance over time.
Bullying has been an issue.
But he is very strong willed and determined and persevered.
He is now in year 8.
He is home sick a lot. I think the stress of school makes him susceptible to every bug that is going around. We constantly have letters from the school about his poor attendance.
He is good at maths and science and is in high classes for those but he is in a mixed ability class for English and unfortunately your English class determines a lot of other classes. His class is not well behaved and he constantly complains about the noise and the fact many teachers don’t try to control the class so that he misses out on instruction in things he is really interested in like IT. Maybe things will improve when he can choose his subjects next year.
It is Ethans choice to continue at school. I would home educate him again if he desired. When asked why he preferred school he said he enjoyed the social aspects of school, seeing other kids, the work was easier, and I wasn’t yelling at him so much. He has learnt the amount of work he needs to get through – especially in subjects he doesn’t like. At home he was often pushed to do the best he could do.
Dana stated,
I was astounded at how much better his social skills were within weeks of leaving school. That just astounded me, um, everybody said that these kids have got to be at school for them to learn social skills, to be able to get on with other people, and my experience is that this is a load of hogwash.
From : Mothers home educating their children with autism spectrum disorder
Theresa Kidd Curtin University of Technology
Elizabeth Kaczmarek Edith Cowan University
SOCIALISATION
Much is levelled at homeschoolers about their children being inadequately socialised in a home situation. I find this very strange. I don’t see anything natural in a school situation – socialising only with people of the same age.
In A homeschool group there is usually a variety of ages. The older ones help and watch out for the young ones and the youngsters like to emulate the older ones and they all mix with the parents.
Parents in home ed groups are usually hands on. In A home ed group, the parent is involved. You usually know what tiffs are going down, what confusions and you can provide social explanation on the spot. Home school groups are small and less intimidating.
Since home educating her son, Linda stated,
“It’s just a really happy, thriving boy who… has left a lot of autistic traits behind”
‘Yes, well we’ve just seen him blossom…I knew that we could do better than school in terms of his academic progress but to see him blossom as a person, that’s come as a big surprise.”
From : Mothers home educating their children with autism spectrum disorder
Theresa Kidd Curtin University of Technology
Elizabeth Kaczmarek Edith Cowan University
Home schoolers talk about ‘informal learning’ or ‘incidental’ learning – learning from asking questions. Talking, discussing, interacting with parents – the type of social learning that does not happen in a class room situation where students are not supposed to talk – only the teacher and most conversations with adults are confined to answering questions not asking them. .
… the most frequent learning context was that of everyday living. Simply by being around their mothers, talking, arguing and endlessly asking questions, the children were being provided with large amounts of information relevant to growing up in our culture.
(Tizard and Hughes, 1984 (p.250-251). ).
Recently I was reading one of my home ed magazines and came across an article on HOME ED parents lobbying schools for partime attendance.
The following is a quote FROM THE ARTICLE referring to a Victorian home ed family whose children attend selected activities at school
“The children also opted to attend full time for two weeks at the start of the year as a project and decided that they liked homeschooling better.
The family also noticed that the girls social skills suffer during periods of more intense attendance, with the girls becoming grumpier and not getting along as well together.”
Blending School and Home Education
By Beverly Paine
To sum up our homeschool experience, from my point of view, It was an incredible journey.
I was taken into areas I previously had no knowledge of and I enjoyed it immensely, sharing the children’s progress.
Our approach would probably be termed eclectic. What worked for one child was not necessarily the right approach for the others. And even for one child a variety of approaches might need to be employed – as with Zac’s dyslexia. We basically employed what method worked for that child at that time but always through the focus of their interests.
My children were not bullied.
Until Ethan started school, I had never had the worry of wondering how my child was going to come home, what sort of a day it had been, would they be injured, would they be sullen and moody? Would they explode?
Largely, I enjoyed my children.
My children (I think,) developed a good concept of themselves and were happy within themselves, and with their abilities. Confident to go forward in life.
Quote from Martian in the Playground by Claire Sainsbury
“ …. Everyone with Asperger’s I spoke to agreed that we learnt best when teaching works with rather than against our idiosyncratic learning styles and interests (indeed, many people were only able to learn at all when this was so). Obcessive interests, however obscure, could be used to motivate and power learning and an effective strategy was allowing the child to specialize initially in the area of their interests and strengths before expanding outwards into more general knowledge and, where necessary, takling weaknesses
The chance to specialize first and then generalize would have taught me better how to generalize rather than the way it’s done…..(David A)
The experience of coming home
Home education although challenging for parents generally, can lead to improvements in the child’s academic achievement and their psychosocial well-being (Duffey, 2002).
Increased well-being
Research on home education has found home educated students demonstrate a healthy self esteem (Barratt-Peacock, 1991) and self concept (Taylor, 1986). Similar to these findings, the majority of mothers in this study asserted that their child experienced less stress and anxiety once they were home educated. Many mothers reported that their child additionally demonstrated an increase in confidence and social skills, as well as feelings of happiness.
Improved social development
Home educated students have frequently been documented in the literature as being socially well-adjusted (Barratt-Peacock, 1997; Thomas, 1998). The improvement in social skills once home educated was found by Duffey (2002), similarly, a number of mothers in this study discussed the development in their own child’s social skills.
Individual learning needs met
The mother’s ability to meet her child’s learning needs at home was the most frequently mentioned issue in all interviews. Consistent with the findings from other studies (Duvall et al., 1997; Parsons & Lewis, 2010; Reilly et al., 2002), all participants discussed the ability they have in being able to provide their child with an education that is suited to the way in which they learn. In addition, mothers discussed their ability to control their child’s environment in order to enable learning to take place. Kelly indicated, “We’ve been able to reduce a lot of the issues that were preventing them from learning …”
Flexibility
The ability to incorporate flexibility and solitude time was seen as an important benefit to participants, in terms of well-being and learning. With respect to flexibility and well-being, taking time out (solitary time) throughout the day or week was regarded as important. Gale explained, “If I see that that he’s getting stressed, I can send him off,
Secondly, mothers reported that they were able to be flexible in resourcing learning material that met the individual learning needs of their child.
From : Mothers home educating their children with autism spectrum disorder
Theresa Kidd Curtin University of Technology
Elizabeth Kaczmarek Edith Cowan University
RESPITE INFORMATION
9. Commonwealth Respite
Traditionally emergency respite. You are encouraged to phone up and discuss if you have a respite problem. There may be more flexible options available. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO PERSEVERE with your contacting if you have a problem.
(just a note from me (Debbie)– not the speaker, At support meetings I have seen some parents through pride and embarrassment put on a brave face when approaching respite agencies. For these parents, just the fact they are asking for help speaks volumes about how badly they need help. But the ‘brave face’ means they are often knocked back. You need to go in with your worst case scenario and tell it like it is. Your family needs help and you are entitled to it.)
If you are unhappy with the information you receive, RING AGAIN, for further clarification. Sometimes someone new on the phone may have other ideas you can persue.
10. Your Choice
Many parents don’t know about this respite.
Your Choice gives you the option on how you want to spend your respite dollar.
Your choice could fund a family holiday
Or purchase an ipad.
Once you are a recipient of Your Choice, you will automatically get it again the next year – so that families can feel supported and plan with that money in mind.
(previously you had to reapply each year.)
Call Cathy O’Neill at Tweed Valley Respite: 6672 0900
11. Tweed Valley Respite Services
Most interesting thing here is the new forms of respite available. The traditional respite is still available, where someone comes, takes your child away from the rest of the family then returns the child at the specified time.
But now, you can choose who will care for your child – someone you know, who is familiar to your child (friend, grandma, aunt) and they will be paid.
Great for families who previously didn’t use respite because a stranger minding them would freak their child out.
Call Tweed Valley Respite Services Pam Mitchell 6672 0900
Other
12 . Ballina District Community Services Association (BDCSA)
Intensive Family Support Service
Geoffrey Murray & Megan Perrin
These guys are like trouble shooters who come to your home and offer suggestions to help with your situation. As Megan said “everyone needs someone to hold their hand some times.” See information sheet below.
Intensive Family Support Service
Information Sheet
Intensive Family Support Service is a short term, intensive, flexible in home service which assists a family with a child or young person with a disability, where there is a risk of out of home placement or family breakdown.
We are not an immediate crisis response service.
Who is eligible?
To be eligible for the Intensive Family Support Service a family
- Must have a child or adolescent with a diagnosed disability (physical, intellectual or sensory) between 0-17 years of age
- Must live in the Ballina, Byron or Tweed LGA
- Must have a child who is at risk of out of home placement or the family is at risk of breakdown
How do I refer to this service?
- Referrals can be made by service providers, family members, self
- Referring agency has actively worked with the family and sought involvement with all other relevant services.
- Intake is by phone after consultation with an Intensive Family Case Manager
How will I know if the family is eligible?
- You will be informed by the Intensive Family Case Manager during the intake phone call
What happens once a family has been assessed as eligible?
- The family will be contacted to arrange an assessment
- An assessment will be completed with the family
- The Intensive Family Case Manager will write a report to be presented to the prioritising panel
- Due to the specific nature of the service and the need to prioritise families, it could be up to three months before they receive a service once they are determined as eligible
- Prioritising panel meets to determine service availability for that family
- If the family is deemed to be a priority, the IFCM will contact the referrer and the family
- Service begins with the family
How do I find out more?
- To find out more about the Intensive Family Support Service, what it offers, or to make a referral, please contact one of the Intensive Family Case Managers or Manager Case Manager Services
Megan Perrin – IFCM megan.perrin@bdcsa.org
Geoffrey Murray – IFCM geoffry.murray@bdcsa.org
Ballina District Community Services Association (02) 66867776
13. Barb Suttie
UNIQUE, INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED ART WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN/TEENAGERS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM
BARB SUTTIE ART/EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
WORKSHOPS & INDIVIDUALISED CLASSES:
Quality art workshops for children/ teenagers on the ASD spectrum in a supportive and creative environment
Content varied according to individual and group needs using a range of mediums and digital
Exploratory classes where your child can freely play and enjoy the process of creating
Thematic art where we journey through a favorite book or set of chosen images
New journeys, new directions where students determine the content and approach whilst I weave in the skills and learning
Skill based classes where they learn to draw and paint and manipulate materials
Fun art learning and exploration in a calm and relaxed setting
SOME BENEFITS:
Art is beneficial for your child with ASD
It allows your child to sit in ‘The Artist Seat’
It is an appropriate and valuable outlet for emotional expression
It can be a tool to relieve negative emotion
The value in these sessions is as much the journey and skills learnt along the way as the end product
These creative tools can be used at home
Please complete the survey attached so we can best meet individual needs now/future.
Bookings and enquiries: 0432 900 869
Email/Website: barb@suttieart.com
www.suttieart.com
14. Feedback and Evaluation
1) We all enjoy a good laugh and that was reflected in the responses on the feedback sheets with many mentioning Ally’s comedy routine amongst the highlights of their day.
2) Many were glad of the opportunity to get together, exchange information, and feel part of a larger community
3) Personal stories were ranked highly and if we include Meg’s speech illustrated with personal examples and the home-ed talk, this area ranked as the most commented on highlight of the day
4) Information on respite was also well received with many being made aware of services they didn’t know existed.
5) There was interest in how the Aspect satellite classes run and support groups
6) Responses indicated that most participants were familiar with AS with only a few newly diagnosed families.
My Favourite comment from the day:
“ Coming here made me remember the value of parents talking to each other, because they know more about a lot of things.”
Suggestions for further Seminars
* Many were happy with the content of the seminar and would be happy to see it repeated but information from more areas
( eg. Lismore) needed to be included.
* We could all see that we needed more time – so smaller seminars held more often.
* The desire that speakers give case studies to show concretely how a service may be of use to a family was expressed and is wholeheartedly supported by us.
Suggestion for other topics were diverse but three were mentioned most often:
Home education
More AS adults to talk
Employment / transitioning to work
Other Suggestions Were:
Paediatricians, speech therapists, occupational therapists.
Outdoor (sports / yoga) and after school activities for AS kids
Services after 7 years of age
Siblings
Music therapy
Funding for schools- how to ensure parents get the most funding for their kids
More info on AS.
Proposals for next year
*After school activites: I am happy to set up a register on the web site for activities parents have found appropriate for their children.
There are Barb’s art Classes
Riding activities are listed in the resources directory
Seminars / Workshops
1) HOME EDUCATION AND DISTANCE ED
Half day workshop for those who are home educating or doing distance ed and anyone who is interested in finding out about these options.
For parents / carers to exchange ideas, resources, stories and information.
2) EMPLOYMENT / transitioning to work
Seminar.
Hopefully we can get some local asper speakers to give their views / insights / strategies on the employment issue.
I will approach the employment agencies and Tafe for speakers.
3) LETS GET TOGETHER.
If we can obtain a grant from Carers NSW again, Lets have a lunch in October with fellow aspies from our own groups to speak.
Focus on socialising and bringing our AS community together.
RESPITE
This is an important issue which needs updating each year as things change all the time.
Another agency may take up this issue and present on respite next year.
I will be canvassing interest in the seminars before more planning goes ahead.
Deb
