Latest news

Link to the campaign microsite

I Exist is the message from adults with autism, who have been isolated and ignored for too long.

  • Two thirds of adults with autism do not have enough support to meet their needs.
  • One in three have experienced severe mental health difficulties because of a lack of support.
  • 92% of parents are worried about their son or daughter’s future when they are no longer able to support them.

I Exist is the second phase of the think differently about autism campaign.

 

Visit the campaign microsite by clicking on the logo above.

In the news...

 

We are now the South Hampshire Branch

Our membership has increased considerably to well over 100 families and, as it now covers a much wider area than just Eastleigh and Winchester, we have decided to change our name to reflect this.

 

At a special re-launch event on Thursday 23 October 2008, over 100 parents/carers, individuals with autism, councillors, health and social care professionals met to help raise the profile of the needs of people with autism. Speakers at the event were:

  • Dr Sarah Nicholson, Child Psychiatrist, Southampton Autism Assessment Service
  • Dr Tony Brown, Autism Diagnostic Research Centre, Southampton
  • Robert Pritchett, The National Autistic Society's Regional Director, London & South East Region
  • Councillor Roy Perry, Deputy Leader, Hampshire County Council
  • Mark Houston, an adult with Asperger syndrome who gave a particularly inspiring talk.

We were also delighted to be able to announce that the Asperger Support & Social Group based in Sholing, Southampton, are joining forces with us to become part of the South Hampshire Branch. This now gives us the opportunity to extend our support to children, young people and adults with autism.

Click here for pictures.

 

Eastleigh College Adult Enrichment Programme

A range of daytime courses for adults (age 19 upwards) with learning disabilities. They have some availability from January 2009 and from September 2009. Click here for details.

 

Family Fun Day

Over 90 members took part in a Family Fun Day at Fairthorne Manor on Sunday 15 June 2008. Click here for pictures.

 

London Marathon

One of our members, Helen Bannister, ran this year's London Marathon on 13 April, raising over £1000 for The National Autistic Society - well done Helen!

 

Family days out

The National Autistic Society offers advice on choosing activities and planning ahead in its fact sheet ‘Families: ideas for days out’. See it online by visiting the NAS website or call the NAS helpline on 0845 070 4004 to request a hard copy.

 

Autism Diagnostic Research Centre

This new centre is a Southampton based service for adults suspected of having high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome. It is now up and running. For more information please click here.

 

Eye Movement in Dynamic and Static Scenes

Dr. Hanna Kovshoff would be very interested to hear from any adult with autism who would like to take part in a psychology research project at the University of Southampton. This project will investigate visual attention and eye movement. To examine what people attend to, they are going to record the eye movements of participants whilst they look at displays presented on a computer screen. The aim of this work is to understand the process of visual attention when people look at dynamic versus static scenes. Click here for more information.

 

Research questionnaire

A study exploring the pattern of strengths and weaknesses found in children with autism spectrum disorders in relation to everyday abilities, is being undertaken at Goldsmiths, University of London. If you would be interested in taking part in this, please click here.

 

Resource library

Thanks to a grant from the Local Network Fund, our resource library is well and truly up and running. Members are able to borrow books, videos and DVDs on ASD topics. For full details of the library and how you can join, please click here.

 

Social skills groups

During 2006 and early 2007, thanks to funding from Awards for All, we were able to run four social skills groups (for 5 to 16 year olds) All four 6-session courses were a great success and the 26 young people also enjoyed their Activity Days at Calshot or Fairthorne Manor.

Thanks to new funding from the Local Network Fund, we are able to extend the programme into 2008. In August 2007 six young people from our previous courses took part in a self-esteem group. In the Autumn we ran a new social skills course for 7 to 11 year-olds and another was held during February and March for 11 to 14 year-olds.

 

Teenage youth club

On 2 October 2007 were were very pleased to see the launch of a teenage youth club for children with social communication difficulties. This is a joint project between ourselves, the Eastleigh in touch project and Fair Oak Youth Centre. A 'pilot group' of over 13s drawn from our previous social skills groups and from the in touch project got the club underway.The weekly running of the club is in the capable hands of the in touch project with assistance from leaders from the Youth Centre. The National Autistic Society have assisted with staff training. The club continues to be a success and a few new members have joined from our most recent social skills course.

 

Find out more about the Make school make sense campaign

Join the NAS campaign NOW!

The National Autistic Society's highly successful make school make sense education campaign continues. It aims to improve educational provision for children with autism, so that every child can get the education they deserve.

Click here to find out more and see how you can make a difference

 

The Transporters DVD

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre ARC) at Cambridge University and David Lammy, Culture Minister, have launched a novel animation DVD to help young children with autism. The Transporters DVD aims to help children with autism to look at the human face and to learn about emotions. The DVD is aimed at children from two to eight years. Click here for full details. We have free copies available at out Parent Support Group meetings and Family Youth Club.

 

Current newsletter available

Our 2007 newsletter is available, click here to view  – a new version will be available soon. 

 

Help with research requested

We have had a number of enquiries from research students for help in their studies into various aspects of ASD.

Please click here for details of this research and to find out ways in which you can help 

 

Family Youth Club

 

Our Saturday afternoon club continues to be a success with between 20 and 30 young people attending with their families each month.

 

Our club restarts after the summer in September – click here for the dates.

 

The cost per child is £1.50 per session.

Chandlers Ford Methodist Church Youth Club kindly continue to allow us use of their facilities around once a month on Saturday afternoons. Our thanks to Jane and Tim for organising these events, to our professional play worker, Karen and to Viv, John and Pat for looking after the refreshments.

News from the committee
 

Branch information is now regularly being circulated to more than 200 families and professionals, and to over 80 local schools. Although we are based in the Eastleigh and Winchester area, we welcome anyone for whom our group may be a helpful resource.

 

We have received an increase in enquiries in recent months. Information about our branch is being circulated by health professionals on a regular basis.

 

A number of events have taken place locally during the last year or so, in addition to our monthly parent support group meetings and family youth club:

  • In March 2006 and 2007, we hosted NAS help! programmes in Eastleigh, run by the NAS help! team - excellent days with over 60 people attending each one.
  • For the past three years we had a stand at the Hampshire Special Needs Information Days. 
  • In May 2006 the Branch Officer attended the launch of the Make school make sense education campaign at the Houses of Parliament. We are fully supporting this campaign (see left).
  • In July 2006, our new Resource Library was launched at our support group meeting.
  • In October 2006, June 2007 and November 2007, we hosted NAS help!2 programmes in Eastleigh, run by the NAS help! team.
  • In May 2008 we joined forces with the other three NAS branches in the county to launch the NAS I Exist campaign (see above) in Hampshire.

Our monthly parent support meetings continue to be well attended and we have had some interesting guests. 
From The National Autistic Society, we have welcomed Robert Pritchett, Regional Director for London and the South East, Chris Barson, the NAS External Training Manager, Jane Vaughan, Regional Coordinator for London and the South East, Tracey Sellers, our Regional Officer, Liesel Batterham from the NAS Education Advice Line and Jonathan Dibb, NAS Welfare Rights Adviser. Other visitors have included representatives from The Aviary and Lantern's Children's Centres, Hampshire Children and Families Forum, Eastleigh Child and Family Guidance, the Eastleigh in touch project, Hampshire Parent Partnership, Connexions, Contact a Family, Portsmouth Autism Support Network, Not Just Talking Ltd, Southampton Autism Assessment Team, Hampshire Police, Hampshire Children's Services and other professionals in the field of autism.

 

Our Family Youth Club continues to be a success. We are delighted to have Karen Allen coming along as our professional play worker.

 

On the social front, we have enjoyed parents' skittles evenings and our Family Fun Day at Fairthorne Manor in June.

 

We have also drawn up and approved a Branch Child Protection Policy and Equal Opportunities Policy.

 

Members are asked to complete a branch membership form if they have not already done so. We also encourage members to become full members of the National Autistic Society. There are a great many advantages. A leaflet and membership form is available from the Branch Officer or visit the NAS web site for full details. (Additionally the Branch gains £5 from each NAS member who nominates us on joining).

 

As always, we are pleased to hear from anyone interested in coming along to our meetings and from existing members with ideas for events, fund raising, etc.

 

At present the committee are David, Rachel, Daniel, Julia, Jane, Claire and Gillian. We would welcome any other volunteers to join us. Please do get in touch if you are able to help.

 
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