Celebrating 10 Years of Autism Parenting Support in Bradford

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1 Celebrating 10 Years of Autism Parenting Support in Bradford

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides an overview of the autism Information day which took place on Wednesday 14th Sept at Victoria Hall in Saltaire. The purpose of the event was not only to provide an opportunity to celebrate good practice in Bradford but would bring together all the wide and varied organisations who work with people on the autistic spectrum, in one place, for the first time, for the benefit of parents, carers and practitioners. This comes at a time when services are likely to become fragmented through cuts and an increasing diagnostic rise of people on the autistic spectrum. This event has been able to take place because it has drawn together the expertise, experience and commitment of parents and practitioners from both statutory and voluntary agencies to both co ordinate and support this initiative. The underpinning value in the development of the autism information day is the belief that if parents and carers have access to appropriate knowledge, skills and support they can often find practical solutions to build confidence in family life. This report should be of value to all who are involved with supporting people on the autistic spectrum across the Bradford district. Specifically, the core of the report has been written as a tool to aid the planning of any future event. People on the autistic spectrum can often have difficulty making sense of the world around them, often experiencing extreme social exclusion. Without support and intervention, these problems are exacerbated as children get older, resulting in family breakdown, the placement of teenagers in residential settings, difficult behaviour and mental health problems. This is not only a high personal cost to individuals and families but leaves a large financial cost on local authorities and the state. The Bradford District Disabled Children and Young People Needs Analysis 2010 has identified that there are 3,773 children and young people (aged 0 19) in the category of

3 known ASC and challenging behaviour. This represents 2.9% of the 131,000 children and young people in that age group, and 42% of children with disabilities. The numbers of adults on the autistic spectrum remains less certain but together with children would represent a significant number of vulnerable people who need support within the Bradford district. Parents, carers and practitioners supporting this group of people have requested (Bradford Aiming High conference 2009) information that is targeted, easy to access and at one central location. This event would not only support the needs of local parents but also support the local authority to meet its obligations to provide free, accessible information to parents and carers in relation to information and learning which highlights the impact access to high quality information has on parental confidence (Lamb Inquiry 2010). The event took place between 10am 2pm on 14th Sept with the following attendees: 35 Stall holders 144 Parents carers 129 Practitioners Total = 308 attendees The numbers attending the event provides a positive indication of the need for the service and helped to create an engaging and lively atmosphere. The feedback and evaluations further support not only the need for such an event but the positive impact providing information and support in this format can have on a variety of levels. Parents and carers provided an overwhelming evaluative consensus that the day had been really helpful particularly in providing one central point of contact for autism services across the district. The most useful event I ve ever been to! I ve learnt more in ½ hour than I have in the past 6 years! Practitioners who attended as stallholders and visitors confirmed that they had learnt about some services they didn t know existed and felt more confident in signposting families, especially from having the opportunity to meet other service providers face to face and receive referrals. I feel confident in signposting parents now

4 Tons of new referrals received across the board For full evaluative feedback see attached; There was a universal consensus that this type of event should be run on a regular if not annual basis. For this proposal to be an option this would need to be considered on a cost based analysis. On the basis of this first event, taking into account set up costs, staffing costs and income the total cost of the event = 1370 at an equivalent organisational cost of 4.44.per attendee (no direct cost to attendees). EVALUATION LEAFS Very useful and informative. idea. Thank you! A really good and successful Need to have more events like this. It was a very good turn out for the first one and hopefully it will grow each year. This has been the most useful event I have been to since starting at BADASG. We have 36 new referrals which is fantastic. It was lovely to see all of our service users. They have all really enjoyed the day. They turned up to volunteer and have been absolutely fantastic at providing the food and drinks. Without them it would not have been possible. Thank You. Team Bradford Autism Support. Fantastic event, really well organised. Would have been good to see more from Adult Services. Brilliant to have so many different services under one roof. Certainly a need to these types of events due to the number of people attending. Wrose Adventurers. Nice to see lots of help available. Excellent opportunity to network and find out more. I thought it is good because people are putting themselves out for people that are struggling in their lives because it took me 40 years to get my diagnosis. Thank you. A very well organised Spacekraft. I have learnt so much in an hour than I have over the years. Everybody is so friendly and direct. They are all professionals who are there for you and not to judge you. Thank you. A really busy event which was worth coming to. We had lots of queries and saw lots of parents and carers. It was also a good opportunity to network with professions discovered some agencies we didn t know about. Connexions. Excellent venue and refreshments! Good attendance Well advertised! Good range of information for parents and also professionals. day. Smashing cupcakes. This event has been very useful and I have really found a lot of information. Thank you.

5 An excellent event for parents to collect information about services available and to get advice from professionals. First of all, really enjoyed the welcome cup of tea and cupcake! Very information good to find out relevant information centrally. Thanks to all the volunteers for their time and friendliness. Very useful event very informative and a good means of getting information. What a delightful and informative event. Thank you. Fantastic morning. Very helpful. Very helpful information. A lot to take away thank you. Very good, I ve enjoyed it. Lots of info, very useful. Thanks. Good event nice to know we have the same issues. Lack of services accountability. The event was very good. Many different agencies with advice, leaflets and information for all parents and carers of children with additional needs. It was an excellent chance to get them all at once. Excellent Great atmosphere Great to talk to other stall holders Useful stalls Family Fund stall very popular Keep hearing comments from parents professionals about how good the event is! Bernie Baldwin Family Fund. and Brilliant day. Really nice to see everyone and catch up. Really great to talk to different services and learn about what they offer. Brilliant Day. Lots of information, very friendly and helpful. Great networking opportunities. More of the same Aspect. Lovely to network with parents and professionals really valuable for liaising! Fantastic to have everyone in one place! Excellent resources for me as a Family Support Worker! Excellent variety of services for parents and carers. done. Good information and advice. Well Excellent information session. We would like more information and training on Autism and Aspergers. Great event. Lots of interesting stands and people. Good to see it so busy. Thanks for organising it. Yorkshire Housing. Well done! A splendid event as a parent, carer and volunteer! Nikki has done a fab job and it was a good event. Absolutely fantastic. Very very helpful good support and friendly advice. Good to speak to people who understand you so thank you. Great. Very helpful to get people together in one place and have contact with a range of service providers. DCIS was missing. Fantastic event, very well attended. Made some lovely contacts and got a list of referrals. Bradford Toy Library Excellent, informative day. Met companies that I have never heard of before, so can confidently let parents know what services are out there for them. Well done. Fantastic having all the organisations together. informative. A day worth attending. A good selection of people with good networks giving advice to other professionals and parents about services available. Caremark Helpful to see what services are available as a teacher. Thanks. Very, very informative. Really enjoyed it and really useful in my work. Very busy a good forum for networking. Very informative. Fantastic. A great chance for us to meet new groups and also see groups that have given us support in the past so we can let them know how we are getting one. And we need more of these days x Thank you. Really enjoyed myself. Great information, knowledgeable staff and nice to see some faces from the past who are still working hard to make significant changes for the better to parents lives. Thanks. Very

6 A really useful event, both for collecting information and putting names to faces. Thank you. Very useful, thank you. Have found out about courses and their relevant content which isn t always immediately apparent in prospects. Today s event has been eye-opening, about the amount of information and help available. An excellent morning. Well done. Hopefully made useful links. Good clear information on 19+ school leavers. Cheers and thank you for your help. Very informative for a student nurse. Amazing display of help for children and their carers. No one needs to be alone. Thank you. A good informative event. Thank you all. A fab event. Very upbeat and informative. Parents Forum Bradford & Airedale A great opportunity for families and professionals to get information on autism and services. I felt it was very interesting and helpful to me and my son. It was very good to meet new people. Found the day very useful. Nice to reflect back on the progress my child has made in the last 12 months. This time last year he would not enter the show but today he played and ran around. Great, loads of information and a chance to catch up with people. Please do it every year. Good venue (parking not great). Great event opportunity to network and catch up with people and meet new people and raise awareness in other services. Reassuring to know that there is still a lot of support happening! This was an excellent event. I have gathered lots of information and been introduced to new ideas. I m buzzing! Saltaire Primary School Brilliant! We got lots of new referrals and many people showed interest in our events and aims. Really well organized. Thanks. Parents Forum, Bradford & Airedale Very useful lots of information regarding provision and support. Will be able to pass information onto families etc. Thank you. EYFT (LSS) Fabulous! Great to make contact with such a range of services and parents! It s brill to go round and share information. S.A.S Really enjoyed. Thank you. Very organised event. We enjoyed it. Care Dynamics (Yorkshire) Lots of information. 1st one I have been to great idea. A great way to network with other organisations and teams. Really useful information and to find out there is support out there. This has helped us a lot. Thanks. Very informative. Good way to network. Thanks a lot. Good resources. Really well. Informative. Staff friendly. When is the next one?? Brilliant, brilliant idea and say. Thank you! CAMHS, Keighley Most enlightened thing I have done in a long while. Good. Helpful. Busy. Good for networking. Information sharing. More events like this should take place at least twice a year. Positive Buzz. Very beneficial. Found out about a lot of organizations I d not heard of before. An informative event. I ve found out more in half and hour than in the last 6 years! Excellent information and networking event. I found loads of resources I was not aware of. Family Support Worker Bingley Children s Centre Good to know the services available in our area as a class teacher. Thanks. Very good, excellent information gathering. Thank you. Very helpful. Lots of info given. Thanks.

7 Picked up loads of information. It s great to have an event like this in our area. There is so much support out there so it s good to know about it. Thank you for today. I m at the beginning of diagnosis and this event has really helped. Thanks, A very interesting and useful event. Gained a lot of information and advice in relation to work and family. Thank you. A very well organised event with so much information. Found it all very helpful. Thank you x Thank you very much. information and support. As a professional it was very useful to meet a range of services. Lots of useful information and advice highly recommended to families and colleagues. Thanks! A very helpful event lots of Found out some very useful information. Plenty of information packs. Friendly people. Wonderful, lively, interesting, information and positive event, providing insight and also excellent networking opportunities. It would be helpful to receive a list of participation organisations and contacts Well organised & useful event. meeting parents and carers. Fantastic event! Really enjoyed passing on information and networking with other practitioners. Would be great if it takes place again next year. Good for networking and Lots of very informative information available all in one place! I found the stalls very helpful. I ve come away with lots of information. Thank you. A very helpful event. Good to be able to talk to families about our service & the joint assessment service and hear their feedback. Very useful organizations to link with and find out about. CAMHS The mum enjoyed the event. It has helped with lots of information. Very informative and great to chat to people face to face. A really helpful event. Should be a regular event for parent s with a new diagnosis. Got very good feedback and been offered a lot of help. Fab event. Great to have so much information in one place. Really good feedback from agencies, parents and carers. Loads of people and loads of interest. Well done. Great to have so many services in one place. Had a very positive experience. Very useful very helpful. Glad we came. Super day as a professional for networking and showing the services available. A very lively event with lots of information and helpful people. Very informative. A good show. A great event, very well organised a brilliant opportunity to network for both parents and professionals. Educational Psychology Team Positive, empowering, supportive and great doughnuts. Specialist Autism Service Very informative and helpful. Well done. Lots of info. Please do this every year x Very interesting with lots of information realizing that many people have different problems. Really good. Really enjoyed it. Was nice to get information which I didn t know about and it was great to see such a good turn out Brilliant. Thank you very much. Long live everyone involved with disability needs. Very helpful and informative. Friendly and approachable staff. Very good, but perhaps some more educational materials. Buzzing! This was an amazing experience, frightening, but good to know that there is actually help out there for my son and I. Thank you to all involved today Found the information very helpful and interesting. Have put my name down for a couple of activities. Everyone was really helpful. Good support from all. Good to know the services available as a health visitor. Very helpful, great to find out what support is available.

8 Good to have so much information in one place. interesting and welcoming. All very Extremely useful & informative event. I am a newly qualified community nursery nurse working with a health visiting team and needed to know more about what is out there. Job done! Thank you. Very helpful. Can we have more support for parents of teenagers? More events like this one. So much information on autism. Very good to make people aware of it if help is needed. A well organized event Great positioning of stalls Opportunity to meet people we work with in an informal setting Good opportunity to signpost people DIRECTLY! Felt positive and uplifting Autism Parenting Support Programmes Turnout absolutely brilliant! Was pleasantly surprised. Busy throughout the first 3 hours well done. Thank you for organizing this event. Ideal location. Carers Connection I am a parent of an adult and I found this fair very informative, especially services for my young man. Very informative. Very good. Children s Community Support Team Fab day. We have had lots of interest and enquiries. Also caught up with lots of old friends! Speech & Language Therapy What a fantastic day. A big thank you Nikki for all your hard work see you next year?!? Speech & Language Therapy Very informative good networks. Excellent, very informative and friendly. Informative and useful. Lots of useful information. A very useful event. It was good to share information with other workers. It will help with signposting in the future. Very helpful. Thank you. Really useful day. Has the opportunity to network with lots of other professionals and find out about services I was not aware of. Really good. Great to have all the people under one roof easy to make enquiries. Extremely informative. Thank you. Can never have enough information. It was very helpful. Useful to find out what s out there! Particularly the Toy Library Service. Excellent day, met lots of our members we ve never seen face to face. Put faces to name of professionals. Encouraged members to join in more. It s very good. All the information is there. Just ask and you re in good hands. Fantastic, informative event. Plenty of food for thought. Elected members need to be more aware. Lots of information very useful. Very useful. Lots of information. Very friendly. Will definitely come again next time. A really useful way of parents and professionals to get to know what it out there to help. Good information pleasantly surprised. Good to see how much is going on in Bradford. Thank you. Very helpful and interesting. Got lots of new ideas. Great event. Met lots of new people. Carers Resource

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