April 2016 Newsletter

Transcription

1 Oldham Support group for Carers with Autism Chair Shelley Davies April 2016 Newsletter Treasurer Sharon Roscoe OSCA Website oscasupport.com Meetings: Parents Meetings are on the second Monday of each month at The Link Centre. REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: Time: 12.30pm 2pm Join us for a drink and a chat. All children are welcome. Activities : Chairperson :Shelley Davies Treasurer : Sharon Roscoe

2 Monday drop in Meetings: Our next day drop in meeting is on May 9 th at the Link Centre in Oldham. Directions: Contact Evening Drop In Session Next meeting will be on Thursday 28 th April. We are situated at the Link Centre in Oldham. Meetings are a great opportunity for members to get together and share ideas and meet other people. Join us for a drink and a chat. All children are welcome. Arts and Crafts will be available for the children. Drinks and biscuits will be provided. Wheels for All Easter Egg Hunt OSCA families had lots of fun on the bikes and took part in an Easter egg hunt. All children and young people that took part received an Easter egg. This was a popular event and there were plenty of smiles all round. Kepplewray Project We once again had a successful trip to the Kepplewray Centre this Easter. All the families enjoyed themselves and gave excellent feedback. Families and children made new friends and developed new communication and team skills.

3 The staffs at the centre were very helpful and experienced in working with children who have additional needs and made sure all families were safe whilst enjoying the activities. On a more serious note some families cancelled at the last minute and we were unable to sell these places on which incurred a cost to OSCA over 700. This money could have paid for a trip over the summer holidays. We obtain grants and some members fundraise to help facilitate activities and trips so money is hard to find and we do not have a reserve pot of money which can be used on unused places such as Kepplewray. We have policy at OSCA that if anyone booked a prepaid activity there will be no refunds and if it has been paid for in advance we would seek payment from the members involved. We have explained this on a few occasions and we have put notifications of this in the newsletter. Please be aware unless there is a valid reason for cancelling activities the members involved will be receiving a bill and sanctions which will be imposed.

4 May Half Term Activities There will be a trip to Flamingo land at half term. Thursday 2nd June NOTE: Coach leaving 9am from One World Café next door to Halfords on King Street These trips are for families which include up to 2 adults and children who have additional needs accompanied by their siblings. If anyone found to be breaking this rule sanctions will be placed and full payment of the activity will be sought. The trips are not for friends of members unless places have not been taken up and only then members will be offered such at this time. To book: please text the OSCA number on Phone calls are not being taken at this time. It is also a record of booking.

5 Allotments There has been plenty of activity happening at the allotments to sort the patches out and surrounding areas around these ready for families to come up and enjoy. However there is still plenty of work to be done at the allotments to get this up to a suitable standard. We are asking if there are any families that could spare a few hours to come up and dig out, turn the plots over, weed etc. Once this is all done the allotments will be a lovely place were families can visit and can get involved in growing some vegetables and creating a lovely outdoor area. We have secured some funding to allow us to create some more plots and by the summer we are hoping to have this all completed. If anyone is interested then please contact Diane on This is situated at the Millennium Green on Top Sholver in Oldham.

6 AGM Will be held at the UNITARIAN CHAPEL AND ONE WORLD CAFÉ KING ST OLDHAM WEDNESDAY 27th JULY 6.30PM BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR FOOD AND ACTIVITIES. PLEASE TEXT OSCA ON Announcement Unfortunately Diane has resigned from her post at OSCA and has secured employment elsewhere. Therefore please be patient if OSCA are not returning your queries immediately. The good news is Diane will continue to facilitate the trips and activities in the holidays and will be supporting OSCA and families with the allotment project so she will be around to see you then.

7 Research Project Autism for the Arts Projects for anyone interested please use the address below: If any member would like to take part in a survey about communication differences between autistic boys and girls please contact Alexandra Sturrock. Details below. She is looking for 20 girls and 20 boys. * They should have performance IQ in the typical range (i.e. attending mainstream school). * They should have English as a first language * They should have no other conditions that may impact on their language development (i.e. hearing or sight difficulties or physical difficulties) Alexandra.Sturrock@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk (0161)

8 Useful Contacts for Advice and Support POINT Tel: Contact a Family helpline@cafamily.org.uk or phone National Autistic Society nregionalteam@nas.org.uk or phone Cerebra info@cerebra.org.uk or phone Family Fund for grants to help families of disabled children info@familyfund.org.uk Telephone Turn2us information about benefits and grants info@turn2us.org.uk or phone Family Lives parent support or phone IPSEA independent advice on SEN and Tribunals or phone Go Oldham for activities for children for activities which may be suitable for children with additional needs select Accessible from the drop down menu. Oldham Carers Centre carerscentre@wired.me.uk Early Help Assessment and Early Help Services (Early Help Assessment is replacing the Family CAF)