Cottage Autism Network Wexford: April 2010

Autism

Autism is a disability that affects a child's development in the areas of social interaction and communication. Children with Autism may show no interest in peek-a-boo or other interactive games. They may not communicate; instead they may "hand-lead" to the desired object. Many have poor eye contact.

Characteristics also include repetitive behaviours and resistance to tiny changes in familiar surroundings.

Sensory Issues: A child may have difficulty with clothing, noise and new situations. Some children have gastro-intestinal problems such as diarrhoea, constipation and food sensitivities.

The first signs of Autism, usually appear as developmental delays before the age of three. Autism is a "catch-all" word that is applied to a group of symptoms, some of which are mentioned above. These occur in varying degrees depending on the individual child.

Research has shown that early intervention plays a huge part in your children's progress. An appropriate education plan should be established immediately and should include - speech therapy, occupational therapy and behavioural intervention. Some parents have reported success with dietary and biomedical interventions.

If you are concerned about your child, contact your GP or Public Health Nurse and seek assessment for your child.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Get your hands on a free Grace App!

From the IAA Website

Grace Picture Exchange App for iPhone is here and if you are an IAA member and O2 customer - it's free!

The new app is designed to be used in a similar way to how the existing Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is used by parents and tutors of children with autism. While the existing PECS system is very effective in the home or classroom, it is not very portable for everyday situations outside of these settings.

The main benefits of the new ‘Grace’ iPhone app are that it is simple and works in real time. It can be customised to the individual child using their picture and photo vocabulary and adding new images and sharing them with the child’s parent/carer/tutor is simple and instant.

The development of the new app has been supported by O2, which supplied iPhones for the creation and testing of the app, and which also funded the development of the final artwork used in the app.

O2’s charity of choice for the past four years has been Irish Autism Action. In addition to providing funding, O2 supports IAA through a number of ways, including employee fundraising initiatives, customer fundraising initiatives, employee volunteering and by providing business expertise and support.

The new app is now available in the official iPhone App Store. It retails at €29.99 for up to five users, to facilitate family members accessing the app.
However: As part of the launch O2 and IAA will be running a promotion for all members of IAA to avail of the app for free.

The 2 conditions of the promotion are that;

1. You must be an IAA member

2. You must be an O2 iPhone customer.

If interested, please contact IAA directly at the national office on 044 9331609

and they will post you out the free app voucher.

You can then go into your local O2 store and present the voucher along with photo ID (drivers licence or passport). The voucher can be redeemed on or before 31st May 2010.

For more information please go here to the iTunes App store, or call Lisa on 0860486249

The app will run perfectly on 2G, 3G and newer models along with the iTouch and now iPad.

Go here to the Developer Website for more information and video demonstrations.

Go here to update your IAA membership.

Emma Hade, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan, Gracie and Lisa Domican in The Group Work Room, Saplings Rathfarnham showing the Minister how it's done!

If you already have an iPhone and are thinking of upgrading, you might consider donating the older model to your local autism group or school.  

Just call Lisa or email affinityautismireland@gmail.com to arrange collection.

They can restore the phone to original settings and pre-load the app so more children with autism and their families can benefit from this use of technology.

PECS Course 27th May

A little later than I promised but am posting up a link to a two day course in PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) that several new members were asking about at the recent social night in The Bailey. My apologies for not posting it up sooner. There has been a post up on the IAA Blog which explains the course well which you can read here and there is a little video made by Jen over at Autism, The King & I, which gives you an idea of what PECS is

Two Day Basic PECS Workshop hosted by Pyramid Educational Consultants

Title		Basic PECS 2 Day Workshop
Address		Portlaoise Heritage Hotel, Town Centre, Portlaoise, Ireland.
Date & Start Time		27th May 2010 09:00
Registration Opening Time		27th May 2010 08:30

Capacity		55
Professional fee / person		£270.00
Parent fee / person		£140.00

Go here to book.

Occupational Therapy

What is Occupational Therapy (O.T.)?
Occupational Therapy aims to maximize a child’s participation in home, school, play and leisure activities i.e. activities of daily living. Occupational Therapy is important when a child’s ability to participate in/ or perform these tasks is affected or compromised by illness, disease, disability or disorder.

How Occupational Therapy Helps the Autistic Child

Children are assessed in terms of age-appropriate life tasks. Occupational Therapy addresses areas that interfere with the child's ability to function in such life tasks. An occupational therapist would assess the child’s fine motor skills, coordination and self-help skills. (eating with utensils, dressing etc) The occupational therapist would also look at how the child responds to and uses what he sees, hears, feels, tastes and smells. The occupational therapist would identify the child’s impairments and provide intervention services to develop skills in these identified areas.

Occupational Therapy benefits a child with autism by attempting to improve the quality of life for the individual through successful and meaningful experiences. This may be accomplished through the maintenance, improvement, or introduction of skills necessary for the child to participate as independently as possible in meaningful life activities.

These are some of the skills occupational therapy may foster:

daily living skills, such as toilet training, dressing, brushing teeth, and other grooming skills
fine motor skills required for holding objects while handwriting or cutting with scissors
gross motor skills used for walking or riding a bike
sitting, posture, or perceptual skills, such as telling the differences between colors, shapes, and sizes
visual skills for reading and writing
play, coping, self-help, problem solving, communication, and social skills

By working on these skills during occupational therapy, a child with autism may also do the following:

develop peer and adult relationships
learn how to focus on tasks
learn how to delay gratification
express feelings in more appropriate ways
engage in play with peers
learn how to self-regulate

And this from Andrea Roche, ASD Unit Teacher Scoil Mhuire Coolcotts Wexford.

The Benefits of Occupational Therapy for children with Autism.

In Scoil Mhuire Wexford we are lucky enough to have a purpose built, fully equipped occupational therapy room. We are also fortunate enough to have a group of dedicated parents from the Cottage Autism Network who have raised enough funds to employ an occupational therapist who works with children in our school and in St Senans, Enniscorthy and members of C.A.N county wide. This has provided us with a consistent occupational therapy service.

Each child has individual sensory and motor needs and so has an individual programme to meet these needs. The sensory levels of the children can change from day to day and moment to moment and because our staff are familiar with the recommendations and equipment, they can immediately react to calm a child who is over stimulated or vice versa. The recommendations are carried out not only during occupational therapy sessions but throughout the day when needed. Weighted jackets, weight bearing exercises, fidget toys, structured movement breaks along with consistent behavioural plans and vigilant staff have helped to reduce significantly inappropriate behaviour. These strategies have been a huge benefit to the children in aiding concentration, listening skills and participation in group work. We have also seen improvements in fine motor co-ordination, which is an area of great difficulty for our children. The use of slant boards, weights, pencil grips and specific fine motor exercise have aided this.

There is no doubt that occupational therapy is of huge benefit to children with sensory processing problems. We have found when it is used in conjunction with consistent behavioural plans by staff who are aware of the difficulties facing children with autism, the benefits are even greater.

Cottage Autism Network Wexford

Autism

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Get your hands on a free Grace App!

PECS Course 27th May

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