Autism Outreach Services

Outcome

Success will be determined by the numbers of children and young adults attending activities and positive feedback received from service users and carers.

Results

Although starting slowly our numbers have continued to increase throughout the life of the project and we now have families actively registering with our service so they can access our outreach services. Feedback from parents/carers are that they are finding the services essential and are looking to expand support with other areas of services PAS provide. Young people have created good relationships with staff, volunteers and most importantly young people in their own community who they may not necessarily met as some of them attend different primary schools, where often with the size of the school they can be the only child on the autism spectrum.

Case study

Background

The young person (secondary school age) struggles with social anxiety and feels that they do not quite fit in at school. They have also verbalised feelings of depression. Both the young person and the family feel that they are not receiving enough support from school as to deal with incidents of bullying that make the young person feel extremely self-conscious.
The young person also struggles with the fact that they have a younger sibling with ASD who is having a particularly tricky time at school. This situation has an impact on the young person, as they do not manage to get enough attention at home to deal with their own issues. Also, the stigmatisation of their younger sibling at school due to difficult behaviour has in turn affected the perspective that others have on the young person, making them feel as a social outsider.

Support PAS offered and areas of service involved
The young person attends our Outreach services on a weekly basis. This means that we take PAS’s services out to different areas within Perth and Kinross, which makes them more accessible to families such as the young person’s. PAS Outreach activities provide this younger person’s family with respite from the very stressful and frustrating situation that they are living, both regarding the young person’s struggle with anxiety and bullying issues and the sibling’s tricky time at school due to behaviour issues. The young person’s parents also benefit from having the chance to talk about their difficulties with PAS staff. They feel listened to and understood by people that are familiar with the struggles that having children with ASD may impose on a family. If it weren’t for our Outreach services, these parents may not have access to such level of support, since they may not be able to travel into Perth to visit our Family Support staff.
PAS Outreach activities also give the young person a chance to do something they enjoy in a very understanding environment. Staff always take their time to converse with the young person regarding their week at school, problems they may be going through, their mental health and anything that they want to share. This makes the young person feel valued and aims to provide them with attention that they may not get at home, due to one of their siblings having a very demanding level of needs. The young person gets therefore individual support, personalised attention and also accesses a service (Cookery lessons) that they are passionate about and provide them with life skills. The young person also gets to interact with other young people in a very accepting environment: while they can often feel alienated due to the fact that they have ASD, all young people that access our services are in the same situation and this makes socialising much easier for the young person. The young person struggles with creating peer relations at school but, during PAS’s activities, they are visibly relaxed, confident and sociable.

Impact this support has had
Accessing our activities clearly helps the young person regulate their emotions and gives them personal confidence, as they know PAS offers a space to validate their feelings and where they can always share the difficulties that they are dealing with. Staff always provide feedback to the parents in regards to how the young person did during the sessions. This way, the family are aware of what the young person has shared about their mental wellbeing, which offers them the chance to act upon issues that they may not have picked up themselves. Also, through staff’s recommendation, parents are now informed on the range of Family Services that PAS provides, so that they can access them if they are ever needed.
PAS has also had great impact on the young person and their family through our School Liaison services and their involvement concerning the young person’s youngest sibling. Through PAS’s mediation between family and school, there are now several strategies in place to guarantee the sibling’s attendance (they had previously been excluded) and good performance in their education. This has provided the family with respite and the chance to focus their attention on their other children, which is benefitting our young person.

What the young person or family said
The young person has voiced the fact that, when they come to PAS, they get to disconnect from their problems at school and that they feel happier and more relaxed than during their daily routine. Their parents have also voiced gratitude towards all that PAS has done for them, from the level of concern and attention towards their young person to the input that the School Liaison services have had in the tricky situation that they are living with the youngest sibling’s school.

Another parents said:
"Perth Autism Support is an amazing service and a huge part in *** life. The Outreach support means he is able to access sports, social and activity groups that he would never have had the opportunity to do in the normal recreation activities available for mainstream children in our area."

Outcome

In 12 months time we would hope the success of the project would mean the young people we support will have built peer supports and friendships in their local community and have social opportunities to develop independence outwith the family home.

Results

We have differing levels of success with this outcome which we would expect with children on the autism spectrum, we have some young people who will see each other socially outwith PAS on a regular basis, we have other young people though who only meet at the outreach sessions, their friendship is not any less important to them but they are fixed in their ideas about where they "see people" so they relate them to PAS only, however it should be noted that these children may never have met each other with out PAS outreach as they attend different schools.

Case study

Background
The young person started coming to PAS as her relationship with the sibling who has Autism was deteriorating and the family thought that the young person needed peer support and help understanding Autism.

Support PAS offered and areas of service involved which the parents heard about through their child attending our outreach programme:
- Siblings social group (weekly group / siblings’ holiday programmes)
- Sharing experiences with other siblings about living with Autism
- Being around other children in the same situation
- Having a safe space to speak about worries surrounding their siblings and Autism
- Gaining a better understanding about Autism
Impact this support has had
When this young carer joined the siblings group a year ago, the relationship with the child who has Autism in the household (sibling) was increasingly deteriorating. After spending a year with the siblings’ group, learning about Autism; sharing experiences with other children who are in the same situation; and having fun with other children and supportive staff, the relationship between both children has improved to unexpected measures.


What the young person or family said

We often receive feedback from the parents when the young person gets dropped off or picked up at siblings group, explaining situations which the parents thought would never become real in their house – a very touching moment was when the cared-for child was planning his birthday party and once the date was set up, the parents said that the sibling was away that day and would not be able to attend the party, to which the cared-for child replied “then I will change the date, because I will not have fun unless we are both together!”. When the parent was explaining this story to the staff, she very emotionally said that the improvement in their relationship was “a dream come true” and that she was “very thankful for the services they have benefited from at Perth Autism Support”.

Other comments from the family:

“She can’t wait until the new term starts! All the activities look amazing - she keeps asking: Mummy, when do I start going to siblings club again? I miss it!”

After receiving end of term report: “Thank you so much, what an amazing report for xxx, I love that she has rated each session with a 5 ”.

Outcome

Parents/Carers will develop their own peer networks within their community to support and access social opportunities or have some time to themselves or with other siblings while their young person attends activities delivered in their area.

Results

The success of this outcome has looked different for every parent/carer as each individual has their own idea about what is time away from caring, but all of them reported anecdotally that they used the time to spend doing things they normally would struggle to do, for example food shopping, meeting friends for coffee etc.

Case study

We have anecdotal testimonials from a number of carers including:

"The Outreach Programme provided by PAS is great.  It gives us a break for wee while and we know that T is in good hands with people who can understand his needs and play skills.  It provides interaction with other children and meeting other parents in similar circumstances."

"Our life has changed since meeting you, the support and advice has been invaluable"

"I really welcome and appreciate the fact that this service is offered.  It is very much ‘me time’ to relax and unwind. "

Outcome

Carers will report a better sense of wellbeing through having respite opportunities from their caring role that are easily accessible in their community in which their children and young people are developing skills and supported by autism trained professionals, which they can access information on

Results

We have achieved this outcome to a great extent with not only parent carers but with the siblings of the young people who have accessed our siblings support through hearing about the service from our Outreach team.

Case study

Background

The young person (secondary school age) struggles with social anxiety and feels that they do not quite fit in at school. They have also verbalised feelings of depression. Both the young person and the family feel that they are not receiving enough support from school as to deal with incidents of bullying that make the young person feel extremely self-conscious.
The young person also struggles with the fact that they have a younger sibling with ASD who is having a particularly tricky time at school. This situation has an impact on the young person, as they do not manage to get enough attention at home to deal with their own issues. Also, the stigmatisation of their younger sibling at school due to difficult behaviour has in turn affected the perspective that others have on the young person, making them feel as a social outsider.

Support PAS offered and areas of service involved
The young person attends our Outreach services on a weekly basis. This means that we take PAS’s services out to different areas within Perth and Kinross, which makes them more accessible to families such as the young person’s. PAS Outreach activities provide this younger person’s family with respite from the very stressful and frustrating situation that they are living, both regarding the young person’s struggle with anxiety and bullying issues and the sibling’s tricky time at school due to behaviour issues. The young person’s parents also benefit from having the chance to talk about their difficulties with PAS staff. They feel listened to and understood by people that are familiar with the struggles that having children with ASD may impose on a family. If it weren’t for our Outreach services, these parents may not have access to such level of support, since they may not be able to travel into Perth to visit our Family Support staff.
PAS Outreach activities also give the young person a chance to do something they enjoy in a very understanding environment. Staff always take their time to converse with the young person regarding their week at school, problems they may be going through, their mental health and anything that they want to share. This makes the young person feel valued and aims to provide them with attention that they may not get at home, due to one of their siblings having a very demanding level of needs. The young person gets therefore individual support, personalised attention and also accesses a service (Cookery lessons) that they are passionate about and provide them with life skills. The young person also gets to interact with other young people in a very accepting environment: while they can often feel alienated due to the fact that they have ASD, all young people that access our services are in the same situation and this makes socialising much easier for the young person. The young person struggles with creating peer relations at school but, during PAS’s activities, they are visibly relaxed, confident and sociable.

Impact this support has had
Accessing our activities clearly helps the young person regulate their emotions and gives them personal confidence, as they know PAS offers a space to validate their feelings and where they can always share the difficulties that they are dealing with. Staff always provide feedback to the parents in regards to how the young person did during the sessions. This way, the family are aware of what the young person has shared about their mental wellbeing, which offers them the chance to act upon issues that they may not have picked up themselves. Also, through staff’s recommendation, parents are now informed on the range of Family Services that PAS provides, so that they can access them if they are ever needed.
PAS has also had great impact on the young person and their family through our School Liaison services and their involvement concerning the young person’s youngest sibling. Through PAS’s mediation between family and school, there are now several strategies in place to guarantee the sibling’s attendance (they had previously been excluded) and good performance in their education. This has provided the family with respite and the chance to focus their attention on their other children, which is benefitting our young person.

What the young person or family said
The young person has voiced the fact that, when they come to PAS, they get to disconnect from their problems at school and that they feel happier and more relaxed than during their daily routine. Their parents have also voiced gratitude towards all that PAS has done for them, from the level of concern and attention towards their young person to the input that the School Liaison services have had in the tricky situation that they are living with the youngest sibling’s school.

Outcome

Children and young people with autism will have a range of activities to attend in their local community while developing peer friendships in an understanding and supportive environment.

Results

We have been careful in terms of planning the outreach services that they are activities that the young people want to do and therefore they have been involved in planning their own timetable as we have to ensure that we make sure the finite time we have in each area is filled with activities that are engaging and of interest to the particular area we are in which is different for every outreach area.

Case study

Background
This person has been struggling with anxiety and his emotions primarily down to a bullying situation which has taken place at school. With this being said, before the bullying this person was a fun, confident and outgoing. The impact of the bullying combined with the autism prompted many negative emotions for this person to endure. This person suffers from severe anxiety now and when attending their first PAS activity they were visibly distressed at the thought of meeting new people and being in a room full of strangers. This person latched onto their parent and was overwhelmed to a very large extent. The parent spoke to myself and provided me with information about the bullying situation and how their child has changed a lot due to this.



Support PAS offered
Firstly, I offered this person to come to a quiet space in PAS where they could have time to relax. I explained that PAS is a safe place and the reason people come here is to essentially feel safe, relaxed and have fun. Once this happened, I decided to speak to this person about positive interests which struck up conversation with them. I decided to show this person around PAS detailing what happens in each room and what to expect. (computer room, arts and crafts room, chill out zone etc.) Once they felt more relaxed, I asked if they would like to join in with the other service users. They said yes. (parent was still present as I felt due to this persons heightened emotions it was not the right day to leave as we were still getting to know them etc) The person attempted to join in with kids just chatting away but got a bit overwhelmed so I took them into a quiet room where they could do the activity privately, hence, they were still ultimately taking part. This is when parent and the service user spoke candidly about their experience with bullying. I listened to both. Once we finished chatting I decided to try to encourage the person to have a look about and mingle as nothing bad would be allowed to be done here, bullying would not occur as adults are present to observe and support. This person mingled about afterwards with both myself and parent present but from a far. They were visibly feeling much better by the end of the session even smiling. Just giving them your full attention for a couple of hours and giving everything that you have can make that positive change. At the end of the session I explained that I would send over the lesson plan for each week so the person knew what to expect for the sessions to lessen his anxiety.

Note: It should also be noted that parents can contact office staff who have specific roles to support families, as I know this persons parent had been in contact with a member of office staff for advice etc in regards to behaviour and dealing with their anxiety.


Impact this support has had
The following session he came in with no issues. Parent was shocked (in a positive way) at how easy it was for them to walk into a room full of people and take part. The person was much more relaxed mingling and speaking to other service users. They clicked very well with another person and ended up supporting them when we were playing games. PAS essentially provided this person with a place for a couple hours where their autism was not labelled as different and bullying was not even I a potential threat as they felt welcomed and appreciated by both staff and service users. It provided their parents with a place they did not have to worry about their child and knew that their needs would be met. With sending the parent with the lesson plan gave them a preview of what to expect, hence, they were kept up to date with what we were doing with the service users and it benefitted their child also as they could be prepared and have a brief idea of what to expect instead of stepping into the unknown which for a child with autism is very scary and hard to do.




What the young person or family said
The person’s family emailed both myself and a member of management whom they had been contacting in regards to advice. The parent was very grateful and felt emotional seeing how happy their child was whilst using our services. The young person themselves visibly enjoyed it and said to the parent that they were happy and very much enjoyed themselves. The parents email to PAS included feelings off appreciation and a sense of relaxation as they know they now have a place that is suitable to meet their child’s needs and provides them with some time to their selves.