Summary
Play-Sense offered creative & stimulating activities to children with disabilities/complex needs and parents/carers. Our weekly pre-school group and school holiday programme gave children the chance to develop communication, motor-skills & imagination through sensory play. Parents/carers enjoy a break from their role, forming friendships with peers who share similar experiences
What Play-Sense Play Group, School Holiday and Parent Carer Project did
We ran a weekly on-site Play-Sense sessions with trained staff & facilitators. Sessions offered sensory messy play, bubbleology, augmented reality, expressive art/music with children having the opportunity to have quiet time in our sensory room.
Our new facility with its outside space allowed us to run a summer camp for the children with 2 full days of activities each week, ensuring the children received a nutritious meal when they attended. These activities allowed the parents/carers to have free time to do as they wished and have ‘time out’ from their day-to-day routine. The parents/carers got a break and met their peers either by attending activities alongside their children or by attending child-free breaks that expanded their experiences and developed their own interests and pastimes as individuals. These included one-off events (barge trips, country walks, pamper session, visit to Art exhibitions e.g. Banksy) or courses (photography, crafting, cycling) or wellbeing sessions ( chair yoga, tai Chi, music movement sessions) They also interacted on our WhatsApp groups enabling them to chat and pass on ideas in what we are now calling our "knowledge bank" when at home at a time to suit.
Carers of Autistic children were also given access to a training course to provide them with an understanding of the condition and equipping them with coping strategies to support them in their caring role. The expanded summer camp was a great success, not only did the children have fun, carers got a break and could spend time doing what they liked. An added bonus was that the children had the opportunity to burn off energy and often went home exhausted - this meant the whole family would get a peaceful night sleep
What Glasgow East End Community Carers has learned
We have learned that by getting to know the children before we start some of the group events allows us to plan the right activities for the children so that they achieve the best possible outcomes and enjoyment. We would look to engage more with the local schools and learn their techniques and strategies for dealing with the children involved to encourage them to participate. During the summer camp we constantly had feedback sessions and changed the groups of young people, as well as some of the planned activities as we discovered what was working well and more importantly what was not working as well as we anticipated. We struck a balance that the children enjoyed each session, achieved a reasonable level of physical activity and were given a nourishing meal. This resulted in the carers getting a break and the whole family benefiting.
We have received an increase in referrals and working in partnership with the Child Development Centre we have developed our online referral form to reduce the amount of time completing missing information which the partner organisation already has. This frees up the resource and allows staff to spend more time supporting carers rather than administration.
How Glasgow East End Community Carers has benefitted from the funding
The grant has allowed us to not only continue a valuable service, into an area of multiple deprivation but expand it with the increased Summer camp provision. This has benefitted Glasgow East End Community Carers in a number of ways:
1. The Play-Sense project, funded by Better Breaks, is now embedded in the community as an essential local
service.
2. Strengthening of professional partnerships – referral partners and local carers have commented on our unwavering commitment and stability. We have been able to continue to take referrals and make future plans for joint working with NHS Child Development Centre.
3. Having the Play-Sense project in our portfolio has supported us to achieve our organisational goals (improve the lives of carers in th East End of Glasgow) – it enhances our position with our large core funders and gives local families a voice. We have demonstrated how local families can be empowered when they help create services that work for them and improve health & wellbeing outcomes in an area of disadvantage.
Play-Sense is viewed by staff, parents and professionals alike, as one of the best possible type of resources and
an essential addition to local third-sector service provision.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
We will have successfully supported 100 children with disabilities living in our community, through attendance at out Play-Sense play group and activities programme
Results
We have fully achieved the outcome and have delivered opportunities to more children than anticipated. The Summer camp in particular due to the amount of varied activities that were available for the children to participate. These activities were designed with the child's specific needs in mind. in was a great success. The weekly Play-Sense group has also seen attendance increase throughout the period, helping pre-school children develop social and motor skills in a fun environment, but with the availablity to have some quiet time should they require it.
Case study
Linda regularly attends PlaySense with her son Jamie. Initially she felt anxious about coming along as she had bad experiences in previous Parent and Toddler groups due to Jamie not having reached the same level as the other children in terms of speech and language skills, toilet training and social development. She wanted him to have the opportunity to play in a safe, environment where achievements are celebrated, and setbacks met with empathy and support.
Jamie took a few weeks to settle, as would be expected for a child who doesn’t cope well with new experiences and environments. However, over time he learned that PlaySense was a happy, fun, environment where he could meet the same familiar friends each week. Linda was relieved to learn she could relax amongst parents who understand and share the same lived experiences.
She has given us the following feedback;
“The PlaySense whats app chat is amazing for me because I have people who understand what I’m going through at the tip of my fingers. Day or night, no matter what the question, I am not scared to ask. I always know these people are going through the same situations as myself so instead of looking through the internet or calling Health Visitors I have people I consider to be friends, there to support me. I get embarrassed asking most people things because I have dyslexia and don’t express myself well, but I don’t feel silly or judged. I can be myself. Being able to go to PlaySense Playgroup has helped me and Jamie so much. I get on with everyone in the group but especially two other mums, who I consider to be close friends. When Jamie first started PlaySense he wouldn’t leave my side. He wanted me to do everything with him but now he goes and plays independently. I can see he’s grown in confidence and even tries to join in and play with other kids. He has formed a close bond with one wee boy, in particular, with similar needs. They understand each other which is amazing for two kids so young. He’s so happy each time he goes to PlaySense and cheers when he sees the play area. He is a happy boy and loves to be out and about so it’s great to be given the opportunity to get out more as we don’t have a garden. I don’t have any original friends with kids Jamie’s age so meeting this group means both Jamie and I have friends we can socialize with. He’s happy with an activity he enjoys, and I now get more time to myself to recharge my batteries.”
Outcome
We will have successfully supported 70 carers of pre-school children with complex disabilities and 60 carers of school-age children living in our community They will have enjoyed various activities, family events, new friendships and support groups, hospitality, including time away from their children as a direct result of Play-Sense.
Results
We supported carers with practical support in terms of assisting to maximise any benefit entitlement, providing information and training to help give a better understanding of their child's condition and develop coping strategies. We also facilitated peer support groups where carers could make new friendships and share experiences. The carers had the opportunity during Play-Sense and summer camp and when the children were at school to have "me" time to participate in other activities.
Case study
Alice is a carer for her 19-year-old daughter, Poppy, who has autism, learning disabilities and severe anxiety. She needs a huge amount of support with personal care, managing tasks, social interaction and generally keeping herself safe. Her behaviour can be challenging, and risk taking and has had a dramatic impact on the wider family dynamics.
She first came to the Carers Hub in 2021, as Poppy’s behaviour had become so difficult that she had gone to stay with her gran, who was an active member of the Hub at that time.
Initially, we worked with both mum and gran and offered them places on our ‘Understanding Autism’ training courses, which they found extremely useful as they learned strategies which they could implement when trying to manage Poppy’s behaviour. Alice also accessed our autism helpline which gave her the opportunity to discuss her concerns on a one-to-one basis with an autism professional. She has said that this knowledge has been invaluable in helping her deal with Poppy’s behaviour and contributed to eventually being able to bring Poppy back home to stay with the family.
However, Alice was still struggling with Poppy who has no friends and can be disruptive at social occasions which makes it difficult for them as a family. She is also very jealous of Alice’s relationship with David, her stepfather and this was putting their relationship under strain. We offered to put in respite for 6 weeks to see how Poppy would cope with being separated from her which would also enable them to go out and have a meal or a drink on their own. There were issues, but overall, this was successful and gave them time to themselves. We then helped Alice to go on and apply for a personal budget for Poppy, which means that she can attend activities and is less dependent on them to take her everywhere.
Sadly, Alice’s mum died last year and her support worker spent a lot of time offering emotional support to Alice to help her come to terms with her loss. Around this time, she started to come along to our support group for adults with additional needs (PAWS for short) This group runs every 2 weeks and offers information, advice, support, friendship and a lot of laughter. She has said herself that it is ‘a lifesaver’ and she has very quickly bonded with other members of the group. Through the group she has learned about organisations to support Poppy, one of which she is attending at the moment which gives her more time to herself. She has attended events such as the Christmas party, group lunch and now comes to other activities in the hub such as the Tai Chi, painting class and jewellery making. Her husband, John, is a nurse and works shifts but also attends the support group whenever he is free which shows how much they value it.
Alice still faces challenges with Poppy as autism and learning difficulties are lifelong conditions, but she says she feels much more able to face them because she has the support of the Hub, and, in particular, the other carers from her group behind her.
Outcome
130 parents/carers of pre-school children with disabilities will report being better connected to support within their community and will have benefited from knowledge and experience of peers and staff members resulting in increased capacity to understand their child’s condition and develop coping strategies to manage their role.
Results
This outcome has been achieved 100%. We have assisted 148 parent/carers in the last 12 months. These carers have accessed the support services on offer as well as attended the various training workshops and peer support groups The feedback on which has been that there has been a positive change in their lives. The carers themselves do not know just how much support that they give their peers just by sharing their experiences either at the group sessions or on the Whatsapp chats. Some of these hints came be "light bulb" moments to other carers.
Case study
Mika and Paul were experiencing issues with parenting, family cohesion, social isolation and poverty when they were referred to us by their Social Worker.
The couple had recently relocated from Manchester, where they had been awaiting an Autism assessment for their daughter, Chloe (13). Chloe’s behaviour and attitude was challenging and confusing to them. She was frequently demanding, rude and appeared to be relentlessly goading her parents who felt powerless and defeated. Mum Mika was tearful and exhausted and neither parent knew how to manage their daughter’s behaviour. This was also affecting Chloe’s sister’s wellbeing. Mika and Paul were confused as to which behaviours were associated with Autism and which could be attributed to normal teenage challenges. The parents were at conflict, taking different views and approaches to their parenting of Chloe. They were considering separation.
Our autism worker was able to identify that Chloe’s behaviour was simply anxiety around her unmet need for predictability, structure and routine. She suggested working on practical techniques that Mika and Paul could employ to better support Chloe. An ABC diary helped them to identify the trigger-points leading up to Chloe’s outbursts. They found this empowering and began to work together and focus their efforts on a trying a more positive approach to autism support, with ongoing guidance and encouragement from the Carers Hub. This approach also helped them better understand the challenges Chloe was facing in her daily life. The couple reported that ‘for the first time, we felt hopeful’.
As their confidence grew they wanted to continue to improve their understanding of autism and learn more strategies to support their daughter. While waiting for our next training opportunities, we provided additional literature and advice on useful websites.
The couple had never met any other parents who shared their experiences and felt isolated in their situation. They were introduced to the Peer support group which them support from parents who had gone through similar transitions and experiences. This relationship was transformative in helping the couple to change their mindsets. They were encouraged to see their situation through Chloe’s eyes and given insightful tips around strategies for supporting her including making important changes to Chloe’s environment, e.g. softer lighting, less noise, less verbal prompts, more visual cues .Chloe’s stress levels reduced significantly, and her parents now have more confidence in their ability to help her. Mika reports ‘When mornings are good, it sets the pace for the rest of the day!’
.
The parents were unaware of Chloe’s rights to Child DLA. Following a detailed benefits check, we completed an application together. As a result of methodically considering their daughter’s daily challenges, the couple now admit to having more empathy and understanding of her anxieties and feel more motivated to equip themselves with the knowledge they need to meet her needs. Their application was successful, further reducing parental stress and allowing the family more financial freedom.
Mika recently shared that she no longer cries and has better perspective and hope as a result of the support she has received. Chloe is now less anxious and less inclined to demonstrate distressed behaviour. Mika acknowledges that the strategies learned and implemented have led to better outcomes for Chloe. Mika has now started to attend some of the wellbeing classes at the Centre when Mika is at school. Mika described the Carers Hub as her ‘absolute lifeline’ and would ‘100% recommend it to other parents and families’.
Outcome
130 parent carers and 100 children with disabilities will feel more fulfilled and have experienced a reduction in stress symptoms and increase in emotional and mental wellbeing.
Results
We supported more children than planned through the play-sense and summer camp programs with child centred activities, some of which we developed from feedback from the children themselves. The familes were supported and have reported that they have seen an positive change in their child's development - behavioural improvement , child being less stressed which in turn reduces stress for the whole family unit.
Case study
Joy’s son Luke attended the summer camp this year The fact that she didn’t need to constantly think of ideas and things to do with Luke put her mind at ease a great deal and feels really grateful that this service was made available for her and her family.
Joy mentioned that Luke came home really happy after every session. He seemed like he thoroughly enjoyed it as his behaviour changed and did not seem stressed which Joy was delighted about. She also feels that the Summer camp has improved Luke’s social skills and abilities to feel at ease around other people. When hearing that Luke had been voted “King of East End Carers” at the end of the program she was delighted but she felt even prouder when she learned that he had said to staff “ If I am King I can make the rules” and the announced that he thought another child should be king and gave that child the prize”
Joy said Luke came home each night tired but relaxed which meant the whole family got a great night sleep. This was not only a great break for Luke but improved the whole family’s mental wellbeing. Joy would love to bring Luke back again and felt that it has really helped her to get a couple of days respite and relaxation