Summary
We delivered a programme of short breaks for 125 autistic children, siblings and their parents. These included weekly play sessions, monthly soft play sessions and a holiday club during the summer holidays
What Short break did
We delivered three short break activities to autistic children, their siblings and families who live in Edinburgh.
Our play activity was aimed at autistic children aged 4 and was delivered in a local community Hub every Friday during term time for 2 hours. 45 autistic children, 48 parents and 18 siblings benefited.
We offered this unique short break to all the families who have an autistic child in their pre-school year who access support from our Early Years Service. 100% of families took up our offer.
Once a month we organised a disability specific soft play session at Timetwisters (a soft play venue in South West Edinburgh). Each session lasted for 2 hours. In total 49 disabled children, 13 siblings and 47 parents took part in at least two short breaks.
Finally in the main summer school holidays we organised our play club. We ran three days per week for 6 weeks and split the sessions into morning and afternoon. Overall 31 autistic children, 9 siblings and 28 parents benefitted with most families attending throughout the summer.
All of our short break activities were really successful. The feedback we got from parents was outstanding. On reflection based on this feedback the reason for this success was that parents felt totally involved. At the weekly play sessions and holiday club they really enjoyed getting directly involved in the play activities as a family, whereas at the monthly soft play sessions they enjoyed watching their children use up lots of energy having a great time exploring all the safe soft play resources. This gave parents space to sit and chat with each other, build up new friendships and have a little time to themselves.
What Tailor Ed Foundation has learned
As this was the 6th consecutive year we have been funded by Better Breaks we are well experienced at targeting short breaks activities to families with autistic children most in need.
Each year our weekly Play Club and then the Summer club always reaches new families with young autistic children whom we have started to support. In the past year we worked with 45 new families.
Sadly despite the clear mutual benefits our programme of short breaks offer autistic children and their families, our most recent Better Breaks application was unsuccessful.
This unexpected challenge has meant we have had to pause plans to develop new short breaks activities for autistic children and their families in East Lothian. It remains to be seen whether we can secure alternative funding to sustain these vital short breaks services in Edinburgh going forward.
How Tailor Ed Foundation has benefitted from the funding
As we reached so many new families with autistic children through our short breaks activities these services became an excellent way to engage with these new families which has helped us strengthen our reputation with more and more families across Edinburgh.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
120 children with autism will access our short breaks programme, taking part in at least one short break event
Results
We exceeded this target. In total we supported 125 autistic children, and we are delighted to report that the vast majority of autistic children took part in every short break opportunity offered to them and their families
Case study
One of the recently diagnosed young autistic children and their parent was invited to come along to the weekly play sessions in October 2022. At that time the child's parent, a single mum, told us her child was really nervous around other children and adults. He could cope with meeting people he did not know and would get upset. We explained that at the weekly play sessions for this very reason we kept number to only 4 or 5 young children. We suggested Mum bring along her son and not to worry if he became upset and they had to leave.
For the first few sessions Mum decided only to stay for about 30 minutes but gradually she saw (as did our staff) that her son was gradually becoming more comfortable around other children. Our staff also saw that his mum became more relaxed during the sessions.
Then in April 2023 it was suggested that they might like to go to the soft play session. Mum told us they had tried to go to a similar session at another soft play venue but that didn't go well. We reassured her that her child would recognise some of the other children as well as our staff. We reminded her that it was fine just to have short visit. Their first visit lasted around 45 minutes. The second visit in May, her child stayed for the whole session.
During the summer her son came along to the summer club for three or four sessions which he and his mum really enjoyed.
The mutual benefit of our short breaks have been clearly evident with this young boy and his mum. They have both become far more relaxed around other children. The autistic child is still accessing support from our school aged service now that he has started Primary School. Mum recently told her worker that her child settled into school far better than she could have hoped for. Part of this was down to our short break activities helping her son to cope being around other children. As mum has built up a small network of support with and from other parents she is more relaxed and confident about her son.
Outcome
We will provide regular short break activities for up to 100 children with autism and their parent carers. Parents can take a short break whilst their child is taking part in the sessions or they can take part with their child.
Results
Yes, we exceeded this target.
In total we supported 125 autistic children and 123 parents who loved the short break opportunities we provided.
Case study
Parents really enjoyed the short break activities giving them opportunities outside their normal caring role.
At the monthly soft play session in October, a small group of parents got in touch with our staff to ask if it was possible to arrange for Santa to visit the next monthly soft play session in November. They explained that usually their children would never cope with such an exciting opportunity to meet Santa but the parents felt that because their children were really settled at Timetwisters this would be a safe environment for the children and Santa.
We got in touch with Santa, who was delighted to help. the parents let everyone know Santa was going to visit and that it was entirely up to each child/parent if they wanted to meet Santa. The parents also arranged for Santa to have a sack of goodies to hand out to the children. When Santa arrived he set up his chair up stairs and patiently waited. Parents organised the children and took them to meet Santa. At the end of the afternoon, the children had a lovely time, parents were so pleased their children coped with Santa's visit and the parent organisors were really pleased it went so well. One young child did say to their Mum that maybe it wasnt the real Santa, as Santa doesnt have blue shoes!
Most parents said that this was the first time their child had been happy to meet Santa, which was really lovely.
Outcome
Parents will recognise and acknowledge the benefits of having a short break especially parents of recently diagnosed autistic children
Results
This outcome was fully achieved. In feedback at each service parents stated they were delighted to be given access to short breaks to suit their needs. The Play sessions each Friday were especially important as we targeted young autistic children who had been recently diagnosed with autism and their parent(s) were just coming to terms with the formal diagnosis.
Case study
All 33 parents who accessed our weekly Play Club were delighted with the first ever opportunity to even think about a short break from their normal caring activities.
Before they started to attend the Club, their children had recently had a formal autism diagnosis. At first parents told us they were just coming to terms with this. They were scrambling about 100% focused on their child's need and never stopped to consider their own needs.
Over the weeks, whilst they still continued to focus on their child's needs, they slowly began to appreciate how beneficial having a short break was for themselves.
Even though their child's autism journey is just beginning, parents were more aware of looking after their own needs as much as possible