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Afasic Survey, win Marks and Spencer Vouchers!

Hi everyone, just to let you know that Afasic is conducting a survey to find out what people think of our services and your views.  If you'd like to take part, please fill in the questionnaire and return it before 31 July 2010.  We will also be giving away £50 of Marks and Spencers vouchers to the lucky prize draw winner.

To find out more about the Afasic Survey please visit our site.

Thanks for your help.

 

New NAS Website Launch

As a valued member of The National Autistic Society, we want to make sure that you know in advance that our new website will launch on 25th May.

We have taken great care over its development, from choosing the right technical platform to involving users in our design process, integrating the site with our existing systems and improving the design and quality of the content.

I am confident that the result will be a stronger web presence for the NAS that will communicate the breadth and quality of our activities and meet the growing needs of our users and the charity as a whole.

The development will not stop with the launch. Improvements to the content and the features on the site will continue and will involve lots of people inside and outside the charity.

Initiatives coming up soon will include special pages to support our new campaign around child mental health and the launch of our new online community.

If you would like to preview some of the features of the new website you can view a short slide presentation on our current website. www.autism.org.uk/newwebsite

Thank you for your continuing support of The National Autistic Society and we look forward to hearing your feedback following the launch. Look out for the news story about the launch on our new website, with a link to our feedback survey.

 

 

CPFT News

 

 

Volunteers Needed for Case Study

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CASE STUDIES


Afasic has been asked to produce case studies to help the new Communication
Champion persuade local authorities and children's trusts to improve their
services to children with speech and language difficulties and their
families.


We need stories from families with children of all ages, who have had good
experiences or bad, or a mixture. You must live in England and your child
will preferably have (or had) a speech or articulation disorder, or
receptive or expressive language impairment.


If you are interested in helping, please contact the Afasic office in London
by phoning 020 7490 9410 or by emailing . If replying by
email, please include a telephone number where you can be reached during the
day.


Thank you for your help.

 

NAS Survey - Please help

As you may have seen in the recent enewsletter, we need your help with our next major campaign, which we will be launching this summer.

The campaign will be about child mental health services, and we'd like to hear from you to make sure we're campaigning on the issues that matter most to you. If you are a parent of someone with an autism spectrum disorder who is aged 21 or younger who may have experienced mental health problems we would like to hear from you.

If you are someone with an autism spectrum disorder aged 16-21 and think you may have experienced mental health problems, we also want to hear about your views.

We are extremely keen to hear about a wide range of experiences, positive or negative, across the full range of the autism spectrum, including Asperger syndrome. The more of you respond the more confident we can be in our campaigning next year!

The survey will only take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. To find out more and complete the survey online, please visit this website.

We hope you will be able to continue supporting this important research project by giving us your views.

Thank you for your time.

The Policy and Campaigns Team

Parliamentary debate = school campaign breakthrough


You can now read yesterday's debate in the House of Commons. You'll be able to see that it delivered two major advances.

The Minister confirmed that the school admissions code should be changed by early 2011 bringing an end to multiple birth children being split up across different schools against their wishes.  He also called upon local authorities to take this into account during this year's admission round. 
He also called upon all teachers to consult with parents before allocating multiple birth children separate or the same classes.  This means that schools with policies to automatically separate or keep children together should now amend them.
We’ve raised all the educational issues identified in our recent report with Governments in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and now we need your help.

If you haven't already please download the sample email/letter and send it to your MP, MSP or Assembly Member via the campaign section of our website.
Please forward this email to every parent with twins, triplets or more you know and suggest that they register at our website to keep updated on our campaigns, research and support services.
Many thanks for your support.  You can see that together we can make a real difference.  Keith Reed, Tamba CEO

PS. If you can please support us by joining or renewing your membership or making a donation then please do consider it.  Every penny goes towards making life better for multiple birth families.

Cambridge NAS Newsletter December 2009

Westminsater Debate

Help Change the Law
 
Dear friend,

Apologies for the late notice but I am delighted to let you know that there will be the first ever debate in the House of Commons tomorrow on the “Additional pressures on families with twins and other multiple births”. The half hour debate, in Westminster Hall, has been instigated by Bob Russell MP and among other things will focus on the concerns identified in our recent education report.

The debate is due to take place from 4.30pm-5pm – You can Watch It Live or read it in Hansard on Thursday.

You can help get the law around school admissions changed.  We’ve raised this and the other educational issues identified in our recent report with Governments in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.  Now we need your help – please download the sample email/letter and send it to your MP, MSP or Assembly Member via the campaign section of our website.

Many thanks for your support.

Yours sincerely

Keith Reed, Tamba CEO

PS. Thanks to your generosity and support in 2009, our guides, courses and support services (like Twinline) have helped 10,000s of families to better cope with the unique challenges they face and our new projects aim to help even more people in the future.  If you can support us by joining or renewing your membership or making a donation then please do consider it.
 

Cambridge NAS News

The Lamb Enquiry Webchat

I just wanted to let you know that Brian Lamb OBE will be logging on to the
TreeHouse to talk about autism  Friday 27 November to take part in a webchat
about the Lamb Inquiry and answer questions from the public. 


Below I have added some information about this enquiry and  a link to
further information.  Please do take the time to get involved this will
effect your children's future.
 
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/lambinquiry/
 
 
 http://www.treehouse.org.uk/ 
 

Children's Secretary Ed Balls has announced proposals to provide better
support for pupils with SEN. The plans are aimed at making life easier for
parents and helping children maximise their potential. The proposals came in
a published letter, of 28 September, in response to Brian Lamb's letter
which highlighted ways of improving parental confidence in the SEN system.

Key features of Mr Balls' plans include trials to test different ways to
assess children's needs, a review of the provision of SEN trained teachers
and new guidance for schools to tackle high rates of exclusions of children
with SEN.

The Minister has appointed Toby Salt, of the National College for Leadership
of Schools and Children's Services, to head the independent review into the
supply of teachers trained to meet the needs of children with severe,
profound and multiple learning difficulties. Mr Balls also announced that
the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust would be taking forward a
£550,000 project to develop special schools as leaders in teaching and
learning practice for children with the most complex learning difficulties.

Highlighting the fact that children with SEN are eight times more likely to
be excluded from school, the Minister promised that new statutory guidance
on behaviour and attendance partnerships "will make tackling exclusions of
SEN pupils a priority". He added that he expected partnerships "to work hard
to address the specific needs of pupils, and draw on the support of partners
to tackle behaviour issues early, before they become serious problems".

The exchange of letters between Ed Balls and Brian Lamb follows three
interim reports from the Lamb Inquiry into SEN and parental confidence you
can read these at the link above.

Autism Research Centre - Volunteers Needed

The Autism Research Centre is once again looking for parents to volunteer to
assist on our professional training courses. We will be running a course in
November 2009 and seek parents to volunteer to be interviewed by the
delegates as part of their practice at doing diagnostic interviews about
autism spectrum disorders. This will entail giving up 2 hours of your time
on either Thursday 19th or Friday 20th November between 10.30am and 12.30pm,
to come and be interviewed about your child (or adult child) with a
diagnosis on the autism spectrum. Around 6 people will take turns to ask you
a series of developmental history and current behaviour questions, although
there will be a dozen people present in the room.
 
The delegates are all professionals who work in the field of ASD, or
researchers who need to use this interview as part of their project, and all
are learning how to deliver and code a standardised interview for ASD, the
Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised.
 
We are able to offer a volunteer honorarium of £60 for your time, and will
also cover any travel costs incurred in attending at the ARC.
 
Can anyone interested in volunteering please email Dr Fiona Scott on
with their name, contact details, and some basic information
about their child (age, diagnosis, language, comorbid diagnoses etc).
 
Cambridge NAS
Cambridge Branch Help line:07920150407
E-mail: <>

Autism Bill

For details regarding the Autism Bill please click here

Cambridge NAS e news

Welcome to the first Cambridge NAS E-news. If you have further queries
related to the events advertised here, please do not hesitate to contact the
Branch on the above e-mail or telephone number for further information.


Cambridge NAS Family & Community Launch Event


On Sunday, November 29th the NEW Cambridge NAS Branch with be holding a


 "Family and Community Launch Event". This will be held at the Meadows
Community Centre 1 St Catherine's Road Cambridge, CB4 3XJ, from 1-3pm. There
will be refreshments, autism friendly child entertainment and a short
introduction from the branch committee. This will give you a chance to meet
us, draw attention to some of the issues you feel the branch need to be
addressing or just tell us ideas that you have.


Cambridge NAS Professional Launch Event


On Friday, January 29th 3.30-4.30pm the NEW Cambridge NAS branch invites
professionals working within Health, Education, Support Services as well as
policy makers from Cambridge city and from the whole county to join us to
celebrate the launch of our NAS Cambridge branch. We will give brief insight
into our branch aims and objectives and also invite guest speakers. After
the presentations there will be a chance to meet the committee and have
discussion with professionals attending. Refreshments will be provided. We
will also be giving out a NAS produced DVD and some other booklets on
supporting people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We will be sending
out formal invitations to this event so please do contact us if you would
like to be included. More details to follow.


 Beats Learning <http://www.cambridgenas.urizen.eu/node/11>  Performing Art
Course


This is a Level 2, OCN accredited, music and drama course. It is open to all
adult s and 16-19 year olds diagnosed with High Functioning
Autism/Asperger/or other communication disorder. It is completely free to
anyone on income related benefits. A new course starts on November 6th, with
places for 8-20 people. It will be for two hours on Friday mornings in
Cambridge.

If you are interested, please contact the branch on above e-mail.

Volunteers are needed for the above drama and music workshop.

We are looking for a number of volunteers to provide help to participants
when and where is needed during the course. We need at least 2 volunteers
per session. So if you are interested in helping people with autism and also
like performing arts and have two hours free on Friday mornings please
contact the branch...


Self Directed Support Events <http://www.cambridgenas.urizen.eu/node/7>


As part of its Transforming Social Services program, Cambridgeshire County
Council has recently introduced self directed support (SDS) and personal
budget within its adult social care services. Introduction of SDS within
children and young people services will follow. Therefore, information
sessions on SDS/Personal budget have been organised by the Local Authority
for carers and disabled people who use these services. The following topics
will be explained and discussed: What is self directed support? - What does
it mean to me? -  What's a support plan? -  Your questions answered.


Cambridge sessions are at St Laurence Church, Milton Road, Cambridge.


Tuesday 6th October 2-4 and 6-8pm


Tuesday 27th October 2-4 and 6-8pm


Tuesday 3rd November 2-4 and 6-8pm


Tuesday 10th November 2-4 and 6-8pm


Tuesday 8th December 2-4 and 6-8pm


Tuesday 15th December 2-4 and 6-8pm


There are further sessions in Ely, Huntington and March for details of these
please contact the branch.


BBC3


The BBC is planning to do a programme on looking at how it is to be within a
family where there are people with autism but to not actually have autism.

If you are interested please contact: Beverley Price

Regional Officer East Anglia

National Autistic Society

Mob:  07919912947

Tel:     01473 632700

 

Festival of Ideas

I'm a student at Cambridge University and have recently good involved with
the Festival of Ideas which is a large project going on in October to open
the universities resources and space up to the public. I'm running a
workshop on Saturday the 24th October in the English Faculty Library on
Sidgewick Road and thought it might be of interest to the autistic hub.
My workshop is an informal drop in event looking at different communication
techniques that may be useful in reading poetry. It can be interactive but
there will be no pressure to make people read who would rather listen or
observe.


E-mail:
Katherine Palmer


If you are interested, please contact Katherine.


New Autism Research <http://www.cambridgenas.urizen.eu/node/9>


A research program on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using MRI brain
scanning has just been started at the Autism Research Centre (ARC),
University of Cambridge. They are looking to recruit siblings (aged 12-18)
within families where one has a diagnosis of Autism or Asperger syndrome and
the other does not have a diagnosis of ASD.


Volunteers will be assessed first at their preferred place (home or at the
ARC). Then, on a separate occasion the volunteers may be invited to visit
the MRC Cognitive and Brain Science Unit in Cambridge for a MRI brain scan
and some further tests. Your travel expenses will be reimbursed in full and
in addition you will receive £5 per hour for your visiting our department
and you will receive a picture of your brain.


If you interested and would like to receive more information please contact:
Rosemary Holt, Tel:01223746136  or e-mail
<


NAS Christmas cards now available!

We are pleased to let you know that NAS Christmas cards are available now.
We have a great selection, including winners of our competitions for
children and adults and a Thomas the Tank Engine card. For details please
see: www.autism.org.uk/christmascards
<https://owa.nas.org.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.autism.org.uk/c
hristmascards>

 

Are you aged 25 or under? Are you also a parent of a disabled child?

If so, Pinpoint would like to invite you to meet with other parents and
children within an informal group session. We meet together once a month for
chat, to share information and get to know each other. Younger children are
welcome to come and play. We meet on the last Tuesday of the month, at Leo's
Funzone, Huntingdon Leisure Centre, St Peter's Road, Huntingdon, Cambs PE29
7DA.

 

We will pay entrance for children aged 1-5 (adults and babies are free) and
provide refreshments. All you need to do is come along....

Future dates:

Tuesday the 27th October, 10-12am

Tuesday the 24th November, 10-12am

For more information or if you have transport difficulties, please call or
text Juliet on 07940 313 779.

Pinpoint - an independent information, support and involvement network run
for parents by parents

Email: <>

Phone: 0751 741 9761

Website: www.pinpoint-cambs.org.uk
<https://owa.nas.org.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.pinpoint-cambs.
org.uk>

 

Intervention for Children with Autism in the Early Years - Rita Jordan

 

 It is a free conference, jointly organised by Hertfordshire Specialist
Advisory Service and University of Hertfordshire, for parents and
professionals working with young children with ASD.

 

 Wednesday 4th November 2009 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Places are limited.

For further details contact Jenny Wiseman:

E-mail <>
Tel 01707 320697

 

Pinpoint

Opportunities for mums, dads, carers of disabled children and young people
to get together, get involved and get heard...

l Come along to our free network meetings to meet other parents, and share
information and concerns, and chat over lunch.

l Stay for our 'hot topic' sessions to meet senior managers and have your
say on services - and get a £10 voucher as a 'thank you' for sharing your
views. These "Hot topic" times are when the listed professional
representatives will be available to talk to within the 10-2pm time slot

'Hot topic': Short breaks and activities in your area... Come and find out
about new and existing services near you and find out which ones your family
can get.

East Cambs (Ely): Monday, 12 October 2009 - 10am to 2pm

Cathedral Centre, Palace Green, Ely CB7 4EW

'Hot topic' 12.45-1.45pm: with Rosie Cooke, Kids Direct Short Breaks and
others...plus a social care representative

Cambridge City: Monday, 19 October 2009 - 10am to 2pm

Meadows Community Centre, 1 St Catherine's Road, Cambridge CB4 3XJ

'Hot topic' 12.00pm -1.45pm: Simon Bates, The Junction and others...plus
Ruth Coals, Social Care

South Cambs (Comberton): Monday, 19 October 2009 - 6:30pm to 9pm

Comberton Village College, West Street, Comberton, Cambridge CB23 7DU

'Hot topic' 8-9pm: Roger Gale, Scope and others...plus Ruth Coals, Social
Care

To book your place phone 0751 741 9761 or

Email:

 

Red2Green launches its Great Cake Challenge

Red2Green a leading charity for disabled people in Cambridgeshire, is hoping
to tempt cake lovers to take part in its Great Cake Challenge in October.
The charity is organising the challenge to celebrate being Star Radio's
Charity of the Month in October.

Red2Green's Co-Chief Executive, Samantha Sherratt, said: "We've decided to
do the Great Cake Challenge because everybody loves cake! It spans all ages
and lends itself to a multitude of fundraising events. Fundraising doesn't
have to be about mammoth treks or arduous cycle rides; with our Challenge
you can help improve the lives of people with disabilities by getting
together with friends, having a laugh and sharing favourite treats".

Fitzbillies, Cambridge's legendary cake shop, is sponsoring the Challenge
and donating the proceeds from its popular chocolate fudge cake for the
month, among other things. Fitzbillies' Penny Thomson is encouraging others
to get involved: "What a great, fun way to support a local good cause. By
enjoying cake people can support Red2Green's work and improve the
independent living skills of people with disabilities in the county"
including Autism.

NAS Campaign

The National Autistic Society today launch Don't Write Me Off — a major new UK–wide campaign.

Shockingly, they've found that around 100,000 people with autism are currently out of work, and not receiving the benefits they need to live on. What's more, although most people want to work, 85% are without a full–time job.

The benefits system is failing hundreds of thousands of people with autism. It doesn't have to be like this. Regardless of whether someone is able to work, they should be able to live a dignified and financially independent life.

Please email your MP here and ask them to make sure people with autism are no longer written off. With your help, we can once again persuade politicians to act.

Best wishes,

Matthew Downie
Campaigns Manager

Wordswell Service

“In order to improve our service to you we have engaged an answering service so that you can speak to a person rather than a machine whenever you phone the clinic 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.  However, until we have resolved with BT how to divert the calls there will be a message on the clinic phone asking you to re-dial rather than leave a message.  We hope this is a very temporary situation and that you will bear with us during this transition."

National Autistic Society News

As you are aware some months ago Umbrella members voted to merge with the
National Autistic Society. This e-mail is to confirm that the new Cambridge
branch of the National Autistic Society has been formed and it is now up and
running.

The new NAS Cambridge branch has sixteen committee members with a good mix
of parents and professionals who have much to offer. It is early days yet as
our branch web site is not live yet, but keep a look out for our news
flashes about the progress on it and we hope it will become the one stop
information page for all Autism news in Cambridge.

We will continue the Autism E-news service; we hope the first will be out
later this week. 


Cambridge Branch Help line: 07920150407
E-mail: <>

 

Joseph Simon             Co-Branch Officer 

Sam Sizer                   Co- Branch Officer  

Emma Gerrard           Co-treasurer

Alex Murphy               Co-Treasurer          

Matt and Helen Newman    Co-Secretary   

The Shires Newsletter

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I Can Communicate Newsletter

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Umbrella Autsim and The NAS

Please click here for the latest ICan Communicate Newsletter

I CAN Communicate

Afasic Online Updates

I Exist - West Norfolk Campaign Launch

I Exist Supporters

Umbrella News

I Exist Supporters

Letter drafted by lead counsel regarding new proposals/regulations for SENDIST

Ear Foundation Sounding Board

Cerebra Voucher Scheme

Gite in South West France welcomes families with special needs.

Medico-Legal SIG

The Official Opening of Sound Advice at the Ear Foundation

NICE reverse recommendation

New Chief Executive appointed at The Ear Foundation

Wordswell Joins National Study

Bercow Interim Report

Ben Haslam Case

Autism on the rise; additional factors?

I Can Communicate Latest News

AFASIC Update

NHS constitution welcomes your comment

I Can Communicate Latest News

Tamba Talk Newsletter

Tamba Talk Newsletter

SNAP Childcare Autumn Newsletter

Welsh Assembly Rapporteur Group on Dyslexia

I Can Communicate Latest News

New SENDIST Regulations

AFASIC Update

SENDIST Regulations, have your say

SENDIST Regulations. Downing Street Petition

Umbrella News - November 2008

I Can Communicate - November 2008

National Autistic Society Supporter Update

SNAP Childcare Newsletter

I Can Communicate December 2008 Newsletter

Recruitment Press Release

Autism Bill

Teachers Failing to Spot Causes of Bad Behaviour

Autism Friendly Cinema Screening

I Can Communicate

RNID Fundraiser

Umbrella News

Government Responds to Autism Bill

Autism in Parliament

I Can Communicate

AFASIC Update

Studio Three Newsletter