Nottingham Regional Society for Adults and Children with Autism
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£59,218
Funding round
The Nottingham Regional Society for Adults and Children with Autism (NoRSACA) provides services and support to people with autism in Nottinghamshire and the neighbouring counties. This includes a specialist school, adult residential units and a range of support and advice services. We are a charity set up in 1968.
There are currently no courses for parents of children with autism in this age group in the Nottingham area. The time just after diagnosis is an important time to help parents come to terms with the condition and provide practical help and support. There are approximately 600 children with autistic spectrum disorders living in Nottingham City (LEA 2004). Many of the families of these children have not had access to the kind of support to be offered by the Parenting Fund project.
Through the Parenting Fund, Nottingham Regional Society for Adults and Children with Autism (NoRSACA) will provide workshops to parents of children with autism in Nottingham City .
The workshops will be for parents whose children are aged between 5 and 11 and have a recent diagnosis of autism. Children with autism have impaired communication and social skills and this can place great strain on the whole family. The workshops aim to make parents better informed about autism, to provide them with practical advice and to signpost them to other sources of support. By working in partnership with Nottingham City LEA we aim to provide a seamless service to parents. NoRSACA will provide 4 parenting workshops for up to 12 parents which help parents to learn more about their child's condition and to develop strategies for communicating with their child and coping with difficult behaviour. In addition NoRSACA will run three one-day workshops which focus on practical communication techniques parents can use with their child and two two-day workshops which focus on coping strategies for parents of older children. This will cater for up to 10 parents per workshop. The service will be advertised through our partnerships with voluntary sector, health and education sector organisations and promoted via parents' groups, GPs, Social Services Departments and to members. Flyers, posters and articles for inclusion in voluntary sector publications will be produced.