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This Week in Autism Community
S U N D A Y
3 J U L Y
2 0 1 1
I S S U E 1 3
Steve Drakoulis
Coordinator
Autism Community Network
0431 724 229
Hi everyone, lots happening as usual.
I normally suspend all our support groups during the holidays, as many people go away or can’t attend due to having kids at home. But I am still listing all the groups that are due to run during this period,
and will be guided by your response.
My kids are away with their mum so I am happy to facilitate groups if there is demand in the various
areas.
Thursday 7 July BANKSTOWN
Thursday 7 July BALGOWLAH
Friday 8 July KOGARAH
THIS
WEEK IN
As I receive new information I post it onto my website so that parents in our support network (and in the wider community) may benefit from it. Some of the entries below refer to updates while others may be completely new pages I create as result of valuable info supplied by others or ideas brought forward by parents in our network.
HOME / OUR COMMUNITY IN PICTURES
Updated—Lawn Bowls Social Day
PARENTS FORUM / ASPERGER’S vs ADD
Updated
SERVICES / SAFETY
Updated
SERVICES / EVENTS / AUGUST
Updated
SERVICES / MEDIA
Updated
STEVE’S BLOG
Updated
The Lions have made it their focus to support autism
over the next year. I received this from their Chairman
this week.
Fellow Lions and Friends of Children with ASD
I am pleased to advise that our website
www.lugarnolions.org.au now has posted our early
intervention ASD preschool education and therapy
campaign letters with accompanying interactive di-
rections.
Today, 1st July, is the official starting date of our
Australian Lions 201 MD Project. We thank all who
have worked with us, advised us to this point or
shown a special interest in children with ASD. It has
truly been a joint effort. Thanks.
There is still much to do.
Yours in Lionism
Lion David Flynn
Committee Chair
Australian Lions 201 Multiple District
Preschool Autism Spectrum Disorders Education
and Therapy
(Category “B” MD Project)
I received some infor-mation this week from William who did some volunteer work at the Sailability program. This is a Sailing service for children with special needs that I have been including under our Sports and recreation
options on our website. I have been aware of it for some time and they do wonderful work in the commu-nity. This is what William says: “Their program is called Sailability, which provides sailing experience to disabled children. The club ob-tained donations from the local council, the RSL Clubs, and the Lions Club there to buy specially de-signed "unsinkable" (in their word) sailing boats to be used with disabled children. Their school programs are run on every Wednesdays during school terms. … contacts to make arrangements: Norma & Howard Courtney 9533 1240 or Ken Herbert 9522 7120 The address of the sailing club is Dover Park, Princes Hwy, Blakehurst. They also have Saturdays (during
GETTING A DRIVER’S
LICENCE
I spoke this week with a specialised driving instructor who helps assess and train people with disabilities who wish to get a driver’s li-cence. His name is Bill Karkoulas and he is based in Oatley in Sydney’s south. He ex-plained that as a first step, a person with ASD needs to get a form from their GP stating that they believe they are capable of driving. Next, they are assessed by a “Driver Trained Occu-pational Therapist, who will determine their ability to cope with the demands of driving. If they pass this assessment, someone like Bill then begins to train them. Bill will have a website up in the next few weeks and I will provide those details then, in the meantime, you can contact him for more information at 0411 727 233 or [email protected]
For more information, contact: TRAINING AND BEHAVIOUR INTERVENTION SERVICES
B2, 11 Hudson Ave CASTLE HILL Ph: 1300 668 123 www.interactiondisability.com
I listened back to an interview I did on radio in February, (see Media section on website) and I said at the time that we
had 90 families in our network. Today we
have 151. That’s not including all the teachers and other professionals that are
part of our support network.
I thought I might continue from time to time to show you what parents are look-
ing at on our website.
Below are the top 10 pages being visited at the moment.
1.PARENTS FORUM
2.SUPPORT GROUPS
3.STEVE’S BLOG
4.Q&A WITH MATT
5.AUTISM AWARENESS CARD
6.SPEECH THERAPY
7.USEFUL LINKS
8.JUNE 2011
9.PSYCHOLOGISTS
10.USEFUL IDEAS
Interaction Disability Services will be offering two Group Triple P courses starting on the 25th of July and the 18th of October.
The courses are designed for parents of children aged 2-12 years and cover topics such as self care, creating a positive learning environment, and manag-ing misbehaviour.
Group Triple P will be provided free of charge to par-ents of children who are disabled or non-disabled.
Vacancies for the courses tend to fill quickly.
It is recommended that parents who wish to attend,
contact IDS’ TABISS team via ta-
[email protected] and leave their name,
email address and phone number, at their earliest
convenience.
On Wednesday 31st August Comedy Night will return to the Four Seasons, Sydney with a fantastic line up of com-edy, fine food and wine. Roy & HG will introduce a star studded line up of comedians which in the past has included the likes of Fiona O'Loughlin, Kitty Flanagan, Mikey Robins, Simon Palomares, Subby Valentine, Jeff Green & Tommy Dean. A corporate table package costs $2,000 for a table of ten. The perfect way to entertain clients, reward staff or build relationships with suppliers. The price includes a two course meal, coffee, petit fours, beer, wine, and soft drinks as well as acknowledgement by the MCs on the night, table signage and a thank you on our website. Buy your corporate table online today or call us on 02 8977 8370 to find out more. Standard tickets cost $130 per person or $1,300 for a table of ten (which includes a two course meal, wine, beer and soft drinks, coffee & petit fours). You can buy online today or call us on 02 8977 8370 to book your spot over the phone or find out more.
EVENTS FOR FULL DETAILS OF THESE EVENTS PLEASE SEE RELEVANT MONTHS UNDER EVENTS ON WEBSITE
eg. SERVICES / EVENTS / JULY
TUESDAY 30 AUGUST FATHER’S / GRANDFATHERS EVENING
CAMPBELLTOWN CATHOLIC CLUB
TUESDAY 14 AUGUST FATHER’S / GRANDFATHERS EVENING
CLUB BURWOOD
WEDNESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER PAMPERING & INFORMATION DAY
NORTH SHORE
WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST Aspect’s 9th Annual Comedy Night
Four Seasons Hotel Sydney
MONDAY 4th JULY SCHOOL HOLIDAYS PROGRAM
HORNSBY / KUTING-GAI AREAS
THURSDAY 28 JULY FILM PREMIERE: What Are You Doing?
PALACE CINEMA, LEICHHARDT
WEDNESDAY 27 JULY POST SCHOOL OPTIONS EXPO
NORTHMEAD
TUESDAY 23 AUGUST POST SCHOOL OPTIONS EXPO
MT.DRUITT
THURSDAY 28 JULY DONNA WILLIAMS
LIVERPOOL
6 MONDAYS FROM 15 AUGUST to 19 SEPTEMBER TIME TO CARE, COURSE
POLE DEPOT COMMUNITY CENTRE
TUESDAY 26 JULY Free Positive Parenting Program (Triple P)
NORTH SYDNEY COMMUNITY CENTRE
4 — 18 JULY CSIRO HOLIDAY SCIENCE
VARIOUS LOCATIONS Www.csiro.au/nsw-holidays
TUESDAY 9 AUGUST POST SCHOOL OPTIONS EXPO
PENRITH
MONDAYS 25 JULY Free Positive Parenting Program (Triple P)
CASTLE HILL, SAN SOUCI
THURSDAY 28 JULY PUBERTY & ADOLESCENCE WORKSHOP
CAMPBELLTOWN
THURSDAY 4 AUGUST ADOLESCENCE AND ADHD
KIRAWEE
Some time ago I visited Hurstville Library, and after a discussion with one of their senior staff, I was invited to submit a list of recommended books to help them increase their resources for local families. A few people in our network have been very helpful with providing me with ideas on titles, but in the end I decided to stop at around 20 books for the moment. I thought it might be interesting for you to see which books I recommended to this library. If you would like to take the list to your local library to do the same thing, just let me know and I will send you the com-plete form to save you some time (aside from au-thors, you need to provide the ISBN which can be tricky to find sometimes)
DVDs
Intricate Minds – COULTER VIDEO
Intricate Minds 2 – COULTER VIDEO
Intricate Minds 3 – COULTER VIDEO
Autism: The Musical – DOCURAMA FILMS
1001 Great Ideas for Teaching & Raising Children with Autism
or Aspergers
A Friend like Henry
Asperger Syndrome and Bullying
Asperger’s and Girls
The Australian Autism Handbook
The Autism Answer Book
The Complete Guide to Aspergers Syndrome
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Emergence: Labelled Autistic
Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum
Look Me In The Eye
Smiling at Shadows
Thinking In Pictures
Understanding and Working with the Spectrum of Autism, An
Insider’s View
Understanding Autism
Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes
Freaks Geeks and Aspergers Syndrome
Special Boys' Business
Special Girls' Business
Social Skills Picture Book
Recruitment for IKEA Tempe
I was sent this by Connie from St.George area. While it’s a typical business ad, it opens an opportunity to people with disabilities ( and carers as well ) to apply for work at a huge new IKEA store
I heard from Kelly Stehr, HR manager at IKEA Tempe Store, that they are interested in disadvan-taged groups, including people with a disability and Indigenous people, for their jobs as below: Recruitment for IKEA Tempe IKEA is currently in the midst of a huge recruitment drive and are looking for approximately 350 workers for our new Tempe store which is due to open in Oc-tober this year. We are looking to attract and wel-come a diverse workforce and are particularly inter-ested in co-workers who are passionate about work-ing with IKEA, are customer-focused, open, honest and eager to learn. The IKEA vision is "to create a better everyday life for the many people" and we offer a wide range of well designed home furnishings at prices so low the majority of people can afford them. The Tempe store will sit on a 39,000 sq m site on the Princes Highway, and if you (or someone you know) could be interested in a co-worker role with IKEA then please let them know that applications are closing soon and that they must hurry to our website and ap-ply online at...www.ikea.com.au<http://www.ikea.com.au> Also check jobs@ikea on this website. Kelly's details are: Kelly Stehr, Human Resources Manager—IKEA Tempe [email protected]
Looking forward to
this event at the end of
July.
We almost have a full
table for our support
group, with Olesia and
Frank, Kathy and
Ross, Stephanie and
Ken, plus me having
paid for our tickets.
f you’re interested in
coming along and sup-
porting the good work
Life Care does, includ-
ing their autism sup-
port programs, please
call Glenn, as per de-
tails here.
Over the last year, the Autism Community network I started has grown — a lot. I'm very proud of that, but I'm at a little bit of a crossroads at the moment. I recently went to Fair Trading to register the name Autism Community, to make sure it was ours to continue to use it. I think this simple name very apt-ly describes everything I have tried to achieve and I wouldn't want to change the name. But I was told that the fact that we use the word COMMUNITY means that I can only register this name if we are a non-profit organisation. It's no secret that I don't get paid for most of what I do and that this is certainly not designed to make me any profit, but ACn is not officially a Not for profit org. In order for it to become so, I need to have at least 5 members registered (no problem, we have close to 200) but that we also have a management com-mittee. That means a President, Vice President, Treasurer and a Secretary. From my point of view, becoming more official would also allow me to start applying for funding so that I can do more in wider areas across Sydney as well as cover the costs involved in running this. It will also allow me to approach businesses in the community to support us as many of the larger ones have Community Support programs. To achieve all this, I need some of you to put your hand up to join our committee. We would only have to meet formally 3 times a year and I would still continue to do what I do now which is pretty close to everything so you really don't need to do much - unless you wanted to. The roles: President: Leads the organisation. Modesty aside, I would be the logical person for this role as I would continue doing what I do now. The President is al-so the key contact for many of the work involved in running Autism Community. Vice President: Supports the president, steps in if the President is unavailable. Secretary: Records minutes of all meetings, mem-bers who attend meetings or join the network,. Treasurer: Records all money incoming or out-going to the organisation, maintains correct books and receipts.
There are other roles that could be assigned, such as Fundraising coordinator, or people assigned dif-ferent individual projects, but that’s nothing I need to worry about at the moment. We are fortunate to already have a couple of wonderful people who are helping me in this regard already. I’m still reading through the Model Constitution I have been given by the Department if Fair Trading, but it may be that members need to be paid up to be involved— if so, I would apply a minimum fee, something like 50 cents, which I would collect at a support group when I see you. Once we register as an incorporated organisation, we would also be covered legally against any personal claims for ac-tivities run by Autism Community. Even covered for all the hours that I’m on the road getting to meet-ings. At this stage, before I can start thinking about regis-tering us I need to know that I have people availa-ble to step up, so please let me know if you would be willing to be involved. I have already had the good fortune to receive of-fers of support for the committee from a number of our members, but if you are interested in being in-volved please let me know. When the time comes we can go through the process to determine roles and levels of involvement from among our wonder-ful volunteers. Thank you for considering. - Steve
A site for the children of members of Autism
Community. A place to access links to appro-
priate and safe games, information and sup-
port. It will be Password protected for just
members of the Autism Community network.
If you have sites that your kids love and want
to share with everyone, let me know!
There were 15 of us all up, 5 families. Our host, David, who has offered us a $5 fee per person (and kindly waived it for our first session) showed us the rules and I saw that Lawn Bowls is a very simple game for our chil-dren, with low stress and little energy required. It was a beautiful sunny morning, the kids were happy and the adults mixed well and chatted. It all put a smile on my face. David even brought out a couple of jugs of lemonade for us and we were cruising. Using our first play day as a test run, we decided that 2 hours was too long, as after the first hour we could see some of the kids getting distracted (especially with sand pits in the gutters allowing for sandcastles to be built). From next month, we will play from 10.30 to 11.30 am, then, when the bistro opens at 11.30, for a $6 rate, we can go inside the club for an early lunch and more social opportunities. I look forward to seeing more of you next month, see the events page for next date.
Upcoming Support Groups
KOGARAH
MEETS EVERY SECOND FRIDAY
NEXT MEETING: Friday 8 July 10.00—noon
St.George Leagues Club
Princes’ Hwy Kogarah
In the café / restaurant
KOGARAH
MEETS LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
NEXT MEETING: Sunday 31 July 2.00 — 4.00 pm
St.George Leagues Club
Princes’ Hwy Kogarah
In the café / restaurant
BALGOWLAH
MEETS FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
NEXT MEETING: Thursday 7 July 7.30—9.30 pm
Club Totem
195 Condamine Street Balgowlah
upstairs, through the restaurant to the function room behind
the bar
TERREY HILLS
MEETS EVERY SECOND SUNDAY
NEXT MEETING: Sunday 17 July 2.00—4.00 pm
Piemonte Cafe
287 Mona Vale Rd Terrey Hills
in the back near the children's play area.
Located at Hills Flower Market, near Bonds Nursery
PENSHURST
MEETS EVERY SECOND MONDAY
NEXT MEETING: Monday 11 July 10.00 am— noon
The Pole Depot
23 St.Georges Rd Penshurst
.
PEAKHURST
MEETS EVERY SECOND FRIDAY
NEXT MEETING: Friday 15 July 10.00 am— noon
Georges River Life Care— 23 Stanley St Peakhurst
If not already in this group please email Tonya
[email protected] to register
GRLC also has support groups for parents of :
# Non Verbal children, # Teenage Daughters,
# High School kids and # Primary age kids
Tel 9580 0688
.
BANKSTOWN
MEETS FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
NEXT MEETING: Thursday 7 July 10.00 am noon
Bankstown Sports Club
8 Greenfield Parade Bankstown
In the café
BELMORE
MEETS FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
Sunday 7 August 2.00 –4.00 pm
Canterbury Leagues Club
26 Bridge Rd Belmore
In the bistro just inside front entry
.
LUGARNO
MEETS LAST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH
NEXT SOCIAL: Saturday 30 July 10.30 - 11.30 am
Club Grandviews - 821 Forest Rd Peakhurst
All welcome—a chance for our kids to have a relaxed
play together.
.
Thursday 7 July BANKSTOWN
Thursday 7 July BALGOWLAH
Friday 8 July KOGARAH
Monday 11 July PENSHURST
Friday 15 July PEAKHURST
Saturday 6 August DEE WHY—BOWLING
Sunday 7 August BELMORE
Sunday 17 July TERREY HILLS
Saturday 30 July LUGARNO—BOWLS
Sunday 31 July KOGARAH
NEXT: SATURDAY 6 August
From 11.00 a.m.
SOCIAL DAY FOR
KIDS ON THE SPECTRUM
Bowling at Dee Why RSL
Meet at the club for a game and then
stay for lunch, at the bowling alley or at
the RSL, giving our kids the chance to
socialize together.
Booking will be for 11 am under
―Steve’s autism support group‖. I will
advise them of numbers.
Please email me by the Friday morning
before so that I can book ahead.
All Autism Community families wel-
come, just RSVP to me first.
A little while back we established a num-ber of groups based on similar situations families find themselves in. If you are interested in being added to any of the-se groups, just send me an email.
We have already had a number of social interactions between parents in some of these groups, and they are a very good way to connect with others who under-stand you.
TEENAGERS TEENAGE DAUGHTERS UNDER 7s MORE THAN ONE CHILD ANXIETY ADHD PRIMARY SCHOOL AGED (6-12) ADULTS DADS NON VERBAL KIDS YU-GI-OH KIDS YOUNG DAUGHTERS
SHARED INTERESTS GROUPS
NEXT: SATURDAY 30 July
from10.30 to 11.30 am
SOCIAL DAY FOR
KIDS ON THE SPECTRUM
Lawn Bowls at Lugarno
Club Grandviews
Enjoy a relaxed day with other families in
our network giving our kids the chance to
socialize together . Our hosts only charge
us $5 per person and afterwards we can
stay on and enjoy lunch at the bistro for
just $6 per person.
Please email me by the Friday morning
before so that I can book ahead.
All Autism Community families welcome,
just RSVP to me first
Club Grandviews
821 Forest Rd
Lugarno
.
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