Do you support families who have a child with autism? We have developed a brand new resource to assist you. Our Facilitator Resource Pack will enable you to deliver autism seminars in your local area for up to 15 families at a time. The packs are a cost effective way to help you support families; providing them with practical advice and tips for everyday life. These are designed to be used flexibly wherever you are in the UK and whatever family support role you are in. The Facilitator Resource Pack includes:  a guide to running successful family seminars  Understanding Autism presentation, seminar plan and facilitator notes  access to a special online discussion group. Additional Seminars can be added to your pack as they become available - topics will include the highly popular Sensory Needs and Managing Anger (available now), Supporting Siblings and Understanding Behaviour (Late 2013). Seminar Booklets for each family that attends your seminars will need to be purchased separately. A Seminar Facilitator Development course will be available as an open-access course to support professionals in the delivery of Autism Seminars for Families. Please see following pages for more detailed information.

Costs Facilitator Resource Pack – available at a special introductory price of £175 Seminar Booklets - £5 Additional Seminar Packs - £90

For any further questions – please contact us at [email protected]

To purchase your Facilitator Resource Pack and Seminar Booklets please go to www.autism.org.uk/shop/asff

Introduction Autism Seminars for Families are based on the highly successful help! programme that was developed by The National Autistic Society (NAS) in 2002. This was initially aimed at families of newly diagnosed school-age children with autism, and has developed over time to include seminars for parents with children with all ages and lengths of diagnosis, covering a wide variety of topics. The help! programme has been highly rated and valued by parents. In an evaluation report published in 2008 by Professor Anthony Bailey from Oxford University, it was noted that parents felt they had gained a much improved knowledge of autism, increased confidence, and felt that the programme had helped them to better accept the diagnosis and increased their optimism for the future of their child. The single most noted benefit highlighted by parents was meeting and sharing information and experiences with other families. Following the proven success of the help! programme and to extend local support for families, the NAS made a strategic decision in 2011 to remodel the help! seminars and to work towards making them available to more families. Autism Seminars for Families are now available for experienced autism professionals to buy and deliver in their local area.

Facilitator Resource Pack Autism Seminars for Families are aimed at parents of children with autism. The PowerPoint presentation and the accompanying Seminar Booklet are designed to work together to make sure that families have the information they need on the day and can refer back to it later. Autism Seminars for Families are designed and licensed purely for delivering the seminars to families. The seminars must not be used to train professionals.

PowerPoint presentation Each seminar will need to be delivered using the MS PowerPoint presentation on the USB flash drive that accompanies this Facilitator Resource Pack. Presentations for additional seminars will be provided in their accompanying seminar packs. Seminar Booklets Each family attending one of the Autism Seminars for Families must be provided with a copy of the accompanying seminar booklet. This is a condition of buying the materials and the seminars cannot be delivered without providing these. You can buy Seminar Booklets from www.autism.org.uk/shop Seminar plan and trainer notes Each seminar has a seminar plan and detailed trainer notes. For the ‘Understanding Autism’ seminar, they are contained in this Facilitator Resource Pack. For additional seminars they will be contained in the accompanying seminar pack. Additional resources Additional resources for running the seminars will be provided in the Facilitator Resource Pack and on the USB flash drive. These include activity sheets, evaluation forms, promotional flyers and attendance registers. Where we suggest DVDs for use in the seminars, you will need to buy them separately. The

NAS has secured copyright permission only for DVDs that are specified within the trainer notes and only for use as directed. Optional additional handouts Two additional handouts are useful to give out at all seminars; ‘Ideas for resources’ and ‘NAS contacts’.

Seminar Overviews All the Autism Seminars for Families have a similar structure. Each seminar has a number of key concepts to get across. Each of these concepts is put into a cycle of learning that supports parents with understanding the information and applying it to their own situation. Each seminar comes with a seminar plan that provides an overview of the seminar, learning outcomes, resources needed, suggested timings and a breakdown of the key sections. The Trainer Notes are designed to support you in delivering the seminars. Each slide has notes relating to general information and key points. They are a guide to delivering the seminar but you may need to do some further reading. Understanding Autism This seminar provides parents with an opportunity to discuss the diagnosis, learn more about autism and communication, and understand how to access support. It aims to provide parents with opportunities to share experiences, strategies and approaches to help them understand their child and support them in the future. It can be delivered in two different age groups: parents of children aged up to 11 or parents of children aged 11 to 16. Seminar Framework: The road to diagnosis What is Autism? Supporting communication Sources of support Managing Anger This seminar looks at why children with autism may experience anger and explores the use of a low arousal approach to support their communication and behaviour. It provides parents with tools to equip themselves and their children with practical and safe ways to understand and communicate their feelings and copy with meltdowns. The seminar does not teach physical interventions but does address how to manage confrontation more effectively.

Seminar Framework: What is anger? Using a low arousal approach Coping with meltdowns Helping your child manage their feelings Sensory Needs This seminar provides parents with an introduction to the sensory systems and sensory processing. It explores the differences in sensory processing that might be experienced by children with autism. The seminar highlights the importance of understanding these needs and gives parents an opportunity to share strategies and approaches to help their child with their sensory needs. Seminar Framework: Sensory processing Sensory processing differences in children with autism Helping your child with their sensory needs

Examples from the Facilitator Resource Pack Sample slides from Understanding Autism

Flyer, Evaluation Form and sample from Ideas for Resources Handout

Practicalities of running seminars Timings Each of the Autism Seminars for Families is designed to be run over 4.5 hours. Suggested timings that would fit into the school day and have worked well previously are 10.00am – 2.30pm. This allows for a 15 minute drink break and a 30 minute lunch break. Alternatively, the seminars can be split over two short sessions (2 or 2.5 hours each). Numbers for each seminar 15 families is the maximum number for each of the Autism Seminars for Families (we suggest up to two places per family), ideally with a maximum of 25 individual participants. Charging for seminars Autism Seminars for Families can either be delivered free to families, or you can make a charge of up to £30 per family. Promoting your seminar A flyer that you can use to promote your seminar is included in the Facilitator Resource Pack and on the USB flash drive. You can adapt this to include your own contact details and information about costs. A sample application form is also included.

Ongoing facilitator support Seminar Facilitator Development We will be running a one day open-access course that will support you in delivering Autism Seminars for Families. Participants will be supported in developing their training practice and working with families. The course is based on the Facilitator Resource Pack and there will be an element of pre-course work involved. Therefore, delegates must buy the Facilitator Resource Pack in advance of attending the programme. For further details on costs please visit: www.autism.org.uk/facilitatortraining Peer support through Network Autism We have a closed group on Network Autism for professionals who have bought the Facilitator Resource Pack. This can be used to share experiences with, or pose questions to, other people who have bought and are using the Seminar Packs.

For any further questions – please contact us at [email protected]

To purchase your Facilitator Resource Pack and Seminar Booklets please go to www.autism.org.uk/shop/asff