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News- Page 37
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Education : Pioneering autism school plan
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Posted by Sylvia on Sunday, November 16, 2003 (13:52:11)
BBC - UK 04/11/2003
The mother of a nine-year-old autistic boy has said plans to introduce a pioneering centre in Flintshire for young children with the condition are "long overdue".
Benedict Cargius' mother Fiona blames his condition on the MMR vaccine which he had when he was 14-months-old.
At the moment Benedict is taught at home by therapists who use the Applied Behavioural Analysis technique (ABA), which concentrates on improving the communication skills while looking specifically at their environment.
It can include things like teaching children in five minute bursts before breaking off to play.
The proposed centre at Westwood CP School in Buckley will offer intensive, highly-individualised programmes for each child.
"The school's long overdue. Autism's on the increase so this is definitely a step forward," said Mrs Cargius, whose supports the project for other children because her son is now too old to go the new school.
The intensive programmes have been running for more than two years in the children's own homes.
However, 10 youngsters aged between three and six will now have the opportunity to be educated with other children.
Mrs Cargius said her son has improved greatly since he started the ABA programme.
"There's a massive difference in Benedict, the biggest difference is his behaviour and how calm he is," she said.
"This whole programme has made him realise that there's a whole world out there, that there's people around him and he can communicate even though he has no speech.
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Education : National Autism Plan for Children
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Posted by Sylvia on Monday, November 10, 2003 (00:20:35)
These guidelines address identification, assessment, diagnosis and access to early interventions for pre-school and primary school age children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD).
It is hoped that they will encourage transparent, efficient diagnostic processes able to meet the needs of these children and families that are not prescriptive but demonstrate good practice.
Click here to read the full report on PDF document
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Education : Welsh autism unit 'first of its kind in UK'
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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, November 07, 2003 (17:51:58)
www.awares.org 04/11/2003
BUCKLEY, Flintshire, Wales: A pioneering centre for autistic youngsters - the first of its kind in the United Kingdom - is to open in North Wales.
Intensive one-off programmes for each child will now be given at the unit in Flintshire.
It means that some autistic youngsters will no longer be offered home-based help.
The techniques have been pioneered by Flintshire and Wrexham councils, which will co-fund the £18,000-a-year unit, along with the local health authority.
Keith McDonogh, Flintshire's director of education, children's services and recreation, says that the plan at Westwood CP School in Buckley represents "a significant move forward in the education of very young children with autism."
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Education : AUTHOR NICK HORNBY: 'BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS FAILING AUTISTIC CHILDREN'
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:56:52)
The Times, 03/10/2003
The award-winning British author, Nick Hornby, has attacked the government for failing autistic children.
Hornby, whose son Danny, aged 10, has autism, told a fringe meeting in Bournemouth on October 2 that the Labour government was not spending enough on health and education services for autistic children. He said that the local educational authority (LEA) staff employed to help children such as his son became "enemies" who were "institutionally hostile" to their needs.
His comments came as three separate reports were released warning of the "massive stress and cost" faced by parents who take LEAs to tribunals.
Hornby said: "One of the first of many shocks you receive as the parent of a disabled child is that there is no one to help you negotiate the dense and dark forest of difficulties which has sprung up around you.
Unless there is enough money in the system to meet the needs that are out there, all the wonderful new initiatives the government is announcing aren’t going to engage the single most pressing reason why the system is failing disabled children.
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Education : MORE FUNDING URGED FOR ABA APPROACH IN NORTHERN IRELAND
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:42:31)
Press Association, 30/09/2003
Representatives from the charity PEAT - Parents' Education as Autism Therapists - brought their appeal to Stormont [Northern Ireland's Parliament] on September 30 for more funding for the applied behaviour analysis approach to teaching autistic children.
But they also warned politicians that they would take their battle to the courts if necessary.
At the invitation of the SDLP Party leader, Mark Durkan, PEAT representatives told officials from the Departments of Education and Health that only eight children in Northern Ireland had funding for this method of teaching in their homes.
They contrasted this to the eight ABA schools which operate in the Irish Republic with government funds as well as government-sponsored home-teaching programmes.
Dr Mickey Keenan, from the University of Ulster's School of Psychology at Coleraine and who helped to form PEAT, said: "The basic question is - why is it so difficult to persuade professionals that they should be following a science-based intervention?
There are numerous pieces of research which show that ABA intervention is effective, yet there is a reluctance on the part of the education system in Northern Ireland to accept the scientific evidence.
"It has taken six years to get this far and we are now taking the message right to the doorstep of government in Northern Ireland. I am a parent appalled at the treatment of other parents and I have put my heart and soul into helping them."
There is only one full-time professional and one part-time professional trained in ABA education methods in Northern Ireland.
PEAT's chairman, Dr Tony Byrne, who has two autistic children, criticised a recent taskforce set up in the province to examine educational provision for autistic children because it had no ABA-trained professional among its membership.
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