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What We Do

Irish Autism Action was founded in 2011 by parents of children with autism. It is an umbrella organisation with 51 member groups and 900 individual members. The elected Boards of Directors is made up of parents and is committed to consultative and participative involvement of its membership.

WHAT WE DO:

Diagnostic & Assessment Services.

Full multi-discplinary assessment and diagnostic service at Solas.

IAA have been commissioned by the HSE in South Tipperary to provide diagnostic and assessment services to 63 families. To date we have completed 47.

Outreach Service Programme.

Our OSP currently serves 44 families with a range of supports including home based programmes, transition programmes into schools and reintegration of pupils into schools where placements have broken down.

The programme also includes training of school based staff and other professionals connected with the child. All our programmes are supervised by a Behaviour Analyst.

To access this service email kevin@autismireland.ie.

Advocacy.

We support families and people with ASD through our Advocacy Service.

In the first 6 months of 2011 we dealt with 50 advocacy cases related to health, education and welfare. Typical cases involve DCA appeals, oral hearings, getting a diagnosis, getting a service, cuts to home support, applying for entitlements, SNA cuts, securing appropriate school placements, transitions, challenging behaviour, housing and homelessness, sexuality, sexual abuse, adults with autism, discolsure, late diagnosis, respite and residential care, Section 29, parent training and training for schools.

IAA is a member of AREA (Autism Rights and Equality Alliance)

To access advocacy services email kevin@autismireland.ie.

Educational Support.

IAA continues to be involved in support the transition process for our 12 member schools.

Meeting with Minister for Education.

IAA, with American partner, The Watson Institute, is examing the whole are of transtition planning.

IAA secured the support of Genio in respect of a project to up skill Irish based professionals and parents.

IAA arranged for Treehouse Trust, Ambitious about Autism to facilitate workshops for Autism and Saplings Ireland schools.

Information Service.

Irish Autism Action provides an information service in the following areas, diagnosis, benefits and entitlements, education, transitioning, Home Tuition scheme and July Provision, advice for schools, research projects, support/advocacy, support groups/social groups, general information, equipment and resources, DCA refusal, workshops.

To access this service email Sarah on sren@autismireland.ie.

Counselling Service.

We offer a counselling service for individuals and couples. We have 9 counsellors with a current caseload of 30. The lead counsellor is Yvonne.

To contact Yvonne email counselling@autismireland.ie

Internet presence.

The Irish Autism Action facebook page has 3100 people in the group. The IAA blog has 16000 visits per month, the website has 8000 visits per month and over 1700 people follow Irish Autism Action on Twitter. If you have queries, information, articles or notices for any of these sites please email jen@autismireland.ie.

Research and development:

Camp Wisp - A HSE grant was secured to provide an opportunity for children on the spectrum to be integrated into mainstream summer camp. This camp was undertaken in partnership with The Watson Institute. The finds of this will be made widely available, especially to the DoES as a potential alternative usage for July Provision funding.

Prevalance Study Autism Counts - Irish Autism Action is funding a study that will determine the number of people in Ireland who are on the autism spectrum. By providing a concrete figure for incidence of autism the Irish Autism Prevlanace Study will make a compelling case for the State to invest in resources for autistic people. This study is being carried out in conjunction with DCE and lead by Professor Anthony Staines.

Acclaim - A grant was secured from the Genio Foundation to support the training of 12 transition planners on site at their services in Pittsburgh. Phase one of the training was completed in August 2011. Phase two will involve an assessment process for potential students who may be accessing third level education. Phase three, these students will require the input of the transition planners trained via the Genio funding but under the the professional supervision of The Watson Institute. A study group involving the participants has been established to further advance this project.

Finances.

Board have arranged for VFM (value for money) review in relation to IAA expenditure.

Comprehensive financial position of IAA will be finalised at the end of October and communicated as appropriate.

Downturn in economy, like all charities, has placed great pressure on IAA.

Strategy to be developed to provide for financial sustainability of this national charity into the future.

Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign.

As at 3rd December 2011:

The mobile phone recycling campaign has raised €254,000 to date. €184,000 of this has been given directly to families in the form of technoloy, providing 413 families with an iPad for their child with autism. €70,000 has been given to Irish Autism Action. 845 people are registered for the campaign.

The campaign will run for another year, with the next 'Win your mortgage paid for a year' draw in December 2012. For more information email jen@autismireland.ie.

Thank you to BPI Telecom for facilitating this scheme.