Parent Support Adviser

[chris54]

Our Parent support Adviser came back today for her second visit, been to a conference about autism, had lots of ideas to share with us, only problem non of them where new to us. She was doing her best and is new to the job and it is the first time she has dealt with autism.

She was talking about funding that may be available, I pointed out to her it not so much funding, well I wouldn't say no, it the provision in the first place that's not there.

She had to admit that where on the surface there seems to be a lot on offer, once you go into it you soon realise how little there is of any use to anyone in our position.

 

Any way she is going to continue to see if some form of respite care is available.

 

We will see her next at a CAF meeting in 3 weeks time. Wont be holding me breath for a positive outcome.

[zenemu]

Hi Chris,

 

First of all good luck with the CAF meeting. I hope it works out well, just keep pushing.

 

This kind of thing is often a problem. Part of my job occasionally calls for me to signpost people with mental health problems to third parties whether that be a specific local NHS service or a charity of some kind who can offer support and advice. With people who have Bi-polar or Schizophrenia for example, even though these are incredibly complicated conditions, it is relatively easy to do because ultimately as difficult as they are, these are treatable issues. With ASD I am pretty much at a loss as is everyone else. I have Aspergers Syndrome myself (reasonably severe), but support groups in my area are few and far between, psychiatrists don't really want to know because there isn't a lot they can do to treat the underlying symptoms and a intervention like a section is usually inappropriate. This is one of the reasons GP's occasionally question what you hope to achieve if you approach them for a diagnosis, because really there isn't usually a lot that can be achieved from a medical or mental health standpoint.

 

There are people who will offer some support and advice, but the problem is that ASD presents in so many different ways and severities that every case is unique. In order to understand a specific case you need to spend a LOT of time with them, and frankly that simply isn't practical for anyone but that persons family / friends.

 

So how do you provide specific support and practical help? The answer is that really when you get down to it, you can't, you can only offer generalizations and typical cliched support. Having said that there are dedicated support workers out there who take the time to get to know people and can offer more useful advice and they do a wonderful job, but it is rare and is not an easy thing to achieve.

 

Zen

Edited May 19, 2010 by zenemu

[MelowMeldrew]

Our Parent support Adviser came back today for her second visit, been to a conference about autism, had lots of ideas to share with us, only problem non of them where new to us. She was doing her best and is new to the job and it is the first time she has dealt with autism.

She was talking about funding that may be available, I pointed out to her it not so much funding, well I wouldn't say no, it the provision in the first place that's not there.

She had to admit that where on the surface there seems to be a lot on offer, once you go into it you soon realise how little there is of any use to anyone in our position.

 

Any way she is going to continue to see if some form of respite care is available.

 

We will see her next at a CAF meeting in 3 weeks time. Wont be holding me breath for a positive outcome.

 

I've never heard of this, what is a parent support advisor ? Also anyone know what the NAS OUTREACH is about, they have put forward my son's name for this... sadly there was an issue at my son's school this week a parent murdered her autistic child, I knew the lad, we all had letters asking us to watch our children for trauma signs.

[cathyz]

I've never heard of this, what is a parent support advisor ? Also anyone know what the NAS OUTREACH is about, they have put forward my son's name for this... sadly there was an issue at my son's school this week a parent murdered her autistic child, I knew the lad, we all had letters asking us to watch our children for trauma signs.

 

Parent Support Advisers are there to help you and your child get the very best from your school by providing support, advice and information. they work closely with parents in partnership with schools and external agencies to support familes, helping parents to feel comfortable about coming into school and participating in their children's learning.

 

I copied that from my areas PSA advice leaflet and they are employed by the local authority.

 

Regarding respite, in our area we are part of the Aiming High for Disabled Children pilot project which has funded Short Breaks, Direct Payments and DCATCH (Disabled Childrens Access to Childcare) and children or young people with a definite diagnosis of ASD are eligible for all of these and under the guidlines of ECDM these should be available everywhere.

[chris54]

It's only recently that we have had Parent Support Adviser's here, hence the women learning on the job.

 

There is respite and short brakes available here but it is all oriented towards children with physical disabilities (Not wanting to take anything away from their needs).

 

As far a direct payment is concerned, yes you can get it but first there need to be identified a need for some form of care or support (this is the bit we are working on at the moment). Also I have come across people how have been given direct payment only to find that they cannot find anyone to employ to do what the direct payment is for. It seem that some LA are paying direct payment so that they do not have the burden of finding people, employing them, to do the work. I would say to anyone who is offed direct payment in place of the carer being employed by the council, think hard befor going down that line, do you want to become an employer and all that that entails.

 

As for child care, not to much of a problem here, but child care is not what I or my son really need.

[qwerty]

in place of the carer being employed by the council

 

How do you get council to emply a carer?? I had no idea something like this was even provided..

 

Regarding respite, in our area we are part of the Aiming High for Disabled Children pilot project which has funded Short Breaks

 

Isn't Aiming High for those on High Care component of the DLA?

[chris54]

How do you get council to emply a carer?? I had no idea something like this was even provided..

 

Befor direct payment started, that is all there was.

If you are assess as having a need from social services you can opt for direct payment but dont have to and if you are alreading getting direct payment you can ask the council to stop the direct payment and for council to provid the service instead.

This is all on the directgov site.