1. Richard Ibbotson – National Director Scotland Catherine Steedman – Deputy Director Scotland

5. We need a shared understanding of the person with autism and a partnership approach that demonstrates that we have power with not power over the person with autism, to develop a range of personalised approaches. We use these personalised approaches to support the person with autism to develop strategies from/through which they acquire and use the skills they need which in turn supports them to become an independent and valued citizen.

7. COSPA 18,13218,557

8.  Autism  Learning Difficulties  Anxiety  ‘Complex needs’

9.  Limited choice making  No control over daily life  No control over major life decisions  Negative reputation

10.  Communication challenges  Complex family involvement  Inconsistent expectations  Poor understanding of motivations ‘ what makes Steven tick’

11.  Fundamental review of communication  Development of a communication system that works for him (key ring picture system)  Focus on what makes Steven feel safe – what does he understand about his environment and the people around him  Move away from a behavioural focus  Fill life with positive and successful experiences

13. COSPA 18,13218,557

14.  Aspergers syndrome  Anxiety disorder  Obsessive compulsive disorder

15.  He rarely went out  Echolalia increased  Quality of communication decreased  Extremely poor quality of life  Increased likelihood of severe mental illness  Unhappiness

16.  No family involvement  Other people’s expectations  James’ expectations  He needed to engage with psychiatry and health professionals

17.  Key was a named worker, who co-ordinated communications and took the pressure away from James  Person-centred working and planning  Trust, predictability, honesty, power-with  Used his preferred communication - visual aids, notes, knocking signals, through doors, social stories and emails.  Adapted our communication to support James to have choices and express his opinions  Liaising with all health and social work professionals  Time to build resilience  A ‘safety net’

18.  Staff profiles sent before meetings  Telephone appointments  Shared understanding of remit with other agencies  Meetings at his house, meetings at the GP surgery

20.  A One Stop Shop, not because it is one place you go to, but because we can provide everything you need in a flexible, person-centred way  We provide the widest range of services to autistic people, their families and professionals working for autistic people  Individual level – workshops to learn from others, social opportunities, counselling-type service, pre diagnostic and post diagnostic work, preventative services  Community level – training, education, advice, weaved throughout local autism strategies in the areas we work  Edinburgh, Perth and Highlands

21.  Analysing the statistics  Feedback from our evaluations  Skye, Caithness, Lochaber drop-ins  Working with schools – Fort William  Late diagnosis group – at a distance

22.  Local focus groups – what is wanted  Mapping – what’s already around  Getting the environment right

23.  Drop in - table tennis, gaming, scrabble, cards, playing with others  1:1 during the drop-in times  1:1’s in and around the area  Very flexible – meet someone on the way there and someone on the way back! Take people to the drop-in venue  Meet with employers and other agencies while there  Unexpected outcome – parent support group

24.  Skye - 19  Caithness – 20  Lochaber - 11

25.  Two school teachers working in Fort William – pre and post diagnostic work  Visit schools, training support teachers, helping the autistic children to define autism  Post diagnostic work – they had nothing  Head in Kinlochleven – great! Wants to help, recognises she and her team need to know more  Replication – Dingwall next

26.  Autism Strategy Development funding  Remote Late Diagnosis group  10-week Late Diagnosis group to rural areas  Sensory integration; relationships; employment; education; childhood; mental health; lifestyle; communication; the brain  Isle of Lewis

27.  Wider areas  Increased use of IT  But … we need funding to continue!