Dean Beadle Motivational Speaker
	London Zoo - Special Children's Day
	The Foundation for Conductive Education
	Pounds For Parents
	Nannytax Annual Survey
	Red Nose Day
	Improvements to PARIS Directory
	Marathon Mum!
	Letterbox Library
	Donate your old mobiles for NAS
	Contact a Family Directory

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this newsletter.

A special thanks goes to Dean Beadle who we hope will be writing a regular column for us. Dean is an autistic sixth-former who is currently giving motivational speeches across the UK on the subject".

If you would like to send an article relating to special needs for the next issue, just send an e-mail or call 020 7729 2200

SNAP Childcare
91-93 Great Eastern St
London EC2A 3HZ

Tel: 020 7729 2200
Fax: 020 7729 0022
E-mail: info@snapchildcare.co.uk

Laughter. Believe me this is one of the best ways to cope with Autism (in my case Asperger's Syndrome) for both parents and carers as well as the special needs child themselves.
Learning to laugh at myself was a massive challenge for me. I'd always been a very serious child and took myself very seriously indeed.

I struggled to understand why somebody would laugh at your mishaps. I just assumed that it was other people being nasty. I was far too sensitive for my own good.
This all changed when I reached secondary school. My Learning Support Assistant Mrs Clark could see how defensive I was and made a determined effort to make me see the funny side of the silly little mistakes that I made in my day to day life. She knew that if I could learn to laugh at myself then I'd be a much more positive and light-hearted person. She was right of course, and before long we could laugh together about each others mishaps. This was a massive step for me.

Fast forward five years. Yesterday 100 people laughed at my mishaps and I loved it. I was in Edinburgh giving a speech about my experiences with Asperger's Syndrome, and I told them exactly what I'm telling you- Laughter provides an incredible respite to the downsides of looking after a special needs child. Especially if you can learn to laugh together.

Dean Beadle March 2007
(Photo by Luke Carter)

Saturday 10th June 2006

We would like to extend an invitation to children with special needs and their families to our annual fun day at the Zoo. We know a day out can be an expensive occasion so we are pleased to be able to offer admission of a reduced rate for children and young adults with special needs, and their families. If you would like more booking forms or further details, please contact: Education Administrator in the Education Department on 020 7449 6551.

Highlights include:
New walk-through squirrel monkey exhibit
New walk-through Aviary of colourful African birds
Gorilla Kingdom and the Rainforest
Lookout
Animals in Action - live animal display
Komodo Dragon
Animals in Action - live animal display
British Sign Language Interpretation for all events

A reduced rate of admission is available - for pre-booked tickets ONLY. For full details, booking forms and ticket prices, please contact
Education Administrator on
020 7449 6551 or e-mail:
education.admin@zsl.org

Children under 3 years no charge
Children 3 - 18 years £6
Adults £10
Carer (essential only)* free (maximum one per family)

*essential carers, in this instance are those required to guide a child with sight impairment or autism, or to push a wheelchair. We hope you will understand that, as a charity, the Zoo is not able to offer free carers for all children.

www.londonzoo.co.uk

Conductive Education (CE) is a form of special rehabilitation developed by the Hungarian physician, András Peto. Its aim is to help children and adults with motor disorders learn to overcome problems of movement as a way of enabling them to live more active and independent lives. CE is particularly effective for those with cerebral palsy, dyspraxia, Parkinson's, stroke, multiple sclerosis and head injury.

The successful practice of CE relies on specialised professionals called 'conductors' who are trained to view medical conditions as problems of learning. In practice this means that the focus is on teaching the person 'how' to achieve control over movements rather than seeing problems as an inevitable part of the condition.

The National Institute of Conductive Education (NICE) in Moseley Birmingham was set up by the Foundation for CE in 1986 as a centre of excellence and provides a range of full and part time programmes for people of all ages. The Parent and Child service is for families and their very young children (aged birth to 3 years) with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. The Parent and Child service aims to enable parents, carers and family members to gain a greater understanding of how cerebral palsy affects their child and to help them to encourage their child to achieve greater independence.

The service aims to provide a comprehensive early years education which is appropriate to the age, ability and needs of the children and leads to the development of motor, social and educational skills. Alongside the education for the child we provide support and advice to their families and work with associated professionals to achieve the best possible outcome for each child.

The Parent and Child service offers continuous placement for children aged from birth to three years. The duration of the groups is one-and-a-half to two hours, and groups can be attended once or twice a week depending on the age and ability of the child. In some cases individual sessions may be offered, often as a prerequisite to group work.

For families travelling from further afield, including abroad, we are also able to provide fixed-term groups of three weeks duration. Attendance in these groups is for one-and-a-half to two hours per day Monday to Friday.

Last year we were able to help 108 children and their families to achieve a better quality of life. Thanks to the generous support from Zurich Cares part of Zurich Financial Services and other charitable trusts, this service is free to UK residents.

In addition to this NICE also offers a range of further services for children, young people and adults:

Early Intervention: 3-7 years

Primary School: 5-11 years

Weekly sessions: 7-11 years

Adult sessions for those with Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, stroke, cerebral palsy and acquired head injury.

For more information call:
0121 449 1569

or see:
www.conductive-education.org.uk

Click here to see the current Foundations Newsletter

A project in Greater Manchester has been granted £30,000 funding from The ScottishPower Energy People Trust to help families with disabled children access the benefits they are entitled to.

Contact a Family has used the Trust's £30,000 funding to set up a project called Pounds for Parents North West, and although only established in October this year, it has already assisted over 250 parents and children.

With Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week ahead (beginning 4th December), families in the Greater Manchester area will also benefit from 300 Carbon Monoxide Detectors, donated through a scheme funded entirely by ScottishPower customers.

Pounds for Parents North West is a two-year long project which aims to target 5,000 homes in the Manchester area.

The funding provided by the Trust has been used to employ a development officer, Jo Palmer, who works with parents of disabled children.

Jo's job involves explaining to parents, jargon-free, about Government benefits they are entitled to through workshops, parent groups, telephone, face-to-face and e-mail enquiries.

In addition to the funding for the post, ScottishPower representatives also presented the 300 Carbon Monoxide Detectors to be distributed to families.

All profits that ScottishPower made through previous sales of Carbon Monoxide Detectors were ploughed back into buying more detectors and so thanks to ScottishPower customers, the Pounds for Parents project will now benefit from these.

Jill Harrison, Director of External Affairs at Contact a Family said: "We're extremely grateful for the funding provided by The ScottishPower Energy People Trust and the Carbon Monoxide Detectors.

"Not only will families increase their income levels - and that's vital to families with disabled children as they often have to manage on only one wage - but they'll have great peace of mind, knowing that any potentially lethal gases will be detected immediately and they will be safe in their own home."

The ScottishPower Energy People Trust was created in November 2005 to fund not-for-profit organisations that help vulnerable people including families, young people, the disabled and the elderly who need to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills and suffer from fuel poverty.

Ann Loughrey, ScottishPower's Head of External Business and Community Relations and The ScottishPower Energy People Trust's Company Secretary said: "We are delighted to be able assist the Pounds for Parents North West project.

"Research has shown that many families with disabled children are not claiming all the Government benefits they are entitled to and are missing out on vital extra income.

"Hopefully, with the assistance of Pounds for Parents North West, many families in the Manchester area will not lose out on any income, therefore avoiding kids growing up in fuel poverty."

For more information about the project please contact JO Palmer, on 0161 743 0700 or e-mail northwest.office@cafamily.org.uk.

For information on The ScottishPower Energy People Trust visit www.energypeopletrust.co.uk

Each year Nannytax (a payroll support service for people who employ nannies) conducts a survey amongst nanny agencies to get an up to date view of nanny's wages.

To see this years figures, please click on their logo below.

It's that time of year again to put on those red noses!

Since 1985, the charity Comic Relief/Red Nose Day has raised over £425 million - 60% of the money raised helps to give people living in desperate poverty across Africa a better chance in life and 40% helps disadvantaged people and communities across the UK turn their lives around.

One of the UK charities is The Princess Royal Trust for Carers who help children who take on the responsibilities inappropriate to their age caring for a physically disabled parent and perhaps siblings.

See below for details, including how you can get involved.

Red Nose Day

Young Carers

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers

(For those not wishing to don a red nose, you could always try the T-shirts!)

The PARIS (Public Autism Resource and Information Service) directory is changing. From the 6th of March you will see a number of improvements which will benefit users of the directory and the services listed within it.

Firstly the name will change from PARIS to the Autism Services Directory to better clarify its purpose.
Visitors who access the new directory through the National Autistic Society (NAS) website will find it much easier to find under the ‘Autism Information and Support’ section of the newly redesigned website. With over 2.4 million visitors to the NAS website last year this should lead to an increase in people visiting the directory and finding the details of your service.

For those accessing the directory directly, the current web address www.info.autism.org.uk will continue and the new web addresses will be www.autismdirectory.org.uk

and

www.autism.org.uk/autismdirectory.
The homepage and the browse function of the Autism Services Directory will also be updated and improved to make it even easier for visitors to find the services they are looking for.

Signpost – new online service from the NAS

Also launching on the 6th of March, Signpost is a new online service providing information on autism and services which is tailored to an individual's needs.

Users will be able to enter basic details about themselves, or the person they care for, and be presented with personalised information relevant to their needs according to age, diagnosis and where they live. Signpost will draw on relevant information stored on the NAS website, in the Autism Services Directory and also new material written specifically for Signpost.

This new service will be accessible through the NAS website or directly via the web address www.autism.org.uk/signpost

The NAS information team and I hope you find the improvements to the directory beneficial. If you have any queries or questions then please contact us at directory@nas.org.uk

Erica Marks and her family has been known to SNAP practically since we started - many a carer has enjoyed their time looking after her son Benji who has cerebral palsy. Somehow Erica (who has three other children!) has found the time to train for this years marathon race on the 22nd April.

Erica's chosen charity is Whizz Kidz who provide customised mobility equipment for children with physical disabilities.

SNAP are very happy to support Erica and hope that you might too!

Please click here for details of how to donate to this worthwhile charity.

Good luck Erica from everyone at SNAP!

Letterbox Library's New Year Catalogue includes a special focus on disability in children's books. Letterbox Library has for many years worked hard to source quality disability titles for children. The New Year catalogue features our reviewers' best picks of the 'classics' as well as many exciting new titles from the UK and abroad.

Letterbox Library (LL) is a children's booksellers and a not-for-profit social enterprise. Our customers include schools, libraries, early years settings and individuals. We have a long established reputation for sourcing children's books which celebrate equality and diversity. A number of our books are imported and are hard to access elsewhere. Our specialisms include:
Multicultural and non-sexist children's books
Books which explore personal and social issues
Books which feature groups of people traditionally under-represented in children's literature, e.g.: different faith groups, disabled people, black/minority ethnic communities, refugees

Uniquely, all of our books have been approved by an independent team of volunteer reviewers which includes Ofsted inspectors, childminders, teachers, social workers, nursery workers, parents and children.

Books are carefully selected for their (1) inclusiveness (2) quality in art work and storyline (3) strong child-appeal. Our reviewers come from a wide range of backgrounds and include disabled children/adults.

Letterbox Library's New Year Catalogue is the culmination of our research into the best disability titles available from the UK and abroad. They also include books recommended by key disability organisations. From old favourites- Seal Surfer, Mama Zooms to great new titles - Dan and Diesel, Victoria's Day, there should be something here for everyone.

For a (free) copy of our catalogue, please call 020 7503 4801 or e-mail at info@letterboxlibrary.com

Or, to view all of our books you can visit our website at www.letterboxlibrary.com

Please quote 'SNAP Newsletter' when you contact us.

Vodafone will will make a donation for each old mobile phone handed into them to the National Autistic Society (NAS).

Vodafone has already recycled thousands of mobile phones. In the period 2005-2006, the recycling scheme raised an amazing £578,000.

For details of the NAS see:

The Contact a Family Directory 2007 is now available. The directory is written and endorsed by the foremost medical authorities in the UK and abroad to ensure you access to the most up-to-date and accurate information;

To help you find information quickly and easily on Regional Genetic Centres, hospices and other organisations which can assist in the management of a condition;

To learn how disorders are inherited and whether they can be diagnosed
pre-natally;

Includes articles on Patterns of Inheritance, Behavioural Phenotypes and Screening to improve your knowledge of rare disorders for yourself or the families you work with;

Since 2004, we have added over 200 pages to the directory without increasing the price.

Also available on the Internet ...

Our award winning website now includes a subscription version of The Contact a Family Directory (which is updated every month).
See:
www.cafamily.org.uk/dirsubs.html
for more details.

... and on CD-ROM

The Contact a Family Directory is also available on CD ROM via a subscription service.

Paperback Version costs £35.00 - 20% discount when buying 6 or more copies.
Contact a Family
209-211 City Road. London
EC1V 1JN
020 7608 8700
www.cafamily.org.uk