2007 February

Helping to run BAPG (a plea!)

Newsletter Issues

January - Parents Meeting

Specialist Help available through BAPG

Christmas Events for the Kids.

BAPG Accounts for 2005/06

February Parents Meeting

BAPG's new email address

NAS Help! Programme

Future Meetings and Events

Helping to run BAPG (a plea!)

BAPG has done really well since it started almost three years ago. It provides a place for parents to talk, get support, and share ideas and information. Our regular clubs and trips out gives the kids a chance to socialise and make friends, which they would not otherwise have. We've also been able to offer support to individual families.
All the work of organising BAPG is done by parents and supporters volunteering some of their time. But the effort needed has increased as BAPG has grown - and it will increase further if BAPG becomes a charity (see below). BAPG is at risk if it remains dependent on just a few parents volunteering their time.
We desperately need your help to spread the load, and even to expand our activities. Can you volunteer some time to help BAPG? Anything would be a great - particularly if you can commit a small amount of time each month to help with a regular task. We need help with:
· This newsletter - could you collate and edit articles ready to send out in this form every month or two?
· Kids events - a new sub-committee is being set up to organise more events during the year. They meet in the evening and would welcome new helpers. Could you help out?
· Charity status - we're forming a new sub-committee looking into the issues involved. Do you have any knowledge or experience of the issues involved that could help the group? Even if you don't we'd welcome your help!
· Steering Committee Members - we've met in the daytime to date, but could meet in the evening if more helpful. We need more parents to get involved to help with the many small actions that have to be done. We keep the meetings short, and just volunteer for what we want to do - no one is ever pressured to do more than they're comfortable with.
· Committee Secretary - can you attend the Steering Committee Meetings, look after the agenda and produce the minutes (usually a couple of pages)
· Refreshments (for Kids Clubs and Parents Meetings) ? if you attend most meetings, and especially if your child wants to come to one of the clubs, then could you look after the refreshments box? It needs topping up each month with milk, soft drinks, snacks etc. (for which you'd be reimbursed of course). If you couldn't come one month, no problem we'd arrange to hand-over the box to someone else.
· Publicity - it would be great to raise the profile of BAPG and AS in the local area, e.g. posters to advertise the group, letters to the paper (about our achievements or about things that concern us), contacts with local professionals/organisations etc.
· Library - could you keep the Library box between meetings? Order the new books we need; keep a check on the existing ones.
If you would like to help (even if you're not sure how exactly!) then please call James on 790650.

Our future depends on your help Back to top

Newsletter Issues

This is our first newsletter since Dec06. Although we'd like to issue them more frequently, limits to the current Editor's time means that in future they'll be issued every couple of months. Back to top

January - Parents Meeting

January's guest speaker was Sarah Wike of the Barnsley Parent Partnership Service. Sarah gave a very interesting perspective into how the education system should be better at supporting children with special needs, and described the range of support her team can offer families. In particular she stressed how the needs of individual families vary widely - from just needing a leaflet, to needing an Independent Parental Supporter to go with them to school meetings etc. Back to top

Specialist Help available through BAPG

· Sue Oliver, Steering Committee member and Senior Welfare Rights Officer with BMBC can provide advice and support about Disability Living Allowance and other entitlements. Claiming DLA can be daunting and completing the application so that it shows sufficient evidence of the child's needs can be difficult. Sue has a lot of experience with DLA, and she has helped a number of BAPG families to make successful claims. She may be found at most Parents Meetings or on 772414.
· Dr Andrew Charters and Ruth Coppard are local health professionals with particular interest in AS, and helped set up BAPG. They regularly attend our Parents Meetings and are always willing to talk to parents individually about any issues they have - it's a great chance to have a quick word, particularly if it's a long wait until your next professional appointment.
And from the March Parents Meeting onwards:
· Diane Stoner, Steering Committee member, a trained Independent Parental Supporter with Parent Partnership and a SEN Link Governor will be available from 6:00pm to answer your questions about SEN and Education. This too is a great chance to get some quick advice and to find out if your child's school could be doing more. Many thanks to Diane for offering to do this for the group. Back to top

Christmas Events for the Kids.

Our two Christmas Events went really well.
Thirty children had a great time at a private booking at Playmania in Elsecar for the younger kids. Another 30 kids and parents went to Laserzone at Xscape, Castleford in the New Year. The kids coped amazingly well with all the flashing lights, smoke, booming music and dashing around! Most then went on to enjoy an Indian buffet with other parents and siblings. Several parents said how pleased they were that their children had taken part in activities usually impossible for them.
It was fantastic to see how much fun the kids with AS had, and how much they enjoyed socialising with other children. At Laserzone they very excitedly tried to organise three teams - AS kids vs. Siblings vs. Parents! I'm not quite sure what this proves, but it's great to see them happy, having something in common, and feeling part of a group.
Could you help organise more trips like this? We need your help! Back to top

BAPG Accounts for 2005/06

BAPG spends the income it receives from donations and grants on its activities. Finances are maintained by the Steering Committee, and can provide full detailed accounts to any member on request. Below is a summary of the second full year (March 2005 to Feb 2006).
· We brought forward £1208.74 from 2004-05 and we ended the year with £681.77
· Total income was £522.64 - grant of £100 from Barnsley Building Society; £247 donations for the 2006 Calendar; the balance donated by parents (mainly at meetings for refreshments, book loans etc).
· We spent £1,121.61 - the main costs were:- £536.38 room hire for parents meetings/kids club; £363.50 on books for our library; £87.74 postage for the ASD packs; £61.98 in prizes for the kids- Logo and Calendar competitions
The current financial year (ending 28 Feb 2007) has seen a big increase in BAPG?s income and expenditure (mostly due to the expanded kids clubs). This means:
· We've improved the way we track our finances to give (1) the Steering Committee a better view of the position each month, and (2) to help us publish our accounts closer to our year end.
Due to the increases in income, we now have to make a decision. Legally we must either register as a charity or affiliate with the NAS. Alternatively, we can simply reduce our activities to stay below the thresholds. In the past parents have preferred the charity option. The Steering Committee will consider this soon. Back to top

February Parents Meeting

This month we discussed ideas we've tried to help our kids that have worked! Of course, every child with AS is different, so not all ideas will work with every child ? but it was great to hear so many positive experiences. Some ideas we managed to record were:
· Using a lemon spray to help a child with eating problems. The lemon masks problem smells from food and cooking, and also has become a trigger to encourage eating.
· Using a kitchen timer to mark the start or end of an activity. Once the child gets used to it, it can avoid difficult emotional responses, e.g. from being -nagged" by parent to start homework, or to let a sibling have a turn with something.
· Regular times for routine tasks, e.g. bath at the same time each night, set homework time (start and end);
· Calendar (with velcro symbols) - once the child was used to it, then if something's on the calendar then it's accepted even if not liked!
· Home hairdressing is used by most families (as it's much more predictable for the child). In a shop, try booking the first/last appointment when it's quiet, or having a parent & child haircut at same time (a race!).
· Shopping ideas - give your child a job to do (e.g. push the trolley, have his own list of items to find); be clear about which shops you're going to (what you plan to buy) and whether you're "buying" or "looking".
· Give the AS child a bit of responsibility with younger sibling, e.g. getting a drink/snack, entertaining them with a game (and then praise them for job well done).
· Change the family lifestyle to create more time/space for parents to help the child.
· Stress ball or similar. Back to top

BAPG's new email address

InfoBAPG@yahoo.co.uk
Please add this to your address book (to make sure emails from BAPG aren't caught by your spam filter). Back to top

NAS Help! Programme

There is a one-day course being run in Sheffield, March 7th. Call Marie Russell 0191 2263621 or Wendy I'Anson 0191 2263616 to book a place.
And also ... there's a 6 session Help! programme in Huddersfield starting March 12th. Call Clare or Dave on - 0161 946 1193 for more details. Back to top

Future Meetings and Events

Parents Meeting, Kids Computer and Art Clubs (please book with Diane): Priory Campus, Lundwood, Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8:00pm
- 21 March (Guest Speaker, Jan Stewart SENCO talking about Transition to Secondary School),
- 18 April (Guest Speaker, Sarah Adam Dietician),
- 16 May (Guest Speaker, Bryn Tales, Secondary School Learning Mentor),
- 20 June, 18 July, 19 Sept., 17 Oct., 14 Nov., and 5 Dec. Back to top