We seek to support Autistic people and their families
We have absolutely loved joining with ARCOS to run two Holiday Clubs over Easter. There were many different activities and games. It was incredible to see the young people develop over the week and go from being shy to displaying such confidence.
If you are interested in joining for our May Half Term or Summer Holiday Clubs, please get in contact ruth@skyautismsupport.com
Not only does Sky provide support for autistic individuals but also for their families. One of the ways we do this is through our regular Parents’ Evenings. The most recent of these was last Thursday.
We had the pleasure of welcoming three new families and two regulars. There was time to share current situations, enabling people to open up and be honest with their emotions, supporting one another through this. There were also amazing success stories shared, helping others see that there is light.
SKY’s founder, Simon, shared some insights into the evening’s guest speaker:
Our speaker, James, who is a SENCO at a local secondary school sketched us in on the background as to why EHCP‘s are causing such stress for parents and teachers. We were very interested to hear that because the state is spending so much money on the EHCP‘s there is little money available for schools to provide extra support to children who have not got a EHCP. This then becomes a vicious circle as parents think that they will not get any help for their children without the EHCP and so rancour and bad feeling persists. The current system isn’t working- as we follow a policy of inclusion- and there are very few special schools to meet the demand.
It is an honour to try and sit alongside these hurting families. SKY does its best to support. Its so hard for many parents
With best wishes
Simon
Want more information or would like to join us next time? We would love to welcome you!
Email: ruth@skyautismsupport.com
A few weeks ago, the lovely Harriet from Autism West Midlands visit us at the 18+ group. She got thoroughly involved in the evening and met many of the staff and members.
Autism West Midlands supports autistic adults, children and young people and those who support them. Their vision and mission is to create a society that supports, accepts and helps autistic people to reach their full potential.
Within Herefordshire and Worcestershire, 1:1 and group sessions are avaliable.
The 1:1 support provides 4 sessions to work on a difficulty related to living with autism.
The group sessions run over a six week course called “Autism Confident” which gives an understanding of how to live well with autism.
This support is funded by the NHS.
Website: Autism West Midlands
Email: herefandworcs@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
Phone: 01905 671953 or 01432 801687
Helpline: 0121 450 7575 (Mon- Fri 9-5)
10-17’s update: – Social Lifeskills Session
This week the group arrived to a special session, with our tables covered in plain paper. We watched a video called “Words That Hurt”, before encouraging our young people to have some healthy conversations about words they have heard that are not nice, bullying, and even how sometimes we can say mean things ourselves without meaning to!!
Once all these mean words (and describing pictures) were all on the paper, we then >>>> RIPPED IT UP!!! This was quite therapeutic for our young people!
A touching point was when one of our intelligent youth queried “Can we not look at how to be positive and kind instead?”, which set up our next activity beautifully.
We then did “Cards of Encouragement” for one another, filling cards with kind thoughts and encouragements for each other, resulting in some beautiful words and joy around the table. 
If you are interested in your child coming to the group, or if you would like to volunteer some time, please email ruth@skyautismsupport.com
Current vacancies: –
Job Title: Co-lead – Sessional Youth Worker
Please email ruth.skyautism@gmail.com for further information
