meet with other families who have adolescent children with autism, to share • experiences learn more about the developmental stages of adolescence and the changes • it brings in physical, cognitive and social/personality development in a young person learn more about understanding and managing social, emotional and • behavioural problems that adolescents with autism may be experiencing find out about evidence-based interventions • learn about wider support services • increase awareness of how to support the development of functional • skills in a range of areas, such as communication, self-management and social interaction. The first programmes started in October 2013 in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. Delivery in other regions is scheduled from December 2013 and 2014. The IDEA Specialist Services team comprises health and disability professionals from a range of backgrounds, including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, special education and speech and language therapy. Families/caregivers may or professionals may refer on behalf of families with their permission. Please refer to the IDEA website for more information at: www.ihc.org.nz/our-services/idea-specialist-services-asd-services Environmental Support Services Sue Primrose, Development Manager, Service Access Team Equipment and Modification Services Prioritisation Tool DSS Consumer Consortium members were updated about the Prioritisation Tool Project at their October meeting. An information sheet, outlining the prioritisation process and what it means for disabled people, has been prepared for those who may benefit from equipment or modifications. The information sheet will be given to people by the Equipment and Modification Services (EMS) assessor at the time of their assessment. Consortium members were invited to provide feedback about the sheet. The web-based system that EMS assessors will use for completing the prioritisation tool is progressing well. It will be ready for testing by their working group in November. An EMS assessor, who is blind, is working with Enigma – the developers of the web-based system to assess the functionality required to – make the tool accessible for all EMS assessors who are blind. Further progress has been made on the EMS assessor online-training resource. The resource is expected to be ready for testing by the working group in The Ministry project team was very grateful to three disabled people and their families and whānau from the Wellington area for allowing their photographs to be used as part of the online resource. A consumer consortium
• meet with other families who have adolescent children with autism, to share experiences • learn more about the developmental stages of adolescence and the changes it brings in physical, cognitive and social/personality development in a young person • learn more about understanding and managing social, emotional and behavioural problems that adolescents with autism may be experiencing • find out about evidence-based interventions • learn about wider support services • increase awareness of how to support the development of functional skills in a range of areas, such as communication, self-management and social interaction. The first programmes started in October 2013 in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. Delivery in other regions is scheduled from December 2013 and 2014. The IDEA Specialist Services team comprises health and disability professionals from a range of backgrounds, including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, special education and speech and language therapy. Families/caregivers may or professionals may refer on behalf of families with their permission. Please refer to the IDEA website for more information at: www.ihc.org.nz/our-services/idea-specialist-services-asd-services Environmental Support Services Sue Primrose, Development Manager, Service Access Team Equipment and Modification Services Prioritisation Tool DSS Consumer Consortium members were updated about the Prioritisation Tool Project at their October meeting. An information sheet, outlining the prioritisation process and what it means for disabled people, has been prepared for those who may benefit from equipment or modifications. The information sheet will be given to people by the Equipment and Modification Services (EMS) assessor at the time of their assessment. Consortium members were invited to provide feedback about the sheet. The web-based system that EMS assessors will use for completing the prioritisation tool is progressing well. It will be ready for testing by their working group in November. An EMS assessor, who is blind, is working with Enigma – the developers of the web-based system – to assess the functionality required to make the tool accessible for all EMS assessors who are blind. Further progress has been made on the EMS assessor online-training resource. The resource is expected to be ready for testing by the working group in The Ministry project team was very grateful to three disabled people and their families and whānau from the Wellington area for allowing their photographs to be used as part of the online resource. A consumer consortium
disability-support-services-newsletter-nov13.docx