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Welcome to the Summer edition of the BAAG newsletter. Life has been very busy and so has BAAG. Since our last newsletter we’ve had a lot of opportunity for families to meet each other. Besides our regular and well attended thursday mornings and saturday morning get togethers, BAAG has had a lot of interesting events on.
In August many members attended the Positive Partnership Workshops, which provided information for parents on how to support their school-aged child in the education system. These free workshops focused on delivering current information on autism and helping parents develop positive partnerships with their schools. The workshops will probably be held again in Bendigo in 2010. I would encourage anyone who didn't attend this year to set aside time to attend the workshops, if they become available.
BAAG worked with Kerryn Phillips (Key Learning Facilitator) for three months after the workshops to continue to support families. We concluded this period with two education forums in November at B-Central. We are now collating information on how BAAG can continue to support families struggling with the education system.
Part of the follow up support we have provided has been to obtain a grant from Australia Post to purchase $1,000 of educational supports. Families can view this material at Wallace Ave and at a 'Supporting ASD Kids in Schools Workshop' in February. Information about this can be found under 'Forthcoming Events' listed on the left under NAVIGATION.
In September we had a bowling day in which about 30 people attended. It was encouraging to have a lot of Dads bowl with their children and meet other Dads.
The Lion's Club Magic Show occurred in October and about 40 of our members thoroughly enjoyed this fun filled night.
Recognising that some families find it difficult to rock up to a centre when they don't know anyone, BAAG decided to hold an OPEN HOUSE in October. The weather was perfect. So we threw a few sausages on the BBQ and the people kept coming! We had a lot of new faces and some not so new faces and Holly was happy to paint them! We hope that once people have come to the house they will feel free to come back when they need to connect with others and share information on ways to handle challenging behaviours! In November we held drama classes for kids with an ASD and a separate class for siblings. Lara Pearce ran these sessions from 'The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy' with funds from Metricon Homes. It was immensely successful as siblings learnt they were not alone in learning how to manage living with kids with an ASD. While the ASD kids just lapped up the opportunity to legitimately act out!!!!! At the end of November we had our annual family day at the Discovery Centre. This was paid for through a generous donation from Travelcentre Bendigo. It was such a hot day that I wasn't sure many families would turn up, but they did. We had around 70 people happily sitting in the planetarium and jumping off the vertical slide. The kids were in their element and so well behaved. We also had the priviledge of welcoming a few young men with an ASD into BAAG which was very exciting.
Christmas is nearly upon us, so on behalf of the committee I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
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SUMMER Dec 2009 |