Minute of Committee Meeting Held on Wednesday 19Th March 2014, 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead
Autism Argyll
Minute of committee meeting held on Wednesday 19th March 2014, 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead.
Present: Alison Leask, Jim Curnyn, Alison McQuade, Sheila Campbell & Maureen Mackintosh.
Apologies: Alison Hay, Gina Stewart, Lorna Davidson,
Absent: Anna Cryans, Heather Chaplin, Fiona El Taweel
Alison welcomed everyone to the meeting. Once again, the meeting was not quorate and any decisions would need to be ratified at the next meeting.
Treasurer’sreport: The fixed term deposit has been set up with £60 000. This means our current bank balance will be around £20 000 which should be more than plenty for us to run for a year. Maureen also reported that we’d have two donations, one from Ardrishaig Craft Club who support us every year and one from Argyll Trefoil Guild. A book had been purchased with some of the Trefoil Guild’s money and Maureen had made a frontispiece for the book.
A new printer has been bought and Anne Lavelle came to install it.
Coordinator’s report: Maureen presented her report.
Website & Newsletter: The website was updated for April and May and a newsletter produced at the end of March.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to continue to update website and produce a newsletter.
Awareness Talks: Maureen had given an autism awareness presentation to staff at Lochgilphead Resource Centre on 24th April. There were only 7 people attending but it had been well received. We have since received requests for awareness talks from Fyne Homes, Dunoon School Hostel and Argyll & Bute Social Work. Discussions are ongoing as to when and where these will take place. Maureen mentioned an excellent online awareness raising resource which has been developed by ARC in Glasgow. This will be added to our website and Maureen agreed to e-mail it to the committee.
Achievement Bute Autism Project:There has been no information from this group for a while although it was thought some of the members had attended the Tony Attwood conference. ACTION POINT: Maureen to remain involved and to report back to the committee.
New Helensburgh Group: A new support group has been formed by mums in Helensburgh. Called Helensburgh and Lomond Autism and Aspergers Society, it is organising coffee mornings and soft play sessions and also has a facebook page. The contact is a mum Angela Beggs who has recently moved to Luss.
Knowledge Share event: Scottish Autism held their final Knowledge Share event in Lochgilphead on 25th March. Once again, it was well attended and feedback positive.
General duties: mail, e-mail, writing up of minutes/reports, maintaining records and dealing with enquiries. There have been 13 enquiries to the Autism Argyll office since the last committee meeting, quite an increase on the 5 recorded at the last meeting. Maureen reported that one enquiry had come from a PE teacher in America who had been interested the PE resource we have on our website.
Chair’s Report: Alison presented her report.
Argyll & Bute Autism Strategy Group: Alan Somerville (Chief Executive) and Charlene Tait (Director of Development) from Scottish Autism have written the Argyll and Bute Strategy and presented it at a meeting on 25th March. A further meeting was held to discuss it in more depth and a final version has now gone to the various committees in the council for approval.
The adult subgroup which Alison chairs continues to meet regularly. A meeting of interested professionals was held on the 25th March to discuss how to develop an adult diagnostic pathway. This was a positive event and lots of ideas were forthcoming. The next stage is for a business plan to be put together.
ACTION POINT:Alison and Maureen to continue to attend the Strategy Group meetings and report back. The next meeting will be on the 19th May.
MAKI (Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islay) Locality plan: Autism Argyll had been sent a copy of the draft MAKI Locality plan for comment. There were a number of errors and points for discussion. Amongst other goals, the plan was to develop a multi agency pathway for autism diagnosis. That was interesting given there's been one in existence for a good few years andit mentioned a group called Autism Scotland which doesn't exist. Alison has provided feedback and has spoken to Brian Reid who chairs the group which wrote the plan. A meeting has been arranged with him for Friday 9th May to discuss issues further. A copy of the plan was tabled and will be e-mailed to our committee members. A copy of Argyll & Bute’s Children’s Integrated Services Plan was also tabled and will be sent to committee members. There followed a discussion about the lack of communication between various within the council and the need for the council’s strategies to be complementary.
Scottish Autism Parent Conference: Alison and Maureen will attend this on 7th May at New Straun. There will be various speakers and a performance of “The Tree and the Abbey” by service users and staff from the Fife area.
Menu of Interventions Event: An event on the Menu of Interventions will take place in Glasgow on 8th May and Alison and Maureen will attend. Delegates will have a chance to practise using the menu and to discuss how it can be incorporated into their practice.
Development of Post Diagnostic Advisor (Get Set 4 Autism):
This is still ongoing and the second stage application is very near completion. Alison and Maureen hope to have a short discussion with Charlene at the Scottish Autism event tomorrow and this stage should be completed and sent to the Big Lottery by mid May.
ACTION POINT: Maureen and Alison to continue working with Scottish Autism in the development of the project.
AOCB: Alison McQ had attended the Contact a Family event in Oban regarding Guardianship and Power of Attorney which she said had been very interesting. There followed a discussion about the differences between guardianship and power of attorney and what is best for those families with someone on the autism spectrum.
Alison McQ had attended a conference in Clydebank on 2nd May. The speakers were Tony Attwood, Wendy Lawson and Michelle Garnett and Alison said she had found it interesting and Wendy Lawson’s talk on education to be very positive. Maureen reported that another two parents had e-mailed to say they had also enjoyed the event and to thank Autism Argyll for supporting them to attend. The money for this had come from the Big Lottery overspend.
Date of next meeting: TBA