Starbucks OCO Westend High Street

At Perth Autism Support we support children and young people up to the age of 18 who have a diagnosis of autism, who are awaiting assessment for autism or have a diagnosed sensory processing disorder or social communication difficulty. We are conscious that a diagnosis of autism doesn't just affect the individual but the whole support network of that child/young person we therefore provide full family support to include parent/carer support, sibling support and extended family support. Our activity program allows children who have a diagnosis of autism access activities that their peers enjoy in a supported environment. We have clear lessons plans for all our activities, which are set up to accommodate the different sensory, communication and social difficulties that children with autism can often face. The activities are all focused on skills development in a fun way with staff supporting natural conversation and encouraging peer friendships. The activities which we offer include; Video game programming, youth theatre, motor skills, Lego Therapy, karate, cookery class, sensory play, multi-sports, social groups, football, Zumba Kids, Relax Kids/Chill Skills, chess club and horse riding. Our term time activities run Monday to Friday from 4.00pm and on a Saturday from 10.00am to 3.30pm. We currently support 250 children each week within our term time activities in classes that are supported on a 2:1 child to adult ratio. Our staff and volunteers are all autism trained and keep their CPD up to date in line with the organisation's training policies. We currently support children weekly in our centre in Perth and we are aware that the large geographical area our Local Authority covers, can be a barrier to children and families accessing services in our centre in Perth City. The impact of travelling, for example, from Highland Perthshire after a day at school for an hour activity in Perth then having the journey home, can break routines at home, be time consuming and expensive for families. We are therefore delighted that we offer services not only from our base in Perth but in Pitlochry, Kinross Blairgowrie and Crieff. We aim to support as many children as possible in Perth and Kinross and give them a place to feel included, to build their confidence, develop their skill set and give them the support that they need.