Autism in a time of pandemic – a series of webinars from the Middletown Centre for Autism
Here is a message from Gary Cooper CEO of The Middletown Centre for Autism with information about the excellent series of webinars – on line seminars – available during May.
I am delighted to launch the next series of Middletown Centre for Autism’s webinars. Many of the topics covered in these sessions have been suggested by those of you who have been following our previous sessions. The feedback has been excellent and the Centre staff greatly appreciate the positive feedback that has been received. I trust that you will continue to make use of the next series of webinars and pass the details on to those who may be interested. I trust that you are all keeping well in these challenging times and that you and your family will remain safe.
Middletown Centre Webinar Series May 2020
In order to provide support during the suspension of our face to face delivery Middletown is offering a series of twice weekly live webinars. These sessions will feature members of our own multi-disciplinary team and international speakers on a series of themes.
Please click on the link beside each name to read more about the session and register to attend a live session.
Stephen Shore –
Being Autistic in a Time of Uncertainty
Tuesday 5th May 2020 – 19:00
Adam Harris
What Works for Me
Thursday 7th May 2020 – 19:00
Frances O’Neill
Visual Supports for Anxiety Management
Tuesday 12th May 2020 – 19:00
Kari Dunn Buron
5-Point Scale
Thursday 14th May 2020 – 19:00
Tara Vernon
Promoting Sleep
Thursday 19th May 2020 – 19:00
Jed Baker
Managing Meltdowns
Tuesday 21st May 2020 – 19:00
Tony Attwood
Stress and Coping
Thursday 28th May 2020 – 10:00am **Live Only Session**
The live sessions will host a maximum of 500 delegates live and most sessions will be posted on social media the following day. Sessions marked ‘live only’ will not. Please consider the maximum number of places available when booking your placce.
Dear Service User,
The Centre’s current programme of online provision will complete on 9 June. We now want to ask what do you need from us over the summer months? Completing the survey below will allow us to tailor our summer programme to the needs of our service users. Thank you in advance for your support.
By clicking on the link below, you are consenting to take part in this short survey. No personal data will be collected or stored. All data is confidential and only used to guide our service delivery during this unprecedented time.
Home Learning Surveyhttps://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XYMXGDX
Thank you for your continued support of Middletown Centre for Autism, and for your time in completing this survey.
Have you signed up to our VLE yet? This is online learning at your finger tips, please follow the link below to sign up please note this is a different sign in than the Middletownautism website. Users must register separately to this platform as it is different from our current website and manually enroll on each course.
VLE https://vle.middletownautism.com/
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Safer Internet Day takes place next Tuesday, 7th February 2023. Sadly more than 1 in 4 young people in Ireland have experienced cyberbullying, yet only 60% of victims tell their parents. As teenagers and children spend more time on the internet, ensuring it's a safe space is ever more important. To encourage conversation about life online and help parents keep their children safe, I'd like to share a free resource created by Switcher.ie. It's a comprehensive guide which includes things like:
I thought it may be useful to share the link to the guide - https://switcher.ie/broadband/guides/how-to-keep-your-children-safe-online/ - which you can include on your website ahead of Safer Internet Day, to help parents and children who may need some extra support. We've also put together some handy top tips you can use on your website: 10 tips to keep your children safe online
- How to reduce the risks online
- How to recognise cyber bullying and grooming
- How to educate children on cyber safety
- How to set up parental controls on devices
- Talk about it:Make time to chat about online risks and how to use the internet safelyas soon as they're old enough to go online. Encourage your children to speak to you about what they view online and empower them to act if they're worried about anything.
- Recognise the risks: Educate yourself about the potential dangers children could face online so it’s easier to spot warning signs. Get to know what platforms your children use, and learn about dangers such as phishing, grooming and cyberbullying.
- Teach the do's and don'ts: Be clear about the non-negotiables. For example, teach your child not to share personal details or photos with strangers and instruct them not to click on links to unknown websites or texts. Do encourage your child to question what they see and only accept friend requests from people they know.
- Spot the signs: Pay attention to your children's behaviour whilst on and off their devices. Being alert to changes in your child can help prevent problems from escalating. Some warning signs are withdrawing from friends or family, sleeping and eating problems or losing interest in previously loved hobbies or interests.
- Set boundaries:Let your children know what they can and can't do on the internet from the get-go. Agree on what devices they can use, when, and how long they can spend online. As they get older, explaining and negotiating boundaries may be more effective.
- Take 'parental' control: These ready-made boundaries put parents in control of what children can see online. They can be set up through your internet provider at device level to block specific websites and filter out inappropriate content.
- Be social media savvy: The popularity of social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat makes it harder to keep track of what your child is accessing online. Fortunately, each social media platform has its own privacy settings and safety tips for parents. Check them out before you let children have their own accounts.
- Protect from harm:Install antivirus software on family devices to minimise the risk of cyber attacks or scams. Use two-factor authentication (2FA) for extra security on your online accounts. This can also stop children from signing into services they're not allowed to use.
- Set a great example: You're the greatest 'influencer' in your children's lives when they're young. Limiting your time online, discussing dangers you've come across, and questioning what you view can help reinforce the rules you are setting for your children and, in turn, influence their online behaviour.
- Seek support:The more you learn about online dangers, the better equipped you'll be to handle them. There are some great resources like webwise.ie, internetmatters.organd cybersafekids.ie to help you recognise and reduce online dangers and seek advice if you think your child is experiencing cyberbullying or is at risk online.
Short videos on the Importance of Play have recently launched which was a collaboration between North Central CFSN and Lifestart Services. Volume 1 https://youtu.be/xl2F2vZXhbg Volume 2 https://youtu.be/OOy4lmWggtM Volume 3 https://youtu.be/tmv40--l7fA Volume 4 https://youtu.be/Wr9bfTWddts Volume 5 https://youtu.be/7HLkBXvVTFE Volume 6 https://youtu.be/NuUXb51qZY0
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week runs from June 13th-19th.
This week provides an opportunity to focus attention on the wellbeing, social and emotional development of our babies and young children. It highlights the importance of early relationships and a relationship based approach to interventions with infants and families. As our understanding of IMH and its evidence base develops, so also does our knowledge of how to apply this knowledge and an ‘IMH lens’ to interactions with infants, parents and caregivers in health and social services.
What is infant mental health?
Infant Mental health (IMH) refers to the healthy social and emotional development of Infants starting at conception up to three years of age.
The first 1000 days of life are recognised as a critical period of opportunity to support infant mental health. Decades of research have shown that it is the quality of the early caregiver relationship that is a significant determinant of the infant’s healthy social and emotional development and in turn physical health, right up to adulthood.
The National Healthy Childhood Programme has embedded IMH as the foundation of the development of its resources and in the approach of the delivery of the universal child health service. This embedding of key messages can be seen in the My Child suite of books (www.mychild.ie/books) and also on www.MyChild.ie where key messages around bonding and relationship building have been embedded for the parent/caregiver.
In clinical practice the topic of IMH has been included for the first time in the National Standardised Child Health Record. To build on this, the National Healthy Childhood Programme have just completed a suite of three eLearning units which are now available on HSEland for healthcare practitioners / caregivers who are working with children and families.
Throughout the week you will see videos and key IMH messaging being promoted on the HSE MyChild social media pages ( Facebook / Instagram ). Keep an eye out in the National Newspapers for articles from our experts also. (IrishTimes article)
In addition The National Healthy Childhood Programme have developed a series of ten practical videos with HSE expert advice which are now available on YouTube and on the relevant pages on the www.mychild.ie website.
These videos (2-3 minutes each) are aimed at parents/guardians of children (0 – 3 years).
These new video resources are available here while lots more expert advice for every step of pregnancy, baby and toddler health can also be found at www.mychild.ie
There are a suite of posters available focusing on the promotion of IMH messaging to order from healthy.childhood@hse.ie