Through support from senior management, the staff team provides a structured programme of after-school leisure activities which cater for all individual needs and wants.
We also promote independent living skills such as laundering clothes, cooking, shopping and other household chores. These skills are taught and supported by the staff team.
The Cottage aims to provide social skill training for each student alongside enhancing language skills. Students have an individualised timetable for each evening where group activities are undertaken alongside leisure and living skills. Staff help with task orientation. With the correct level of support, students are encouraged to interact with one another. Students are aided in learning how to approach and initiate friendships and to gain peer skills. This can be through sharing and understanding the importance of socialising.
The Cottage comprises of five bedrooms, with three upstairs and two downstairs. One has an en-suite and the other four share two bathrooms and a separate toilet.
The Cottage has a homely feel and boasts a large garden where students can enjoy BBQs, group activities and a large paddling pool during the summer.
Downstairs, students can either relax in the large lounge watching videos or taking part in the many activities staff have arranged. If they wish to spend time alone they can either go to their bedrooms or make use of the dining room which contains a TV, Playstation and many board games.
The Cottage is situated near a local shopping centre which enables students to carry out independent living skills. It also has a large green with a park which is accessible for all the students.
Outside term time many activities would be offered to the students. These would centre on participation from the entire group, but we also would ensure that individual needs are met.
Outdoor activities may include: swimming, picnics, cinema, trips to the beach, parks and museums, going to the circus, playing sports such as cricket and ball games, bowling and treasure hunts. We believe community based outings would help our students with social manners through stimulation. There are many attractions close by which could provide Day Trips such as: Monkey World, Longleat, Paultons Park, Lego Land, Seaworld, Planetarium and Wax Works.
A small example of which indoor activities may be included are: artwork, cooking, pottery, bingo, board games, dancing, exercise and music.
If we were to take students on holiday, the venue would be rigorously checked
that it could cater for all our students' needs and one that they would all enjoy.
All activities would be supported by competent staff including accessing transport such as trains, ferries and buses.
The Cottage currently has six members of staff with one Team Leader. We are at present waiting for another full time member of staff to join us. The entire staff team is overseen by the Unit Manager who also assists and supports all students.
All staff are fully trained in autism and are knowledgeable in the triad of impairments and aim to help all students to overcome problems with Communication, Socialisation and Flexibility of Thought.
For most of us, cognitive processes are the way we come to know the world around us. How we attain, retain and regain information is through the processes of: perception, attention, memory, problem solving, language and thinking. We understand that people with autism may have serious deficiencies in their abilities to Mindread and that this might account for their social difficulties. Children with a diagnosis of ASD lack a theory of mind and suffer from a specific form of the inability to perceive mental states in themselves and others. By specific we mean their difficulty is not related to their general intelligence or language levels. It also refers to the fact that the child can perform non-social tasks involving reasoning and logic at a level appropriate for their measured intelligence. A child on the autistic spectrum may withdraw from the social world because it is too confusing without mind reading ability.
As a staff team we support our students by having a good level of understanding of autism and through this we can meet each individuals needs. |
