ALAS (All Lewisham Autism Support)

Who are we?

What do we do?

• We offer emotional support by listening and sharing our experiences of living with autism
• We give practical help by exchanging ideas about problems we have faced and how we have dealt with them.
• We provide information and advice about appropriate education and specialist services
• We help people see that there is hope and celebrate the successes, large and small which our very special children achieve.
• We are campaigning for additional educational provision locally for children on the autistic spectrum
• We run a dramatherapy group to help foster our children's social understanding.
• We organise outings for our members and their families during school holidays

Meetings

• We meet at 8.00 pm on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Ravensbourne Project, 38 Clarendon Rise, Lewisham SE13 At these meetings we invite a variety of speakers on different aspects of autism.
• Forthcoming meetings - updated February 2002 - important: new venue
• There are also opportunities for parents to meet in a more informal setting
• We have regular family outings during school holidays

Newsletter, bibliography and reviews

• We publish a quarterly newsletter with details of meetings,book reviews, parents' experiences and writing and drawing by some of our young people with autism
• We have also prepared an annotated bibliography of books on autism that we have found helpful
• We have made a collection of book reviews from our newsletter

How to contact us

We can get back to you by email, phone or letter. Alternatively, further contact information is included in our entry on p. 6 of the 'Yellow Book' - Lewisham's guide to services for children with disabilities.

If you are interested in discussing autism issues with particular reference to the situation here in the UK, then join the autism-uk mailing list which is going from strength to strength.

Other online resources

Within the UK

• The National Autistic Society. Information on NAS activities and contact information.
• Autism Research Unit at the University of Sunderland. This site also contains information about Autism-Europe
• Autism-UK web site Aiming to become a comprehensive resource for UK autism information; this site contains very useful guidance for parents new to the condition.
• Autism Initiatives (formerly Liverpool and Lancashire Autistic Society)
• The Somerset Autistic Support Group
• The Surrey Branch of the National Autistic Society has some general information on autism as well as a UK resource page and a local resource page.
• Sheffield Autistic Society
• SPACE in Mainstream a Nottingham-based group for parents of children with ASD in mainstream schools
• Autism Independent UK (formerly The Society for the Autistically Handicapped in Northamptonshire provides information on the TEACCH approach and gives details of courses)
• The Interact Centre A specialist Further Education College and therapy centre for people with social and communication disorders.
• The Strathclyde Autistic Society in Scotland
• The Institute of Psychiatry in London
• The Special Needs Explanatory at Christchurch, Canterbury. A wealth of information on special needs as well as excellent links.
• Special Needs Information from the Department for Education and Employment

Elsewhere in the world

• The autism resources site maintained by John Wobus at the University of Syracuse is a good starting point . There are pointers to many other sites, largely also in the USA.
• The Yale Child Study Centre has an excellent site focusing largely on Asperger Syndrome
• Asperger Syndrome page from Victoria, Australia. Useful information and interesting links.
• Center for the Study of Autism, Oregon, USA. This site provides a very good general overview on autism.
• Autism Europe site - information in French and English
• Autisme France site. Information mainly in French
• Pro Aid Autisme a French association affiliated to the TEACCH programme.
• Papers from the Autism Europe Conference held in Barcelona in 1996. Some excellent material.

Autistic people speak for themselves

• The Autism Picture Page "If people are to have some idea of what autism really is, then perhaps it's up to autistic people and their families to show them."
• Autism Network International is a self-help and advocacy organisation run for and by people with autism.
• Life on a Spectrum
• On the Same Page An enormous collection of useful information and links maintained by a group of people with autism or Asperger Syndrome.
• Wendy Lawson's site
• Asperger Artforms David Nicholas Andrews has Asperger Syndrome. His site contains information on psychology and maths and some tips for helping people with autistic spectrum disorders.
• University students with Autism and Asperger Syndrome