Partners in Autism is awarded over £8000 from the People's Postcode Lottery
09 December 2009
Partners in Autism made an application to the People's Postcode Trust and was awarded £8616.
Partners in Autism is a joint venture between Turning Point Scotland, the Activity Resource Centre and Building Healthy Communities. Based in Newton Stewart the service supports both young people in transition and adults who are on the autistic spectrum. The support offered includes life skills, training in IT, social skills, communication skills, sexual health advice, domestic skills, shared learning along with a newsletter and a help line facility.
The service is constantly looking for innovative ways by which to engage with and maintain the interest of young people aged 16-30. One proven method is through the medium of music and a group of people had expressed an interest in learning to compose and record music both for their own enjoyment and to be part of a band that they hoped to form.
Partners in Autism made an application to the People's Postcode Trust for a grant to purchase specific instruments and to pay for the required tuition. This application was successful and the service was awarded £8618 to be used for that purpose.
Turning Point Scotland and Partners in Autism are extremely grateful to the People's Postcode Trust for their support of this service which will be beneficial to the people we support in the form of relaxation, learning and personal development. It is also an essential form of communication especially for people on the spectrum who find social interaction difficult. We would expect people who engage with this service to develop musically, emotionally and as individuals, with a marked increase in their confidence, their interaction skills and their ability to communicate, including the picking up of non-verbal cues which so many of us take for granted.
Increased confidence will transform other areas of their lives, giving them a sense of real achievement. While learning to compose and record music they will also learn to work collaboratively with one another to achieve a shared goal.
