The National Autism Team’s Annual Report 2018/19 has been published today, showing the breadth of the work completed throughout Wales.
Formerly named the National ASD Development Team, the National Autism Team has undertaken a range of work programmes to help raise awareness and understanding of autism and support autistic people and their families and carers. The Team is funded by Welsh Government, hosted by WLGA and works in close partnership with Public Health Wales.
Amongst the report highlights are:
- 62% increase in visits to the www.asdinfowales.co.uk website, which is managed by the Team.
- All seven Integrated Autism Services (IASs) are now established across Wales, which are being developed to help meet the needs of autistic individuals and groups locally.
- The Learning with Autism awareness programmes for children continue to be a success; a total of 45 Early Years settings have received their awards, and a total of more than 40,000 children across primary and secondary school settings have completed the programme.
- Writing an Autism Guide for practitioners within housing and homelessness services, co-produced with autistic advisors, Housing professionals, and colleagues who work with autistic people across Wales. The guide is expected to be published in July.
Also featuring in the report is the success of ‘The Birthday Party’ film – a collaboration with the Welsh Autism Research Centre (WARC) to raise front-line professionals’ awareness of the signs of autism – which recently received an award at Cardiff University’s Innovation and Impact Awards.
Reflecting on another busy and successful year for the Team, Councillor Huw David (Bridgend), WLGA Spokesperson for Health and Social Care said:
“I would like to thank Welsh Government for the core funding to support the successful implementation of the National ASD Refreshed Strategic Action Plan and associated Delivery Plan, which includes the production of the Annual Report.
“I am particularly pleased to see the breadth of case studies included in the annual report, which provide some real and practical insight into the work of the ASD Leads across local authorities and the impact of Integrated Autism Services, as they become established.”
“This annual report provides an opportunity for the team to reflect, with partners and stakeholders, on the work undertaken across Wales to improve the lives of autistic people.”
Dr Tracey Cooper, Chief Executive of Public Health Wales, said:
“This annual report marks a considerable amount of partnership working across public services and a strong emphasis on engagement with autistic people and their parents or carers.
“The team continues to work in partnership to produce high quality resources in digital and more traditional formats, as well as producing valuable training materials which are further highlighted. Use of the www.ASDinfoWales.co.uk website increased significantly in the past year and a steady growth in autism awareness is a further positive step towards increased understanding.”
“I am delighted to highlight the commitment made between the team’s two host organisations – Public Health Wales and the WLGA in the form of a formal Memorandum of Understanding to underline our joint intention to work more effectively together for the benefit of autistic people and their parents and carers.”
