Teesside's kids clubs urged not to exclude autistic children this summer

Half of parents with autistic children have been turned away from clubs and sports because they "can't cope" with their children.

Middlesbrough’s Anna Kennedy, OBE, first began looking for autism friendly education and activities for 2 of her sons, she’s since set up schools and charities to help families cope.

Anna put out a survey to parents of autistic children, which revealed the following results, from her website;

She’s calling on Teesside’s clubs and societies not to turn away kids with autism, as it can be really beneficial to their development;

“Autism is a social interaction, a communication difficulty, so our children with autism really need these clubs, whether they’re performing arts clubs, whether they’re sports clubs,

“And parents, especially now, coming up to the summer holidays, are always looking for something so their children can interact with other children.”

She tells us it does not need to be a huge issue, if organisers speak to the parents beforehand they can find the best way to let children participate without getting distressed or withdrawn.

Anna is patron of Norton charity Daisy Chain, they run autism friendly social and sports clubs, but are completely oversubscribed – with long waiting lists for families.

We spoke to Laura Leaf from Daisy Chain, she tells us the unwillingness to let autistic kids participate is usually down to a lack of education;

“It’s not intentional, it’s down to a lack of training and understanding sometimes,

“Services want these children to attend but they don’t know how to make them more accessible.”

You can find out more about Anna’s research on her website, http://annakennedyonline.com/

There’s also more help via Daisy Chain’s site, https://www.daisychainproject.co.uk/