The Care Farm, Castlemartyr

The Care Farm, Castlemartyr, is a small farm for children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders.

At the farm children engage in Animal Assisted Therapy, Horticultural activities and one on one tuition.

Through these activities the therapist helps the child to develop speech and language skills, fine and gross motor skills, social skills and academic skills.

The motive behind 'The Care Farm' is to provide an enjoyable yet educational experience for children who have ASDs.

 

The Care Farm also holds 'social skills workshops' on saturday afternoon. Children are encouraged to develop social skills and friendships through games and other activities. Children attend once a month. Groups are arranged according to age and abillity.

 

During July and August there are summer camps, with a maximum of six children per week.

Children who are in receipt of a home tuition grant may use some of this on visits to The Care Farm.

Please see the website for more details www.carefarm.ie or call Claire Owers 086 1718573

SN Social Club, Dublin 15

Hope Autism Care Centre is delighted to announce the launch of their Social Club on the 20^th of February. It will be a place for children with special needs to come and learn new skills and play games in a relaxed environment. 

Some of the things planned for the first term are basketball, football, an obstacle course, a sleepover experience day and arts and crafts. Also for the first term, we will be introducing road safety and a choice of an optional five week first aid class. 

It will run every Tuesday (15:30 – 17:30). Each class will be an hour long. 

The first aid will incur a minimal extra cost.

We will also have a weekly group for the siblings of children with special needs. 

Parents meetings will be held once a month and guest speakers include young adults with special needs living independently. 

The club will run according to the school calendar with some day trips planned for the Easter holidays and July (which will incur an extra cost) It will be supported by a team of experienced volunteers and is open to boys and girls and all levels of ability are welcome from the age of three up. 

We also have the support of the community Garda and Firemen and are working closely with the Dublin VEC (vocational educational committee). We will also be working with the Blanchardstown Centre for Independent living.

There will be a membership fee for this Social Club of €50 for 6 weeks (this is subject to change). The membership if you wish to have a child in the social club and sibling group will be €80. 

If you would like to find out more please call 0857321620 or email Dublin15sc@gmail.com for an application form. 

Sarah 

Dublin 15 Social Club Co-ordinator