The Scene is The Spastic Centre's free fortnightly e-newsletter.
It features news, events, issues, links and contacts for people living with cerebral palsy, their families and service providers.
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High School Tips
Starting high school is a challenging time for students AND their parents.
Emily is now in Year 11, but remembers the feeling she had when she started high school. In this new story on The Spastic Centre’s website, she shares her experiences and offers some tips to make the high school years happy and rewarding ones.
Read Emily’s story
Wheelchair Skills Day – 29 October
The Spastic Centre is currently overseeing a pilot Wheelchair Skills Program run by a group of Occupational Therapy students at the University of Sydney. The aim of the program is ‘to create and facilitate the implementation of a sustainable wheelchair skills education program for children’.
The Wheelchair Skills Day is Monday 29th October 2007, 9.00 till 4.30 (it may finish earlier depending on numbers) and will be held at the University of Sydney Gym, Lidcombe Campus. The program is for children, aged 8-15 years old (flexible) who are manual wheelchair users.
The day will cover the following: wheelchair team sports games; transfers; wheelchair maintenance; exercises and stretching; pushing/gripping techniques; and wheelies.
The day promises to be a fun and social learning experience for all the children. If you are interested, please contact Sarah Nottage, Phone 02 9972 8131, Mobile 0405 426 843, Email SNottage@tscnsw.org.au
Following this pilot day, the group will be providing The Spastic Centre with a full six-week wheelchair skills training program.
New Children’s Services Centre at Kingswood
The Spastic Centre’s new purpose-built Mittiga Children’s Services Centre at Kingswood will be officially opened on 1 November. Replacing the former centre at Penrith, this new service site has been developed in conjunction with the University of Western Sydney and will provide therapy, education and teaching to the area as well as being a research centre.
The Mittiga Centre is at Building G, Second Avenue, Kingswood. Phone 02 4736 8722.
Holidays
New Website for Accessible Tourism
The Australia For All Alliance has launched a new website which includes information on tourist venues accessible to people with physical, vision and hearing impairments.
Find it at www.australiaforall.com.au
Belmadar Rose Cottage
Delightful Belmadar Rose Cottage is situated just five minutes from Singleton, in a quiet rural location. Use it as a base to explore the Hunter Valley or just relax on the verandah with a good book. The cottage accommodates up to six people (one double bedroom, single bedroom with two beds and a sofa lounge in the lounge room.) There is a hoist, standard commode chair and an electric bed available. The bathroom accommodates wheelchairs with ease and has a hobless shower with grab rails around toilet and shower. Pets are welcome to stay too.
Prices start from $124 per double per night and to see full details go to the Beldamar Rose web page on the Take a Break website.
Sports
Ski Able Waterskiing Tournament
Ski Able is Water Skiing for people with physical disabilities or vision impairment. They are always looking for new skiers to join in this exciting sport. Most water ski clubs are willing to help teach a person with disability, so make contact with your local club. Once you have started, you can join in and compete in the Ski Able tournaments which are broken up into six broad categories: Sit Skiers, Vision Impairment, Leg Division, Arm Division and Arm and Leg Division.
If you are interested, visit the Ski Able site www.disabledwaterski.com.au
You can also contact skiers on the Australian Team to get skiing equipment and information about rules or other advice.
Parents
Sibs Sheets
The Association for Children with a Disability (ACD) has recently released a new series of ‘Sibsheets’. They aim to introduce the needs, experiences and support options of brothers and sisters of someone with a disability to parents, the community, professionals and to the siblings themselves.
You can download the Sibsheets directly from the ACD website.
Surveys
Assisting Students with Learning Difficulties
A new research report and teacher resource book has been published by the Australian Government to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to help students with learning difficulties in mainstream classes. The focus of the research project was on the daily activities, interactions and materials that make classroom practice inclusive, and that lead to improved outcomes for all students.
The report and resource book are available on the website of the Department of Education, Science and Training.
PDF (print-friendly version) of this issue of The Scene.
What would you like to see in "The Scene"? Email Robyn Cummins Information Manager at The Spastic Centre if you would like to contribute any ideas, advise of any future events or know of any websites that might be of interest to others.
Disclaimer
Opinions expressed in items of The Scene are the individual opinions of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Spastic Centre or the editors. Products and companies featured in The Scene are not necessarily endorsed by The Spastic Centre. The Scene is intended to be informative only and should not be relied on as medical or other technical advice on any matter. The Spastic Centre and editor take no responsibility for the information published in this newsletter or any person's actions in reliance on that information.
