A place in Dublin where children with high-functioning autism get together?

Ohnonymous

I'm a dad of a 10 year old autistic boy. He has recently started showing signs of depression, though otherwise he may be funny and quite communicative. We think it might be isolation coupled with his school refusal.

We are an immigrant family with virtually no friends here, let alone friends with children with similar diagnosis. So I thought today there may be places in Dublin where children with HFA gather for play and socialization. I thought it might help especially those kids who are going through withdrawal and depression due to problems of fitting in at school, or the community, or whatever other reasons (though rejection and isolation is mentioned as the No.1 reason for depression in autistic children).

Is there such a place? Any hints, directions would be much appreciated!

eviltwin

I only know of places for teens I'm afraid but you could contact Irish Autism Action on Facebook or www.autismireland.ie and they might have info for you

Mr. Muddle

+1 for autismireland.ie

They may be able to tell you of parent groups in your area, where you could talk to local parents and see what is available.

Is your child interested in coding/computers maybe coder dojo might be an option http://coderdojodublin.com/ (depending on your childs interest and ability)

Would your child be interested in doing something like a martial art or even golf/pitch & putt, often kids with ASD like to do this kind of activity along with other children but without the pressure of being part of a team.

If you are on facebook follow Irish Autism Action they often give details of various autism friendly classes/cinema/shows/groups around the country

https://www.facebook.com/Irishautism?fref=nf

Roselm

Ohnonymous wrote: »

I'm a dad of a 10 year old autistic boy. He has recently started showing signs of depression, though otherwise he may be funny and quite communicative. We think it might be isolation coupled with his school refusal.

We are an immigrant family with virtually no friends here, let alone friends with children with similar diagnosis. So I thought today there may be places in Dublin where children with HFA gather for play and socialization. I thought it might help especially those kids who are going through withdrawal and depression due to problems of fitting in at school, or the community, or whatever other reasons (though rejection and isolation is mentioned as the No.1 reason for depression in autistic children).

Is there such a place? Any hints, directions would be much appreciated!

Hi, If your son likes soccor you should look up FAI "soccor for all
Best of luck

carrieblack

Same thing happened with our DD. What is is is that as the kids get older they get more aware that they are different especially if they are high functioning so they need tools to learn how to cope. We took our daughter to a place in mountjoy square Dublin and now go once a month they were brilliant with showing us how to deal with the anxiety and helping us to deal with it and to know what comes next. Their number is 01 901 9626 if you want to ring them the psychologist we see is called Caroline.

What we thought was she just needed to mix more but apparently that is the worse thing you can do and increases their anxiety when they cant cope. Now our DD is so much better with socialising as she has tools to deal with it.

This is a long road and a lot of the Parents I speak to name anxiety and depression as their biggest concerns with ASD . We all just want our kids to enjoy life and we have to help them a bit more than the usual I guess.

Roselm

Also "Ripples" have lots going on for all ages for kids with ASD, ADHD, dyspraxia. The website is http://therippleeffect.ie
If you follow them on Facebook you'll see all their updates of which groups are running where and when

They are based in North Dublin