The National Autism Coordination Project has been established within the University of Strathclyde because of its long and successful involvement in autism.  The Scottish Strategy for Autism requires partners in each area of Scotland to produce a local Autism Strategy.

The National Autism Co-ordination Project has been funded to co-ordinate support for those on the autism spectrum and their families across Scotland by supporting the implementation of these local strategies.  The project supplements the injection of research and funding sponsored by the Scottish Government which has stimulated some local activity, in terms of the production of local autism plans.  Those who are well advanced at local level are given opportunities to showcase their efforts at national events.  Those who are at an earlier stage of development are being provided with skilled support that is suited to local need.

We have secured a formal agreement with COSLA to engage with local authorities in this work, through their Health and Wellbeing committee.  We also have an ongoing relationship with Social Work Scotland in jointly achieving better outcomes for people with autism and their families.  A specific project in its early stages is the development of performance indicators to enable local authorities to benchmark their progress.

We are supporting local authorities with a range of issues from consultation in writing plans to implementation.  We are also working with a wider engagement group to ensure that people on the autism spectrum and their families are involved in achieving the Strategy goals.  Our work dovetails with that of Autism Network Scotland, which provides the toolkits to aid implementation and improve support for people on the spectrum and their families.

Events

Autism Strategy Lead Officers Collaborative

University of Strathclyde Providers and Commissioners Collaborative