MyOTAS My Own Time And Space

To relieve the needs of children affected by autism or social anxiety and their families within essex by: 1) providing information, signposting to relevant professional agencies and running emotional support groups to enable parents to help their children achieve their academic potential and minimise their child's social anxiety; 2) providing social activities and opportunities for autistic children, tailored to their particular needs, to boost their self-esteem and improve their social skills, whilst enabling them to mix socially with neurotypical peers and siblings; 3) providing educational activities, in small groups, for children who are home-schooled and/or school refusers, as a result of their autism and/or social anxiety issues; 4) providing training to education and health professionals, parents and the wider public regarding the autistic spectrum, the benefits, the challenges and the best methods to support and communicate with autistic children; 5) raising public awareness of autism. for the purpose of this clause ‘social anxiety’ means difficulty with social communication, emotional wellbeing, sensory/physical sensitivities and cognitive/learning difficulties.