Update on M

[Gilli]

M's employment support worker is planning to come and watch him at work, but only for half an hour as she will have a meeting to go to afterwards. It doesn't seem like a long time to me

Gilli

[bowlingbun]

What is the purpose of the visit? You can't do much in 30 minutes!

[Gilli]

She wanted to see him in action. She made the arrangement with M's employers and I don't know if she said anything to them about the 30 minute limit, but now they're telling him to ask the support worker to go to her meeting first, then come and watch him when she has more time.

Gilli

[Melly1]

Hi Gilli,
The NAS have produced some guidance and support for folk with autism re employment, https://www.autism.org.uk/about/adult-life/work.aspx might be worth looking at for M.

Melly1

[Gilli]

Sorry, just seeing this now, Melly. I’ve seen that, thought it was very helpful. I printed it out and gave the printout to M to give to his boss’s wife, who just said everyone was different and handed the printout back to him. On several occasions M has felt under pressure to get all his work done and becomes frustrated, ending up shouting and being told to go outside to calm down. Apparently M’s support worker told them to do that if he was shouting. She also talked about sending M on an anger management course and his boss on a course to learn about employing people with autism - probably covering what’s in that article. Neither action has happened. I don’t know how much she knows herself about autism, in particular in the work place.

Gilli

[Melly1]

Has M's support worker read the NAS guidence herself? https://www.autism.org.uk/professionals/employers.aspx

It amazes me how many professionals work with folk on the spectrum but lack knowledge - S's social worker works for the "Complex needs team" but has no knowledge nor training in autism ...

Melly1

[bowlingbun]

I regularly have to explain the effect of brain damage to Social Services staff working in the Learning Disability Team. Explain that just because my son can do some things well doesn't mean he can do everything at the same level.
I often think it would have been easier for me to get support for him if we hadn't tried to hard to encourage him to be sociable, pleasant, and polite.

[Gilli]

Sorry I've neglected this thread for so long - again! I don't know if the support worker has read any of the NAS literature or not. When she first became M's support worker she told me, 'we don't usually deal with parents'! His previous support worker was much more communicative with me and also autism aware. The anger management course and autism awareness course have not happened and now when M has a meltdown, the other workers taunt him, saying, 'Anger management!' over and over. He has texted his support worker to ask if she's been able to find a course for him, but hasn't had a reply. What frustrates him a lot is that his previous support worker made an arrangement with M's employers that he should do certain tasks each day and if he completed those by 2.30/3 - I forget the exact timing - he could go home. That did not happen and now he's expected to do everything that his employers and any other worker tell him to do before he can do his daily tasks and is told that if he doesn't get it all done by Friday each week he has to come in on the Saturday, which his current support worker tells him is ok.

Gilli

[Melly1]

Gilli,
the support worker sounds a waste of space. Can you contact her line manager? Is there a written record of the discussion about autism training and anger management? Though it sounds to me, if M's boss was safeguarding him and implementing the strategies agreed, M wouldn't be so overwhelmed and much less likely to be getting cross.

Melly1

[thara_1910]

Sorry I've neglected this thread for so long - again! I don't know if the support worker has read any of the NAS literature or not. When she first became M's support worker she told me, 'we don't usually deal with parents'! His previous support worker was much more communicative with me and also autism aware. The anger management course and autism awareness course have not happened and now when M has a meltdown, the other workers taunt him, saying, 'Anger management!' over and over. He has texted his support worker to ask if she's been able to find a course for him, but hasn't had a reply. What frustrates him a lot is that his previous support worker made an arrangement with M's employers that he should do certain tasks each day and if he completed those by 2.30/3 - I forget the exact timing - he could go home. That did not happen and now he's expected to do everything that his employers and any other worker tell him to do before he can do his daily tasks and is told that if he doesn't get it all done by Friday each week he has to come in on the Saturday, which his current support worker tells him is ok.

Gilli

Can you support him to find another job? Also I think that you need to complain about this “professional” care worker.