Ayia Napa, Cyprus

NGA was invited in May 2014 to Ayia Napa at the request of a number of families whose children and young people are autistic. The purpose of the visit was to see the range of provision for these young people, talk to the families and visit a number of schools with the intention to look at the possibility to identify some provision particularly for those young people who are coming to the end of their statutory education.

As with these countries, there were examples in Cyprus of excellent practice.  There were examples of individuals working in organisations, although supportive, who are not giving them systemic support to develop and build upon their expertise. In one school despite clear evidence of progress the number of support staff and resources to support this autism work had been cut. The work of the Autism Assessment Support Practice in Limassol was equally impressive and offers a genuine support service to all age groups namely additionally support to children as well as learning support programmes for adults. Their diagnostic expertise and the range of therapy programmes are a valuable asset to the local community. The special needs school in Lioperti village was an outstanding example of a whole school approach to supporting children with a range of special needs and autism. It is to the credit of the head teacher who vision and determination has set up this example of best practice. The resources of the school rival those of many special needs schools in England.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of a few parents and families a local charity has been set up and the application and a site for building an autism centre has been agreed. Work is now being done about designing the building and raising the funds.