Sorry but the NAS (national organisation) is a shambles.

[yurt1]

Apart from the fact they seem incapable of telling anyone local about things like local courses (database?).

So I had a phone call this morning. Did I still want a befriender for ds1? (yes please, we've been on the list for ages). So she had a perfect match for me. Young enthusiastic student, happy even to do cleaning, very keen and active. This went on for a while. I was actually getting excited. "yes she wants to work with moderate to high functioning children'. Oh right. So pointed out that ds1 is (as I said on my form) severely autistic. Was I sure? Er yes. Pointed out that he's non verbal. "oh but can't he communicate in any way" (WTF?) I said of course he could, but the girl had requested moderate to high functioning and he could in no way be considered anything other than severely autistic.

[staryeyed]

Sorry Yurt, that's crap for you. Maybe she will still do it anyway?

To be honest I haven't found them of very much use either.