Welcome To The Shine Ireland Website

The Irish Progressive Association for Autism - (IPAA)

Welcome to SHINE, the website of the Irish Progressive Association for Autism & Shine Centre for Autism. We hope that you will find this site both informative and interesting as we try to give you an insight into the world of Autism. SHINE and the IPAA are committed to supporting and working with families to overcome the challenges that autism brings them. We will continue to work to bring the issues that face the autistic community to the fore as we all strive to improve the outcome for our children and our families.

The underlying message of SHINE is to "brighten the future" and by working together we can give our children the opportunity to grow and develop to their full potential. The purpose of this site is to assist you so please feel free to ask us for information that you need or any questions you may have. We also welcome any comments or suggestions you may have on how you feel we can improve this website

Training Course Update

Autism In The Mainstream Classroom

A one day course entitled "Autism & The Mainstream Classroom" will take place in The Maryborough Hotel & Spa on Friday the 11th of May.

The course is aimed primarily at those involved with children with a diagnosis of ASD in mainstream classrooms, and will cover a range of topics including:

• What is Autism?
• Autism & Asperger Syndrome- what's the difference?
• Sensory Issues in the Classroom
• Classroom Guidelines and tactics
• Bullying- Why are our kids more susceptable to bullying? What can we do to help?
• Anxiety- Identifying causes and stragies for self management
• Social skills- Identifying, teaching and generalising skills

The course will commence at 9am and finish at 5pm with lunch included on the day.

Autism & The Mainstream Classroom will be presented by Laura Crowley, Director of Educational Support Services in the Shine Centre.

To book a place, please contact the Shine Centre on 021- 4377052 or alternatively email laura.crowley@shineireland.com. Places are extremely limited so early booking is advised

Cost: €115.00 per place - Group Booking Rate Available Please Contact Us

Copyright Dominick Cullinane

At The Shine Centre for Autism we are currently developing a Sensory Garden for our children and young adults in Carrigaline. The wonderful garden image you see above is the final design of and has been developed by renowned Cork Garden Designer Dominick Cullinane and some of the preliminary works have been completed at this stage.

The garden will be developed on a phased basis with phase one being funded by the staff of Bank of New York Staff at Cork Airport and Bank of New York. Cork Rotary Club have recently pledged their support to the project and we will launch a fundraising drive over the coming weeks where you or your company will be able to fund a piece of the garden by purchasing one of our garden jig saw pieces which will make up the Sensory Garden.

The Sensory Garden is a part of the larger Smarter Senses Project driven by it@cork to bring technology and sensory programmes to the Shine Centre.

For more information on this project please contact Kieran McAuliffe on 021 4377052 and watch this space for the launch of our garden jigsaw pieces and how you can get involved.

Shine Fundraising Ball 2012

Denis Collins (Chairman it@cork) accepts the award for Outstanding Achievement from Eamon O'Donovan Chairman of Shine. Also pictured Special Guests Brian Ormond and Pippa O'Connor and Diane Haly Buckley of the Shine Centre

250 People Attend The Shine Valentines Ball 2012

The 6th Annual Shine Fundraising Ball took place on Saturday at the Maryborough Hotel and Spa and the event was a great success with over two hundred and fifty people in attendance. This year’s event had a distinctly Valentine’s Day theme given its proximity to the big day with each of the ladies in attendance receiving a single red rose on arrival. The annual Shine Ball has grown in popularity year on year since the first staging of the event in 2006 and raises funds for services provided by the Shine Centre for Autism in Cork. The Shine Centre works with over 80 children and adolescents with autism and their parents teachers and carers. The special guests at this year’s event were Brian Ormond and Pippa O’Connor who brought an extra dash of glamour to the event. The charity auction was very well supported and featured items from such sporting greats as Ronan O’Gara and Sean Og O’Halpin.

Two awards were presented by the Shine Charity for Outstanding Contribution to Donal Clancy Managing Director of Quinn-healthcare for their work on the Autism Jigsaw Seminar. With Denis Collins the Chairman of it@cork accepting an award for Outstanding Achievement on behalf of his organisation for their work on the Smarter Senses Project. The Shane Ball is expected to raise in excess of €35,000 for the charity.

“Eamon O’Donovan the Chairman of Shine told the assembled guests that it was wonderful to see the event so well supported in these more difficult economic times and it was a reflection of the great support that the people of Cork have for Shine and other charitable causes”.

Eamon O'Donovan and Diane Haly of Shine present Donal Clancy MD of Quinn-healthcare with the award for Outstanding Contribution to the charity at the rcent Shine Ball.