How to Use the Community

Below you will find some basic instructions on how to use the communities. If you're not familiar with using an online community, don't worry - I will be on-hand to answer any questions or problems you might have. You can post your questions underneath here or email me at elena@talkaboutautism.org.uk.

You can also ask one of our Community Champions - you can find a list of our current Champions in the Introducing our Community Champions! discussion.

As a member you are getting access to our online community. You’ll be able to post questions, discuss news items and talk about your own experiences with others.

How To Join The Forum

How to register:

• Go to the registration page https://www.treehouse.org.uk/user/register
• Enter in your username (the name which will display on the forum). We encourage people to use real names if you can.
• Enter your email address (this will only be seen by us and will not be made public). This must be real as you will receive your password by email.
• Enter in all the fields (those marked with a red asterisk are essential for registration). Your details will be kept safe by us and will not be passed on to anyone else.
• Please add a profile picture of yourself - it makes the community feel friendlier if we have real faces!
• Once you’ve registered an email will be sent to your address with your login details.

How to get started:

Once you’ve registered you should receive an email with your log in details. Go to the login page https://www.treehouse.org.uk/user/login and enter these details. You can then post in the discussion areas.

We would really appreciate if you can read the Community Guidelines before introducing yourself. This keeps our community happy and healthy. These guidelines are always up for discussion, so feel welcome to leave your comments below the guidelines.

One more thing - After logging in you might want to change your password to something more memorable. To change your password click on "My Account" in the top right of the page, just to the left of "Sign off". From there click "Edit" and then click "Account Settings". Don't forget to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and press "Submit".

Posting an Introduction

Please start off with posting an introduction – this will help you get to know others. To do this, go to  the Introductions section. Here you will see my Introduction. It would be great if you could say a little about yourself and your experience with autism.  Once you’ve typed your post, click the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page.

How to Find and Connect With People in Your Area

Everyone who joins the community is asked to select their "Area" so that each of us can use the Member Directory to try and find others to connect with locally. 

We also have an ongoing discussion specifically devoted to network with others so try leaving a comment there if you'd like: Where Do You Live?

Posting a Discussion Topic

You can also explore the rest of the discussions – there are many different topic areas and sub sections. To learn more about the atmosphere of talk about autism and the way we like to speak to each other, please check out the Community Guidelines. If you find an area which you think you have something to say about, you can start a discussion by clicking ‘Post a new forum topic’ at the top of the page.

This will take you to a text box. Enter the title of your discussion in the top box and the main text in the larger box below this. Then click submit at the bottom.

Things you might like to post a thread about:

•    A question about your child under the topic ‘General Autism Issues’
•    A news item relating to autism under ‘Autism in the News’
•    A personal experience you’d like to share under ‘Family & Relationships’
•    A recommendation of an after school club or social centre under ‘Free Time’
•    Take time out from your day and get to know others in ‘The Social’

Replying to a Discussion Topic

When viewing a discussion topic, there will be a comment box below it. Enter your reply into the box and then press the ‘Post comment’ button at the bottom of the page.

Subscribing to a Discussion (receiving notifications)

You can subscribe to an individual discussion topic or to a whole section.  When you subscribe you will receive email notifications when someone posts a reply or a new topic. 

Just beneath the first post of any thread in the forum, you will see an option to "Subscribe".  You can see this option now by scrolling down to the bottom of this post which you are reading.  When you click the word "Subscribe" a few options will show. There are two options which you will find useful:

1. "Subscribe to this page": Notifies you when someone posts a reply to that specific discussion only. You will receive an email when someone posts a reply after yours.

If you decide you would not like to receive notifications any longer, just go back and untick the box.

2. "Subscribe to content in Introductions": Notifies you when someone posts a reply to a thread for that specific discussion, but it also subscribes you to all other activity within the whole of the section.  You will receive an email when someone posts a reply after yours, and you will also receive an email when someone creates a new discussion in the section (in this example, we are looking at the "Introductions" section - so if you ticked this option you would see every introduction that is posted).

Some people do this for every section on the forum so that they receive notifications for all activity, in every section.  You are welcome to do that also.

If you decide you would not like to receive notifications any longer, just go back and untick the box for that section.

Questions and Answers

Our question and answer section will allow you to ask the community a specific question about autism-related issues. The members of the community can then submit answers and we will publish the best ones. You can also submit your own answer to the questions posed by other members. To post a question or provide an answer go to this page. http://www.treehouse.org.uk/talk-autism/question-answer

Feedback

We’d like your general feedback on the site – what you like, what you don’t like, anything you think should be added. If you have anything to say, please post in the Feedback & Help section.

We hope you’ll decide to join us! Remember if at any point you have any questions or problems please contact me at elena@talkaboutautism.org.uk.

Or just leave a comment below!