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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Here are some of the main questions people have about our community. If there is anything else you would like to know, please contact info@spectrumgaming.net
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Are you able to provide 1:1 support for my young person?Some young people may require more 1:1 support and supervision in order to engage positively with our online community. Unfortunately as we are unable to offer continuous 1:1 supervision of individual young people, parents/ carers may need to supervise their access to our community. In addition to this, if you are a parent of a member of our Under 13 Community, you are required to be logged into the same account they use to access our server, and MUST supervise and monitor their private messages and group chats. You can read more about how to do this in our Getting Started Guide.
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How do I sign up?It is a good idea to read through our Parent Info section before signing your young person up as a member. Then the application form to join is at the bottom of each age range section: here for 10-12, and here for 13-17.
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Do you offer any support to adults?Unfortunately no, we do not support adults and do not have any plans to expand beyond our current age range of 10-17.
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How do you keep young people safe in the community?Our Discord and Minecraft servers are all completely private spaces, in order for us to make them safe for young people to use. They have quite rigorous verification measures in place: Every young person must be verified, to prove they are who they say they are and they are joining with the right intentions before they are able to join. We do this by either having their identity verified by a professional who knows them, or by having a quick 1:1 video call with the young person themselves. Once young people are in our community: - Everything within our servers is completely private: No one can join without being added by a member of staff. - We have a set of rules that must be agreed to by members to make sure the community is welcoming for everyone. - Every message within our Discord and Minecraft servers is logged, so the staff team can see every message that is sent. - If young people are worried about anything, they are able to contact a member of staff who will respond as soon as they can. On Minecraft, young people can type ‘/support’ then their issue to notify members of the staff team, who can come along to assist. WHAT WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR: While we fully monitor our private Discord community, sometimes members make their own private group chats once they have developed friendships. We are unable to monitor group chats so young people who join them do so at their own risk. However, we will get involved if something happens in a group chat that causes discomfort or tension in our private server. As an extra measure, young people are not allowed to direct message other members or invite them to group chats without asking for permission from them within our server first. Another rule we have is that server members are not allowed to send invites to other discord servers so our members are as safe as possible (we cannot guarantee the safety of our members in other servers). UNDER 13 DISCORD SERVER: In our under 13 Discord server, it is parents who will need to create accounts and join the community, in order to comply with Discord's Terms of Service. Parents are also asked to monitor the private messages of our under 13 members, in order to help keep them and the community safe. OTHER PLATFORMS: Our other platforms, such as our Parent/Carer Facebook group and Twitch channel, are more open. Even though these are also moderated spaces, there are less rigourous checks in place with regards to who can join or chat etc. As a result, parents *must* take responsibility for ensuring other people they connect with are appropriate. There is further information about both parent/carer and SG's responsibilities in our Parent Info Section here.
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When will you open up to young people from my area?While we are currently only accepting new members from areas where we receive dedicated funding, we would love to be able to support young people in other areas too! Opening up places to young people in other areas depends on the funding our charity receives. If you are a parent, the best place to keep up to date with when places are available is to follow us on social media, as we do not operate a waiting list. Please also note that you cannot self-fund a place as a parent. Please email development@spectrumgaming.net if you are a funder/ commissioner or someone who would like to hear more about what we can offer - then we will be in touch as soon as we can.
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My young person is not eligible to become a member, do you know of any other similar communities they could join?Unfortunately we are not aware of any other communities like SG for autistic young people.
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Does my young person need an autism diagnosis to join the community?Our founder didn't receive his autism diagnosis until he was 20, so it would be quite hypocritical if people could only join Spectrum Gaming when they are diagnosed! Young people need to fulfill one of the following criteria to join our community: They have an autism diagnosis They are on the waiting list for an assessment/ diagnosis They self identify as autistic It may be worth noting that we are a very openly autistic community where autism is discussed all the time. Therefore your young person may find this confusing if they join but they are not aware that they are, or could be, autistic.
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Who can join the SG community?In order to be eligible to join our community your young person must meet the following criteria: Be a young person aged 10-17 Reside in one of our funded areas Be autistic We are currently only accepting new applications from young people aged 10-17, living in one of our funded areas which are: Greater Manchester Bedford Borough St Helens Sheffield City Council Lancashire County Council - only for registered members of their Break Time scheme. (Please note that we do not provide 'short breaks' but are in addition to that service) We also accept applications from siblings of current members that live outside these areas. Previously we have accepted membership from across the UK and when we secure further funding, this will 'unlock' more spaces for members in other areas. However as we do not operate a waiting list, or have any current timescales of when this might be, if you would like to keep up to date on when we are accepting members from other areas, it is best to follow us on social media, as that is where we would post any updates. Parents are also not able to self-fund places. If you would like to offer support with securing funding in your local area, please email development@spectrumgaming.net Young people do not need to have an official diagnosis to join our community, but must fulfill one of the following criteria: They have an autism diagnosis They are on the waiting list for an assessment/ diagnosis They self identify as autistic Spectrum Gaming is a very openly autistic community where autism is discussed all the time. Therefore your young person may find this confusing if they join but they are not aware that they are, or could be, autistic. If your young person meets the above criteria for joining you can fill out an application form here. Please note: Our community is only for young people who are aged 10-17. Unfortunately we do not support adults, and are currently not expanding to this age range. We also do not have any current plans to expand membership to beyond the UK.
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My child doesn't want to join because they are too anxious or reject autism. What do I do?Joining an openly autistic community might feel quite difficult if you have negative feelings towards autism. For some young people it might not be the right time for them to join SG, but for others it could help them to foster a more positive autistic identity. We have written some information which may help when talking to young people who are struggling with their autistic identity, which you can read here: Talking to Young People about Autism. Introducing them to other positive autistic role models and information like this may help them to feel more curious about joining the community. We also understand how overwhelming it can be to join a community like Spectrum Gaming if you are feeling anxious about social situations. Therefore, we have created special 'New Members' areas of our Discord servers, which have members of our Young Staff Team called 'Helpers' who help new people to settle in and find their way around. We also have lots of information on our website about how our community works (Under 13, Teen and Minecraft) and also a 'Getting Started Guide' which you can find in our parent info.
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What games can my young person play in the community? Is is just Minecraft?Young people in our community play a huge variety of games. Members are able to request to play or talk about any game in our community, and there is usually at least one person who plays any game that is asked about. Any young people are welcome to connect and play games together at any time. There are also regular server gaming events which are run by members of the staff team, you should receive a monthly email (to the address you used to sign up with) detailing our online event schedule. Young people can also find details of events within our Discord Servers as well. Young people can request events in our dedicated 'event suggestions' channel, then the Events team meet to plan, set up and host events. Events in the past haven't just included games, but also cooking club, film nights, code club, quiz nights and just meeting in voice chat for a catch up!
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How do I update my contact details?It is vital that we have up to date emergency contact details for all members, including your address if you move house. If you need to update any of your, or your young person's, details please email us at info@spectrumgaming.net and a member of the team will be able to adjust your membership record.
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How can I help my young person get involved?We understand that joining a new community can be overwhelming for young people so we have written this 'Getting Started' guide to help you support them while they settle in. Also linked on that page is a 'Young Person Version' which you could pass on to them if you feel they would prefer to absorb the info by themselves.
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I am struggling to set up Discord and Minecraft, can you help?In our Parent Info section we have links to some tutorials for Discord which you might find helpful. We also have detailed step-by-step instructions on how to access our Minecraft server from various devices, including some troubleshooting tips, which you can read here. If you have read through the tutorials and instructions and are still struggling, or receiving an error message, you can chat to a staff member by either making a Support Ticket on our Discord server or emailing team@spectrumgaming.net
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Where can I find information about events and meet ups?All of our online and face-to-face events and meet ups are for registered members only. All members should receive a monthly email with details of our online events schedule for both servers. If you find that you are not receiving this, firstly check that it has not been sneaking off into your spam/junk folder, and if it is not there, please email info@spectrumgaming.net and a member of the team will be able to check that you are on the mailing list. Please note that emails are sent to the address that you used when signing up to become a member, so if that is not the best email to contact you on you might want to ask us to update your contact details. Young people can also see all of our online events from within our Discord Servers via the 'Events' tab in the top left of the server. When signing up you will have been asked whether you would like to receive details of our face-to-face meet ups in Manchester. If you ticked that box then you should also receive a separate monthly email with details of our in-person events. If you did not tick that box but have now changed your mind and would like to be added to that mailing list, please email info@spectrumgaming.net and a member of the team will be able to add you. Another good place to keep an eye on news and info about events is our private Parent/Carer Facebook Group. This group is only for parents/carers of verified members, and you will have been sent the link to this in your 'Welcome Email' which you receive after you have been verified.
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Where can I buy SG T-shirts and Hoodies?We have partnered with Classworx in order to create a selection of SG branded t-shirts, hoodies and more! You can purchase items directly from them here https://classworx.co.uk/school/spectrum-gaming/
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