We offer support and advice to school staff, children and young people, and their families on understanding how autism and social communication needs impact on a child’s presentation in school. We can help develop strategies that support you to meet your legal duties, promote inclusion, wellbeing and achievement, and understand and manage behaviours and anxieties that can sometimes be challenging.
Our work with you will be tailored to meet your needs as a school community recognising that each child/young person, their family and educational context is different and that one size does not fit all.
We offer bespoke support to each educational setting depending on need, for example:
- individual assessment for children and young people, including personalised strategies, interventions and approaches
- written feedback in the form of record of visit/report, which include agreed outcomes and strategies
- involvement with families to support their understanding of strategies used in school and their relevance at home
- consultation, such as ‘drop in’ surgeries, in your setting
- coaching for individual members of staff
- staff development, for example workshops and training which can be tailored to fit with the individual needs of your setting
- devising and implementing group and individual interventions
- ‘hands on’ support during the school day
- consultation by telephone as needed
We are affiliated to the Autism Education Trust, supported by the Department for Education, and we offer their modular training programmes for professionals in education.
We deliver accredited level 2 and 3 qualifications for school staff in supporting verbal children with autism spectrum disorder, through ELKLAN, and have links with the Centre for Developmental Disorders, Department of Psychology at Durham University.
Our team:
- has additional training and expertise in understanding and supporting practice in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
- is trained to respond safely and appropriately to safeguarding concerns
- works to the highest standards in terms of the requirements of the SEND Code of Practice and Equality Act, and will support your practice with regard to their legal context
- understands local authority (LA) SEND systems and processes and will support you to work within them