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Education Settings

1        Wandsworth Autism Advisory Service – overview

2        Educational Settings

3        Parents and Carers

4        Children and Young People

5        What’s On

What we offer

Universal:

WAAS takes the position that early intervention is the most effective way of supporting autistic children and young people (CYP).  We would advise all parents and schools to access the universal offer of support at regular opportunities and introduce the resources and strategies we share prior to any sign of difficulty in the CYP. 

It is best practice for parents and staff to engage in workshops and put in place preventative strategies even if these difficulties are not apparent currently.  This is likely to prevent significant difficulties later.

What support is offered at this level?

  • Telephone consultation service for parents and professionals.
  • Online drop in consultation for professionals.
  • Workshops and training for professionals. Please refer to our “What’s On” page for upcoming professionals training.
  • Learning walks and autism support visits.
  • Environmental checklists.
  • YouTube videos.  Please see our “Advice and Resources” page for a list of available videos.

 

WAAS Spring Term 2024 Professionals Workshops Training Schedule 

 

Autism Education Trust logo

The Autism Education Trust (AET) is a not-for-profit programme led by two national autism charities – the National Autistic Society (NAS) and Ambitious about Autism (AAA).

Established and supported by the Department for Education, the AET promotes and supports partnerships throughout the education system to improve educational access, experience and outcomes for autistic children and young people. Underpinned by current research into good autism practice, the AET programme is structured around the three education phases – Early Years, Schools and Post 16.

The AET view autism as a difference and not a deficit and value the strength that comes with embracing neurodiversity and working in partnership. 

https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/

Using a social franchising model, the AET has a network of licensed training partners, including Wandsworth Autism Advisory Service (WAAS). WAAS currently have the license to deliver the AET Early Years Programme    

For more information about AET Training please contact: AutismAdvisory@wandsworth.gov.uk

 

Emotion Based School Avoidance Support

In order to facilitate the attendance of autistic CYP at school WAAS offer two forms of support for schools.

EBSA TAC AND REINTEGRATION PLAN

A member of WAAS will attend an EBSA TAC to help identify barriers and facilitators to attendance, to identify reasonable adjustments school can make and to help create an initial reintegration plan.

  • School will be expected to invite parents and key members of staff to the EBSA TAC.
  • School or parents will be expected to have already gathered the views of the CYP and shared these prior to the TAC.
  • To access this level of support please make a referral using the referral form and reference the EBSA TAC offer.
  • WAAS will offer a review TAC at 4 – 6 weeks following the initiation of the reintegration plan to review progress and plan next steps. 

HIGHER LEVEL OF SPECIALIST INTERVENTION

If a school is able to evidence:

  • reasonable adjustments made at school to facilitate the attendance of a CYP
  • A realistic transition plan has been in place for at least 4 weeks
  • No progress in terms of attendance has been made

WAAS may be able to offer a more specialist level of support directly with the CYP or family to support their anxiety.

To access this level of support please make a referral using the referral form and provide evidence of the above referencing EBSA specialist intervention.

Targeted:

This level of support should be accessed at the initial sign of difficulty and as soon as possible following this. This level of support is appropriate for CYP showing difficulties in home or at school in relation to their diagnosis of autism and social communication differences.  

What support is offered at this level?

  • Group interventions for CYP run at Siward Road/online.  For example: transition groups, communication and regulation groups etc.  A screener will be used to allocate CYP to the most appropriate group.
  • Bespoke groups for CYP within a single school.  These are agreed in consultation with staff in school.  We would expect a member of staff at the school to co-facilitate this intervention in order to up-skill this member of staff to run the group independently in the future.
  • Bespoke training for organisations.
  • Support to staff to run specific targeted interventions for groups or individuals.
  • Individual, time-limited work with CYP (one to two sessions).
  • Autism support visits offering observation and direct support to staff working with an individual child.

 

Person-centred discussion circles for adults involved in support

  • Solution Circles: This is a one-off intervention which provides a space for someone to reflect on the difficulties that the CYP is experiencing and to try and find solutions from within the group.
  • Circles of Adults: This is a one-off intervention which uses a structured process to look at the problem from different perspectives and agree some actions to support the CYP.

 WAAS Social Communication Difference Offer 

  • WAAS SaLTs provide training and modelling of interventions in school to support children /young people with social communication differences. The aim of this offer is to upskill staff in school to be able to carry out the interventions effectively. Please see attached PDF for details on types of school based interventions on offer. 

WAAS Targeted Group training and modelling offer

 

Specialist:

Children and young people will access this level of support when there are complex factors which require more specialised intervention that means that the offer at the targeted level may not be appropriate.

 

What support is offered at this level?

PSYCHOLOGY, SPEECH & LANGUAGE THERAPY (SALT) AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (OT)

Support at this level will be systemic with support given to parents, school and the CYP.  This will be developed in accordance with the child’s needs but will be a time limited intervention with specific outcomes agreed at the start of the work.  Support is likely to include:

  • Psychological/ SALT/ OT support to the CYP
  • sessions with parents to embed strategies at home
  • sessions with key adults within school to encourage the use of strategies learnt in the therapeutic sessions
  • observation of the CYP in context may also be required at this stage

 

Advice and resources

 

Downloads:

Who to contact

Telephone
E-mail
autismadvisory@wandsworth.gov.uk

Last updated: 18 Mar 2024