Child Autism UK – Autism Approaches
Our clinical team are here to help your child to:
- increase communication skills
- increase self-help skills (such as toilet training or eating)
- increase social skills and play skills
- decrease behaviour that is affecting their quality of life
- increase specific learning, language or school skills
- transition successfully to nursery or school
Here at Child Autism UK, we understand that, just as no autistic child is the same, no family circumstances are the same either – whether that be practical constraints, financial circumstances or simply where you are with your child’s journey.
With more than 20 years’ experience in working with children with autism and their families, and in supporting children in a range of school provisions, we are in a unique position to be able to ensure that we can meet your family’s needs.
One of the benefits of an ABA approach is that it takes each child as an individual and works with each child’s strengths to help them maximise their potential. In the same way Child Autism UK is highly skilled at taking each family as individual, and we work with your family’s strengths in tailoring a package that will take on board all factors to provide effective outcomes.
We offer two main routes:
- Long Term Programmes – (more than 4 months)
- Short Term Programmes – (up to 4 months)
Which route is best for my child and my family?
All the families that come to us are at different stages of their journey.
- You may have already been running a full ABA-based programme and are looking to change provider
- You may be new to ABA but have done extensive research and are 100% sure and ready to start a long term programme straight away
- You may have funding in place for a long term ABA programme and are keen to get started.
- You may be keen to try ABA but are not yet financially able to commit to long term
- You might have have heard that ABA is a good way to go but would like to try it out first
- You might just want to address one or two core skills over a summer holiday or a short term period.
- You might be hoping to get funding but know you need evidence of ABA helping your child, before you stand a chance
All of these needs can be accommodated through these two routes and for families that choose a short term package but then want to swap to a long term package this is also doable.
Also available:
We have extensive experience helping children transition into nursery and school, and training staff to support them to ensure they can be as successful and independent as possible. This would aLong Term Programme.
We also offer a range of training courses for schools, to enable staff to understand autism, and how best to support your child.
See: Child Autism UK Training Courses for Schools
And we have a further range of courses for parents, tutors and school staff that are run at the Child Autism Office and other venues
See: Child Autism UK Training Courses
Our staff
Our staff are our biggest asset here at Child Autism UK. Whichever length of programme you choose, you will be led and supported every step of the way by one of our team of qualified and highly experienced case managers. With 11 practitioners, we are able to provide peer support to share knowledge and skills, we are able to cover maternity and swap staff if families move, so giving you that extra layer of consistency. All staff are overseen by 3 managers with the BCBA, and all attend regular Continuing Professional Development, and are Full Members of the UK Society of Behaviour Analysis.
Tribunal support
Our staff regularly support families through tribunals, writing reports based on regular training from Barristers, and attending as expert witnesses. We have an excellent success rate
Child Autism Outcome Study
Something we are very proud of, is in our quest to help you demonstrate that the Child Autism package your child receives is effective, we work with academics to run research into the effectiveness of our programmes. While still in its early days, our initial results have been positive for Communication and for overall outcomes.
ABA Modules
These services address specific aspects of behaviour associated with autism. They are structured programmes offering support tailored to the individual needs of the child.
How to teach your child to talk/communicate
Good communication is essential for the child’s quality of life and often reduces other behaviour difficulties. Your child may be taught to speak or may at first need additional support such as picture or object exchange or sign language. Our case managers will assess which communication system is best for you and your child and show you how to capture your child’s motivation.
How to teach your child to make friends, play and other social skills
One of the key areas of concern for parents is will their child be able to make and maintain friendships. We can offer a structured programme to help your child, where we teach you and your family how to develop these crucial play skills. One of our case managers will assess your child to find starting points. We then take a systematic approach which could involve teaching, toy play, parallel play, sharing, conversation skills, theory of mind, group play or emotional regulation skills depending on the needs of your child.
We will give you the targets and skills to help your child at home, on playdates or in clubs.
How to reduce your child’s behaviour difficulties
We view behaviours not so much being part of the child but part of a context. The first thing our case managers will do is analyse why the behaviour is occurring more in one context than another. Most behaviours are a form of communication so when once we have established what the child is trying to communicate, we will show you how to teach them an alternative way of getting their needs met. Other behaviours have a sensory function (i.e. the child enjoys it or it is self-soothing), if it is in the best interests of the child to reduce the behaviour, we will help you find an alternative (sensory equivalent) behaviour to replace it with.
We are only able to work on challenging behaviours if everyone in the child’s life is onboard. We are happy to work with schools, nurseries, grandparents etc to ensure consistency. Unfortunately we are unable to help without this wrap around approach. A free of charge preliminary meeting can be arranged to assess whether our service is a good fit.
How to teach your child better eating habits
Many children with autism have restrictive diets, sometimes only choosing to eat one particular texture, or one particular coloured food. Our case managers are trained in techniques such as systematic desensitisation which can increase your child’s choices without it becoming a battle of wills.
How to prepare your child for school/ other transition
Transition to nursery, school or senior school can be a very difficult time for autistic children and their families. One of our case managers can come and assess your child and the next placement to establish targets that you can work on at home. These will usually include not only skills that they will need in the next placement but also tools to reduce any anxiety around the transition.
How to reduce your child’s anxiety
One of the major difficulties for children with autism is dealing with an anxiety that often comes from feeling unsure of what’s going to happen next and a fear of not being in control. One of our case managers will assess your child and give you ways that you can help him/her manage their emotions.
How to toilet train your child
Many autistic children have difficulty becoming toilet trained and many reach school age before they are successful in this area. There are many methods for toilet training and our staff will be able to assess your child and the family situation and provide you with training in the best method for you and your child.