Autism Early Support

Education, support, and research

( formerly Puzzle Centre )

The Circle Centre - our specialist nursery

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Autism Early Support for families

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Autism Early Support: training courses and latest news

Upcoming courses and latest news

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Who we are

Our Nursery remains open and is abiding by COVID safe regulations. View our most recent nursery risk assessment(s) here.

We are specialists in early intervention for children with autism or communication difficulties, working with families and practitioners across the UK to offer structured assessments, practical support and advice, training and consultancy in response to your and your child’s needs.

We are a charity formerly known as the well-established Puzzle Centre. We believe that every child with autism or other communication difficulties should have access to prompt, appropriate and high quality education, therapy and support.

Our mission is to provide high quality education and therapy for young children with autism or other communication difficulties; to ensure that families receive expert advice and support; and to lead the development of best practice early intervention.

We do this through our bespoke assessment and support services, tailored to your particular needs and delivered by our team of Specialist Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Learning Support Assistants. We can provide support for children aged 2 – 12 years.

Our expertise was founded in our specialist nursery, which has pioneered early intervention with pre-school children since 2001 and is recognised as an exemplar of good practice, receiving successive “Outstanding” ratings from Ofsted as well as commendations from people using our services. Our Autism Early Support outreach services provide this same expertise in your own setting for children aged 2 – 12 years, offering personalised support, consultancy and training for families, teachers and other practitioners in education and health.

Find out about the support we can provide to families

Find out about the support we can provide to nurseries, schools and practitioners

What we do

We deliver and promote early intervention for young children with autism or communication difficulties (aged 2-11 years). We do this through tailored programmes of assessment, support and advice, consultancy and training.

We have well-established expertise in Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Specialist Teaching and Learning Support. Our multidisciplinary team can provide an integrated programme of support around your child, your professional or organisational needs, as well as offering discrete assessments, therapies and training. (Please note, we do not provide a diagnostic service.)

We work with families, nurseries, schools, educational and health practitioners. By working in partnership with you to understand your needs and objectives, each programme can be tailored to your specific child and context.

Our Speech and Language Therapists provide help with the development of communication and interaction.
Our Occupational Therapists help to address physical and sensory differences that impact on daily life.
Our Specialist Teachers help you to understand your child’s development and early educational approaches.
Our Learning Support Assistants can work directly with your child, as part of a programme supervised by a Lead Teacher or Therapist.

Early intervention encompasses a range of specific, structured and targeted approaches to support and enhance development in young children. The types of intervention and tools that we use are founded on established research and evidence-based practice, as well as our own extensive experience.

Educational model

We have adopted the SCERTS® framework for working with children with autism and related difficulties, and their families. This is a multidisciplinary framework that offers an integrated approach to the child and his/her development. It provides specific guidelines for helping a child become a competent and confident social communicator, while supporting emotional regulation. Dysregulation can often interfere with learning and the development of relationships. The framework is also designed to help families, educators and therapists work cooperatively as a team, in a coordinated manner, to maximize progress in supporting a child.

When supporting a specific child, we deploy a range of interventions and therapies within the framework of the SCERTS model, to support a child’s needs. This support will be led by one or more members of our specialist team.

Professional support

We are a national demonstration site for the SCERTS model, and are able to provide training and consultancy in the effective deployment of SCERTS within your setting to help you to implement the model effectively.

We also provide a wealth of training to nurseries, schools and practitioners on early intervention techniques. We can tailor any training to suit the needs of a setting, and are happy to discuss your requirements with you. In addition, we provide consultancy on a range of interventions through bespoke agreement.

Please contact us us to discuss how we can help you.

Meet the team

Laura Gomersall

Head of Children's Services, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - BSc (Hons) Speech Pathology and Language Therapy

Laura joined Autism Early Support in 2019, as a Speech and Language Therapist focusing on Autism Early Support services. She qualified in 2005 from Queen Margaret University College and has since worked in a variety of health and education settings with children up to the age of 18 years, both overseas and in the UK. Laura has had experience working with children with a range of speech, language and communication needs. From July 2021 Laura became the Head of Children’s Services for AES with responsibility for all our service provision.

Ella Millerchip

Specialist Teacher - B.Ed (Hons) PGCE N.N.E.B.

Ella has over 20 years’ experience working in Early Years settings, including as a teacher in mainstream settings.

Ella joined Autism Early Support in 2009 and has extensive experience of implementing the SCERTS framework alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

She has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education for Special Education Needs and has also undertaken Sleep Practitioner Training with The Children’s Sleep Charity. Ella works as part of the Autism Early Support outreach team.

Julie Smith

Paediatric Occupational Therapist - BSc(Hons) OT, RCOT

Julie joined Autism Early Support in 2014, bringing 13 years of experience of working with children. Prior to joining the charity, Julie worked at the PACE Centre with children with sensory motor disorders. Julie assists families and practitioners to meet the sensory and motor needs of the children who are supported by the charity, both in the nursery and as part of the Autism Early Support outreach team.

Urszula Coghlan

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist M.A. (Hons), PGDip RCSLT

Urszula qualified in Speech & Language Therapy from City University in 1998, and has worked in a variety of settings, including community clinics, special schools and a rehabilitation unit for children with acquired brain injury. She has previously worked as a specialist Speech and Language Therapist for adults with learning disabilities, assessing and supporting clients with communication and dysphagia, and providing training to carers. She has completed the 2 day Picture Exchange Communication course, and the 2 day SCERTS training workshop. She is accreditated as a PACT practitioner. She has also been trained in Intensive Interaction, and has undergone training in the principles of the Hanen programme. Urszula originally trained as a Montessori Nursery teacher, and, prior to changing career to Speech & Language Therapy, worked for several years in a Montessori nursery and at a specialist Conductive Education Centre for children with cerebral palsy. She has been a member of the Team since the Spring Term of 2014.

Fiona Hebert

Specialist Teacher, BSc (Hons), PGCE

Fiona spent two years as a teacher in a mainstream setting, and the last four years she has been a strong and passionate member of the Circle Centre team at our specialist nursery. Fiona has great experience implementing the SCERTS framework and a real passion in early intervention and how it can support a child’s learning, play and communication.

Rebecca Wilkes

Specialist Teacher

Rebecca is a fully qualified primary school teacher, with over 10 years of experience of teaching (over 4 ½ years of this working with SEN children specifically). Having previously taught in other specialist settings including an autism-specific school run by The National Autistic Society, her experience demonstrates an ability to provide specialist teaching knowledge and practice to support young children with autism or social communication difficulties

Diana Hilton-Jones

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - LCST Dip. Speech and Language Pathology

After qualifying in 1979, Diana initially specialised in working with children with specific speech and language disorders and has worked in a variety of settings – clinics, special schools, mainstream schools and language units – with a range of paediatric client groups, many of whom have had social communication difficulties.

Diana has worked at Autism Early Support from 2005, in both the nursery and as part of the Autism Early Support team.

Alex Bostock

Paediatric Occupational Therapist, BSc(Hons) Occupational Therapy, RCOT

Alex has recently has qualified as an Occupational Therapist from the University of Northampton with a first class honours degree, and joined the Autism Early Support team in June 2021, bringing 18 years of experience of working with children. Prior to joining the charity, Alex has worked within a variety of settings including the PACE Centre with children with sensory motor disorders, at Booker Park Community school, a specialist school which focuses upon broad diversity of complex needs including Profound and Multiple, Severe and Moderate Learning Difficulties, as a learning support assistant within a mainstream primary setting, and as a nursery practitioner within a Montessori nursery. Alex assists families and practitioners to meet the sensory and motor needs of the children who are supported by the charity, both in the nursery and as part of the Autism Early Support outreach team

Contact us

Please contact us using the enquiry form on this page. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us using the details below.

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Autism Early Support

07422 574160 / 01296 733900

outreach@autismearlysupport.org.uk

Address:

Pace Business Centre

Office A, 15 Little Balmer

Buckingham

MK18 1TF

Support us

Autism Early Support is a charity which can only exist through the generosity of our supporters and volunteers.

As an individual, a company, a community group, a charitable trust, or as another funding or fundraising body – you can make a real difference to the development and life chances of children with autism or communication difficulties, to their families, and to the professionals that work with them. To find out more about our fundraising needs visit Support us at Autism Early Support

If you would like to find out more about how you can help, please contact us.

If you would like to make a donation, you can donate online by clicking the button below.

Thank you for your support and for the wonderful difference you can make.

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At Autism Early Support Trust Limited, we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who contact us (e.g. by telephone, in writing, by visiting our website or through use of social media), how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By contacting Puzzle Centre, you’re agreeing to be bound by this Policy.

Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to outreach@autismearlysupport.org.uk or by writing to Autism Early Support, Market House, 14 Market Square, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, MK18 3AF. Alternatively, you can telephone 01296 711547.

Who are we?

We’re Autism Early Support Trust Limited, a charity that promotes and delivers early intervention for young children with autism or communication difficulties and provides training and outreach to families and practitioners throughout the UK. Autism Early Support Trust Limited is a registered charity (no. 1141868) and company limited by guarantee (no. 07553552). The registered address is The Old School, Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire, MK18 2ET.

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you contact us, for example, when you enquire about products and services, register on the nursery waiting list, make a donation, attend an event or ask to receive our newsletter.

What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, and telephone number. If you access our website, we might also collect your IP address and information regarding what pages are accessed and when. If you make a donation online or purchase a product from us, your card information is not held by us, it is collected by our third party payment processors, who specialise in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions, as explained below.

When a user is registered as a member via our website certain Personally identifying information is required (Name, email address, Postal address, phone number etc.)

This information is stored on a database controlled by the website developers (MiP), in order that they (MiP) can recognise members when they sign into the website and access the members area / make bookings, and so that member information can be easily accessed and maintained by our staff.

If appropriate, we might also ask you for details about your child, such as name and date of birth.

How is your information used?

We will use your information to contact you only for the purposes and via the channels for which you have given us your consent.

For example, this might be to:

process a donation that you have made;
process orders that you have submitted;
to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us;
dealing with entries into a competition;
seek your views or comments on the services we provide;
notify you of changes to our services;
send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you.
process a job application.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations (for example the collection of Gift Aid). We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary.

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.
We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf:

We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process donations and send you mailings, or in the case on a membership scheme our the information is stored on a database controlled by the website developers (MiP), in order that they (MiP) can recognise members when they sign into the website and access the members area / make bookings, and so that member information can be easily accessed and maintained by Autism Early Support Trust Limited employees). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond Autism Early Support Trust Limited for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.

Third Party Product Providers we work in association with:

When you are using our secure online donation pages, your donation is processed by a third party payment processor, who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. If you have any questions regarding secure transactions, please contact us.

We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, or if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our supporters and customers. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Your choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not contact you for marketing purposes by post if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email: outreach@autismearlysupport.org.uk or telephone on 01296 711547. You can have your membership details deleted by contacting us directly when a membership is cancelled.

How you can access and update your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at: outreach@autismearlysupport.org.uk, or write to us at: Autism Early Support, Market House, 14 Market Square, Winslow Buckinghamshire, MK18 3AF. Alternatively, you can telephone 01296 711547.

If you have already let us know your communication preferences – thank you very much. You can return to this page at any time if you change your mind or want to update your details.

If you haven’t yet let us know your communication preferences, please read on….

New General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), introduced in May 2018, prevent us from contacting you without your prior consent. Therefore, for us to stay in touch with you and be complaint with GDPR, we’d be very grateful if you would let us know your communication preferences. You can choose what you’d like to receive from us and how you’d like to receive it.

If you decide to opt out of all communications from us your details will be removed from our records.

If you do nothing, we will assume that you do not want to hear from us and we will not contact you again.

However, we hope that you will choose to stay in touch as we’d love to keep you informed of our news and developments.

To update your communication preferences please email us at outreach@autismearlysupport.org.uk

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Autism Early Support Trust Limited holds about you.

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. For example, when you are on a secure page of our website, a lock icon will appear on the bottom of web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) given via our website are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.

Use of ‘cookies’

Like many other websites, Autism Early Support Trust website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your country preference. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit our full cookies policy. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Transferring your information outside of Europe

As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

Review of this Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in August 2020.

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The Circle Centre - our specialist nursery

Autism Early Support for families

Upcoming courses and latest news

Who we are

Our Nursery remains open and is abiding by COVID safe regulations. View our most recent nursery risk assessment(s) here.

What we do

When supporting a specific child, we deploy a range of interventions and therapies within the framework of the SCERTS model, to support a child’s needs. This support will be led by one or more members of our specialist team.

Meet the team

Laura Gomersall

Ella Millerchip

Julie Smith

Urszula Coghlan

Fiona Hebert

Rebecca Wilkes

Diana Hilton-Jones

Alex Bostock

Contact us

Your details

Type of enquiry

Your enquiry

Autism Early Support

Address:

Support us

Autism Early Support

SCERTS

Privacy Policy – Puzzle Centre