We understand what it is like to live with an autistic child or a child with communication differences. We are specialists in early intervention, tailored to the individual child and working closely with you
We specialise in support for children aged 2 to 12 years providing a clear and structured focus on key aspects of communication, behaviour, and emotional development, in response to your assessed needs. Our multidisciplinary team enables us to provide an integrated programme of intervention and support specific to you and your child through Specialist Teachers, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists. We also provide discrete, tailored packages of support for individual therapies.
We offer support to children and their families through a range of assessment and support packages available- please contact us to discuss your individual needs
Our expertise is built on evidence-based research and practice, delivered from our specialist nursery in north Buckinghamshire since 2001, achieving successive “Outstanding” Ofsted ratings.
You may have recently received a diagnosis of autism or another communication difference for your child and be wondering where to turn; you may be concerned about your child’s speech and language development; or you may be struggling to cope with your child’s lack of communication skills or ability to deal with certain situations or environments. We are here to help.
Our skilled team of teachers and therapists have years of experience of working with families who have autistic children and children with communication differences in the pre-school and primary school years. We can help you to understand and support your child to achieve his/her potential.
We can offer a bespoke tailored package of support or one-off assessments and reports. We work with children aged 2 to 12 years . Here are some of the ways we can help:
Speech and Language Therapy assessments, reports and support
Occupational Therapy assessments, reports and support
Educational Assessments, using the SCERTS* Educational Model
Ongoing Support Packages at home or school
*SCERTS = Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Supports. For more information on this approach visit www.scerts.com.
Our multidisciplinary team consists of Speech and Language and Occupational Therapists, Specialist Teachers and Learning Assistants who work together to provide tailored support for you and your child. All members of our team have years of experience of autism and communication difficulties, as well as specialist knowledge, skills and qualifications.
Please contact us to find out more about what we can do to support you and your child and our fees for these services.
Our approach is based upon working in very close partnership with our parents and carers.
In addition to the Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Educational Plans that we provide as part of our support for families, we are also developing The Parent’s Portal. (Launching July 2023)
This platform will support parents with children age 3-16 years by offering:
We work with families directly, and also with professionals involved with your child in nursery and school settings. We are privileged to receive frequent endorsements from families and professionals who are engaged both with our Autism Early Support services and with our specialist nursery.
Our Autism Early Support services are based on the same, proven approaches of our specialist nursery which has received successive “outstanding” ratings from Ofsted.
Our approach is child led. We look at everything through the child’s lens first, their well-being and happiness is always our priority.
Our aim is to equip all children with the tools and confidence they need to communicate, explore, play and enjoy the world around them, these outcomes go on to support their ongoing growth and development.
We treat every child as an individual. We celebrate and focus on their strengths and preferences. We recognise child behaviour as a form of communication so we take time to study, understand and identify the underlying reasons. This allows us to identify supports and strategies to help the child and their family. Causes of anxiety and behaviour can relate to unidentified or unmet needs so it is important we aim to uncover the root causes and triggers.
If a child is dysregulated or upset, we will not force them against their will, we will instead seek to understand why and adjust supports to enable them to share in positive experiences and extend their learning opportunities.
For example: when invited to an activity or transition, if a child resists or prefers not to engage, we will respond to each child and situation by making accommodations, such as:
Put simply, if we can enable a child to feel safe and understood, they become happier and they can flourish.
Through ongoing reflection, solutions and observation we can make adaptations and create supports that the child needs to feel ready to learn, based upon and in response to the child’s needs, wants and preferences.
By building connections and increasing predictability for the children, through time, patience and understanding their anxieties can decrease, they may engage and participate more widely. These are foundations we aim for in an effort to support each child’s learning and growth in a way best suited to them.
While strengthening the child’s abilities to communicate, interact, play and learn we will be working closely with parents & families to broaden their understanding of their child’s needs, answer their questions and offer strategies to try at home.
We describe our approach as holistic. By this, we mean we employ a multi-disciplinary team to work with each child and we strive to involve all of the relevant agencies that surround the child, including their family and other settings.
We are:
Child-led. We look at everything through the child’s lens first, their well-being and happiness is always our priority.
We focus on understanding and appreciating the child’s perspective, we do not work towards trying to change them. We accommodate each child’s needs to maximise function and use their skills and strengths to enable the child to thrive, learn and develop.
Needs-led. Regardless of diagnosis, we listen to the parent, we observe the child and we work with them to support the areas of need.
Focussed on child’s strengths We design our support around the child’s strength, interests and preferences to optimise engagement and enable the child to thrive.
Neuro-affirmative. We listen to and believe there is always more to learn from the neurodivergent population. We strive to adapt and tailor our support to reflect these perspectives.
We are collaborative. The children and families we work with teach us so much.