Over the past couple of months, Bobbie has supported serving personnel and their families who have contacted her for support around Neurodiversity. Bobbie, who has previous experience shared some of the requests she received and how she responded to give those who are thinking about getting in touch an insight into the process.
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Request: Coping Strategies.
My daughter had a formal diagnosis of autism completed last year and we’ve had the early help teams, social services etc involved but all we get is ‘we’re doing everything right and we are not meeting the threshold required for help. My daughter struggles with school and finds it overstimulating and is now refusing to attend. The school are again referring her to the early help team. My wife and I have also started a EHCP application 2 weeks ago. I’ve reaching out for some sort of help in coping strategies or things to help her.
Response
“Quite often families are left wondering what to do next after a diagnosis. I’ve attached 3 lots of resources which might be of help – Reasonable Adjustments at School – which all schools can do to help – Autistic girls’ network, Neurodiversity in Females and how this can present differently to males – Kalmer Counselling and Supporting Your Neurodiverse Child – written for parents by parents and endorsed by Essex County Council.
You may also find the following websites really useful with providing the kind of support you are looking for: Challenging Behaviour Foundation – offer a broad range of information and guidance about challenging behaviour for SEN young people including those with ASD, Reaching Families – a parent led charity based in Littlehampton which supports families and children/young people with SEND and Aspens – who provide support to young people on the neurodevelopmental pathway living in West Sussex, including those struggling to attend education.
With regards to your request for an EHCP, West Sussex SENDIAS are able to provide impartial support around completing an application. Also, the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum will also be able to help (Contact details were given)”
A further follow up phone call took place with the parent to ensure that the resources were useful and to see whether any other support could be provided.
Request: Presenting Challenging behaviour
My stepson was ok when he was at nursery but when he moved to reception things were chaotic and there were issues with hitting out both at home and school. He would also bite, and this led to some exclusions. The school were not able to provide much support once, so I moved him to a single-entry school in Yr 1 and there has been some improvement in his behaviour. The headteacher has told me that my stepson’s behaviour may be due to early life trauma. The school have advised me to my stepson’s GP for a referral to CAMHS. I would like to know whether my stepson is displaying ASD traits or not so that he can get support both at school and home.
Response
I spoke to the stepdad about the pre-assessment service that the National Autistic Society can offer via the Naval Children’s Charity, then sent a follow up email about the Nurturing Anchors course and completed a referral form to the NCC for further support with the neurodiversity assessment.
