A Parent's Story
I have a 5 year old son who now has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, along with an additional diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder...
From our first session Sarah showed us subtle communication attempts that our son was making that we weren’t aware of and gave us strategies to employ to try and develop his language. What was equally valuable to us as first time parents though, was the reassurance we got from her sessions because as well as giving us practical advice to try and develop our son’s communication she also took the time to listen to and help address a lot of our concerns. Through her connections in the ASD field she was also able to recommended an occupational therapist to us, who has helped us recognise that a lot of our son’s more challenging behaviour is due to an excess of energy and can be controlled through physical activity, which was a genuine turning point.
Without wishing to denigrate the NHS, which is massively underfunded in this area, the support that Sarah has offered us is on a completely different level. If not for her help we would have had a handful of sessions with an NHS therapist at intervals that their oversized caseload would allow and our son would have developed considerably less than he has. On that basis I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.
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WHAT OTHER PARENTS SAY
Paul and Jill
Your input has helped us consider our behaviours and better understand our son, guiding us through a very daunting period as parents. The recommendations have proven invaluable and we continue to see regular progress.
Heather
The sessions really helped us to spot the communication opportunities that we'd been missing before and capitalise on them. The benefits and progress in our son's communication skills have been clear to see. Thank you so much!
Uma
Thank you for the session summaries. I look forward to them coming and needless to say implement the ideas and aims consistently. We've noticed a real positive change in our son. Your ongoing work is clearly paying off so thanks again
A Teacher's Story
Working alongside Sarah was instrumental to the success and transformation of not only the ARC provision , but also the lives of the individuals and families she worked with.
Sarah worked tirelessly, maintaining a person centred approach throughout, to ensure that the young people were supported. Sarah worked with whole classes, small groups, individuals and their families.
She delivered provision wide, and targeted individual staff training to up-skill staff members to be able to better meet the communication needs of the young people. Staff were then able to implement interventions and approaches were embedded into o everyday practice. She devised an outcome tool that allowed us to follow the asses, plan, do, review cycle and demonstrate measurable progress in all areas of social communication.