Autism Early Support

Who we are

Established in 2001, we are specialists in early intervention education for young autistic children and children with sensory or communication diffierences.  We empower and upskill their families, so they feel confident in supporting and advocating for their child’s needs, and we provide training to teachers and practitioners across the UK to help broaden the understanding of autism.

We do this through our Circle Centre Nursery; our Outreach work 1:1 with children at home and in other settings; our training courses for parents, carers, practitioners, local authorities and schools, along with consultancy; and our Parent Support Groups. Each child has a bespoke, specialist education plan, which is delivered by our professional team of speech and occupational therapists, and 1:1 Learning Assistant support. Historically, 100% of our children leave us with greater ability in the following:

• Communicating verbally and non-verbally

• Regulating their emotions

• Confidence to interact with others and to engage in the world around them

Our ultimate objective is to prepare every child to progress onto the next stage of their education, with the confidence to take part in and enjoy the learning activities – and for their families to feel able and empowered to support their child, and advocate for them and their needs when necessary.

Vision, Mission and Values

Our vision:

Every autistic child and child with sensory or communication differences receives timely, appropriate and high quality education, therapy and support.

Our mission:

Using specialist education and therapies we support autistic children to find their ways to communicate and interact with others and we empower parents to understand and advocate for their children’s needs.

Our approach

• Child-Led
• Needs-Led
• Focus on children’s strengths
• Neuro-affirming

Our values

• Integrity – we’re being trusted to impact the course of a child’s future
• Compassion – we proactively support & empower parents, to help to improve whole-family well-being
• Empathy – understanding and listening is at the heart of our service. We never judge, because ‘we get it’
• Expertise – our beneficiaries need specialist knowledge, support and guidance
• Excellence – the children & families we support deserve the highest quality education, therapy & support.

Our unique benefit:

Leading the way, by setting high standards of early support and education for young autistic children or children with sensory or communication differences, and the delivery of outstanding early intervention by our team of specialist teachers, therapists and support assistants.

Our successful delivery of pioneering early intervention is both at a local and national level, through the dissemination of good practice.

Autism Early Support will achieve this by:

• Providing a highly specialised nursery education for children aged between 2 and 5 years.
• Providing outreach programmes into the home and/or education setting for children up to age 12 years.
• Providing ‘The Parent’s Portal’ an interactive 24/7 online platform of resources and support designed for parents
• Working closely with families to provide them with specialist advice, support, guidance and training courses.
• Providing training courses across the UK for practitioners and organisations, including local authorities, so that they are able to meet the needs of young autistic children or children with sensory or communication differences, in a range of settings, including specialist provisions.  These training courses would educate  practitioners on the core principles of our model of working, enabling them to implement best practice to support the children in their setting.
• Informing policy and research at a national level on the provision of high quality specialized early intervention and education for young autistic children or children with sensory or communication differences.

Our Nursery setting (Circle Centre) offers children:

• Specialist early intervention for children with autism or significant communication needs.
• A small group setting with a ratio of at least one adult to two children at all times.
• The development of a bespoke programme, tailored to meet the individual needs of each child, which is implemented by our teachers and therapists during every session.
• A highly structured session in a stimulating but ‘low arousal’ environment.
• Clear language based themes for each session.
• Visual structure - use of pictures, symbols, gestures, signs and other visual aids to help understanding.
• Strong emphasis on learning communication and social skills, self-help skills, and emotional regulation.
• An expert multi-disciplinary team including involvement from specialist teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and learning assistants who apply autism specific and language difficulty expertise and approaches using a communication based curriculum.
• Parental guidance, support and training - including workshop sessions, training courses, newsletters and home-school notebooks.
• Family support – parent support groups, and the advice and support of a family support coordinator.
• Ongoing assessment and reviews of progress.