Autism Support in Rutland for Children and Young People

Rutland County Council’s Inclusion service aims to identify all children with Additional Needs as early as possible. Our priority is to help all children to be happy and able to learn and progress as well as they can, and we aim to provide appropriate help as early as possible.

The service works with children and adolescents (2 - 17 years old) who may have a diagnosis of autism, or who are struggling in the areas of communication, social interaction, or emotional self-regulation.

Information and advice is provided to staff in schools, tailored to the individual child’s needs. Requests for Inclusion (ASD) support are made by schools and colleges through an Inclusion referral.

The support offered provides flexible, holistic and tailored advice and support for children and adolescents in primary schools and colleges. Home Support can also be offered, to help parents to understand the nature of the difficulties their child might be experiencing, and offer tried and tested suggestions.

Parental consent is always required before support can be put in place. Any support is through parental discussion and with their agreement. Family support is also part of this service, to help parents and families to understand their child’s difficulties and how they affect their child and their behaviour; and advise strategies and approaches that are known to be effective.

Families who are being supported through Rutland’s Early Help model are able to access advice from this Inclusion service through their family support worker, if considered appropriate.

Visits can be made to nurseries, day care and pre-school settings to assess children and work with staff to provide the best experience for individual children. Our aim is to work together to enable the child to achieve the best possible outcomes.

A regular Autism meeting is held for parents and carers, hosted by the Aiming High service. This provides a relaxed environment for parents to share experiences, and to choose topics they want to be addressed. Topics covered previously include Sensory Processing, Challenging Behaviour, Sleep, Eating. Advice is available from knowledgeable and experienced practitioners. If requested, we arrange for a speaker to join the group for an expert view on a particular subject.

Training packages on Autism can be delivered to a wide range of groups including parents, schools and Early Years staff.