Our Very Special Families
We Recognise the Important Role Families Play
Working in Partnership
At 'the little group', we recognise that parents/carers play the most significant role in a child's development. Our team is committed to working in partnership with our families and with any other agencies involved with our children such as Portage Workers and Health Visitors.
We understand that receiving a diagnosis for your child of an autistic spectrum disorder or complex communication disorder can be a terrible shock. Families naturally feel emotional, very likely ranging from fear to anger and sadness. Many families are afraid they won't be able to cope, will not know what to do or indeed know how to start helping their child.
We Support our Families
When working with families, one of our key aims is to provide parents/carers with support and advice about their child's difficulties. Throughout their child's placement, parents/carers will have access to our Team's specialist knowledge each time they attend a session.
In addition to the initial home visit, further visits to a family's home are available as needed. As we are part of the Eagle House Group we can also draw upon the expertise of the Eagle House multidisciplinary team of psychologists and occupational therapists.
Keeping in touch
In addition to seeing our Team at each session, we also keep parents up to date via telephone contact, our Home/School books, reports and through our regular updates to the children's individual education plan (IEP) which not only provides an overview of objectives and achievements but also sets attainable goals.
Family Training
Family involvement is fundamental to 'the little group' Approach and as such, we run termly Parent Workshops with sessions on a Saturday too for extended family members. Just as 'fun' is vital to our children, our workshops for the adults are fun and informal too. We cover subjects such as communication, play, behaviour and give some helpful ideas on how you may cope better in the home.
As part of each child's placement, 'the little group' offers a full package of training workshops for families which are held every Friday for an hour, six times per term. The workshops cover:-
- Attention development
- How a child with autism learns
- The use of 'structure'
- Building Communication
- Modifying your own communication
- Understanding and tackling behaviours
Our Saturday workshops run for 3 hours and cover all the subjects above aimed at parents and other family members who cannot attend on a Friday. Our annual workshop is also available to families and covers issues such as:-
- Toilet training
- Transition to school
- workshops for siblings/grandparents
- Training to other professionals