Story of Change from Autism & Neurodiversity
By Janet Gauthier, Keep the Promise Team Leader, Autism and Neurodiversity
Autism and Neurodiversity – North Scotland received £125,000 through Promise Partnership funding for a pilot project to #KeepThePromise for neurodivergent children and their families. This community story is written by Janet from A-ND and shares more of their work to #KeepThePromise.
As evidenced by the Independent Care Review, what is most important to people is having supportive relationships and access to support when it is right for them. With Promise Partnership funding, we have employed a supported workforce of a team leader and two full time support workers. Staff focus on deepening relationships with families within our Aberdeen Playscheme working on the goals that are most important to families in the way that is right for them.
Our project began with 16 families with 8 families receiving fortnightly home visits in addition to their sessions at our Aberdeen Playscheme. We used an Outcomes Star, an evidence-based tool designed by Triangle Consulting, to measure change across areas of life including “My Routine”, “Attention and Organisation” and “Being Healthy”.
Within the first five months of home visits, we found that a staggering 100% of the children receiving home visits made progress within at least one area of life, and 88% saw progress in two or more areas. We noticed that the biggest impact occurred in “How you feel” and “How you behave” – nuanced areas of life that required shifts in the whole family to better manage schedules and approaches, as well as emotional or behavioural experiences. These dramatic changes were made possible by our close relationships and knowledge of families, and the dedicated time to work on strategies with them.
We have heard from families that their children are “full of confidence and trying new things as a result of the ‘Keep the Promise’ pilot project”.
For example, before starting this project, one child found it very challenging to sit in noisy, busy places like restaurants. His family resigned themselves that it was easiest to just avoid these situations altogether, however, this exclusion had a profound impact on the whole family’s wellbeing. Our Keep the Promise team developed the use of social stories to help make these unpredictable environments more manageable. By providing the child and his family with a clear plan of what to expect, and what strategies could be used, they were empowered to attend events they had previously avoided. The family attended a family dinner for four hours – a previously unimaginable occasion. The family reflected that they were able to relax and enjoy their time without being on constant alert for how their son might react. The use of social stories is now standard with their family and prepares them all for what to expect.
This is just one example, and we have also seen children improve dramatically in attention and focus, with one parent sharing:
“I have never seen him like this before – concentrating on one thing for almost an hour”.
This was made possible through a long-term relationship with the family and ability to learn what tasks their child enjoys the most, where the family would like to see improvements, and learning processing time techniques and communication strategies.
Our team has been grateful to take part in exciting opportunities such as attending the Stories of Change Conference in Edinburgh and highlighting our work in ACVO news. The chances to network with others working to keep the promise, and to share our learning, are never taken for granted.
As we near the end of our first year of funding, we are thrilled to have received additional #PromisePartnership funding to continue our home visits, sessions and collaboration with families until April 2025. This will strengthen the scaffolding for our workforce to be adequately supported with training and resources to look after their own wellbeing and practice, and to be flexible to provide the best care for the people we support. Continuing our established relationships means we will improve our understanding of each family, individual, and the support that is right for them.
It is a honour and a pleasure to help children to grow up safe, loved and respected, with support for their whole families. With the funding we have received, we are working to Keep the Promise, and are excited to see what we can accomplish together in our next year.
To learn more about how A-ND is Keeping the Promise, please see visit our website.