Specialist education provider Norland College has teamed up with the Transforming Autism Project [TAP] to launch a new early autism family support programme, known as First Steps.
First Steps has been developed by Norland’s expert researchers, using the very latest in scientific evidence and input from child therapists, autism experts and parents of autistic children.
Funded by the Norland Foundation, the new programme is targeted toward offering early support to children under the age of four with and without an autism diagnosis, as well as their families.
Autism in very young children is a topic into which limited research has been undertaken to date. The average age for an autism diagnosis in the UK is four-and-a-half years, despite it being possible to identify autism within a child’s first year. This means that there is a distinct lack of accessible and effective services that can properly support children and families that are affected by autism that presents itself before four-and-a-half years of a child’s life.
First Steps as a programme, therefore, aims to address the lack of support or guidance available to those affected. A full diagnosis of autism is not required for parents or carers to engage with the First Steps initiative, which has been licensed to TAP for implementation.
The Norland research that supports the programme is led by the College’s research fellow, Dr Theodora Papatheodorou.
First Steps begins with and then builds upon the child’s potential and the caregiver’s strengths and capacities to nurture a system of foundational support and understanding that is essential to help create a secure and trusting relationship with the autistic child, whose wellbeing is a constant at the centre of the programme.
Dr Papatheodorou comments: “First Steps is informed by the latest scientific evidence about brain development, the reciprocity of sensorimotor and affective experiences, and the impact of parental/caregiver stress levels on the developmental trajectory of autism in very young children.
“The programme seeks to blend Norland’s extensive early years expertise with specialised scientific research into autism.”
Guy Shahar, founder and CEO of TAP, adds: “We are really delighted to be able to offer these important new services that address a deep and largely unmet need for practical support to families with very young autistic children. They are intended to help create a safe environment around them where they can feel truly understood, and to help strengthen that vital relationship between the parent and the autistic child.”
First Steps – which has been co-constructed by licensed therapists, autism experts and parents – consists of six weeks of regular home visits from licensed child psychotherapists and paediatric occupational therapists. Working in collaboration with the child and caregiver, the programme team will assess how the child and family function within their home environment and deliver an expertly curated support and guidance plan for enhancing intentional and reciprocal child and caregiver interaction.
Caregivers will also be provided with the tools to recognise how their personal stress impacts on the interaction with their autistic child and enable them to develop appropriate communication styles of interaction.
The programme aims to enable parents and carers to develop a deeper understanding of their child’s experience and what they are trying to communicate. This enhances their ability to notice enjoyable ‘incidents of glimmer’ in their interaction with the child and create an environment where these moments can be replicated.
At the heart of Norland’s research and expertise, is the importance of the family environment in nurturing a child. Through First Steps, parents are able to acquire all the requisite skills to create the optimal environment to create a deep and sensitive emotional connection with their child, free of under- and over-stimulation.
Moreover, the purpose of First Steps is to empower parents and carers to seek support and collaborate with statutory, voluntary private service providers and educational institutions to receive services that meet the child’s and family’s needs.
Through engaging with the First Steps programme, the children themselves will gain a stronger sense of self and an enhanced emotional resilience, as well as being able to form deeper and more meaningful connections with their family and friends.
Further information on the programme can be found by reading the First Steps project synopsis.
Photo by Ryan Fields on Unsplash
