Children with SEND are five times more likely to be excluded from school and are at a higher risk of abuse and exploitation. There are a vast amount of children that are not able to access education, home educated, waiting on a school placement or are on reduced timetables. This can leave these children with very few options to access activities and social opportunities which can lead to poor mental health & isolation.
I offer 1:1 direct sessions to young people around their presenting needs . These needs could be around their SEND (pre & post diagnosis), identity, emotional regulation, self-esteem, poor mental health, adverse childhood experiences and vulnerabilities to exploitation. I use a neuroaffirming approach as this is a strength-based approach which aims to empower and support unique needs and strengths which I believe is important for a young persons self-esteem.
I support the young person in understanding and recognising their needs and some of the barriers they may face. I support parents to understand their child's difficulties and I liaise with professionals that support them.
I offer schools autism screening for their young people so I can create a profile of how best schools can support children with SEND & I provide safeguarding support and audits in schools. I believe that working in collaboration achieves the best outcomes for children.
In addition to this I complete ADOS-2 autism assessments as part of a multidisciplinary team. SEND Support Banbury has a team made up of myself, clinical psychologists and a speech and language therapist. We offer assessments in the comfort of your home if you believe this option would be better for your child or in clinic.
We take into consideration the Pathological Demand Avoidant profile, however, as the diagnosis is not part of the DSM-5 criteria we will make a diagnosis of autism with a demand avoidant profile to minimise a diagnosis being challenged by schools or local authorities. In all of our assessments we work by NICE guidelines and have at least three practitioners involved in each assessment.