The ASSIST team (Autism Spectrum Service for Information, Support & Training) is part of the 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability Service at Wokingham Borough Council People's Directorate, based at Woodley Airfield Centre .
The team supports children and young people with autism, people who live with them, and people who work with them from diagnosis up to their 18th birthday, and who live in the Wokingham Borough. The service can provide:
- Information, support, advice and signposting to other services
- Resources such as symbols, photographs and timetables
- Opportunities to meet with the ASSIST team to discuss strategies – contact the team for dates of monthly drop in sessions held at Bridges Resource Centre
- Support to families to look at issues in the home environment and move towards solutions
- Support to school staff to look at issues in the school environment and move towards solutions
- Support to leisure providers to include children with autism
- Consultation support to professionals to look at issues and solutions
- Co-ordination of NAS EarlyBird, EarlyBird plus and Healthy Minds parent programmes, and the Next Steps parent programme
- National Autistic Society EarlyBird, EarlyBird Plus and Healthy Minds parent programmes (overseen by NAS and managed locally by the ASSIST team) -
These parent programmes are available for parents and their supporters of a child/young person with autism. Early Birds is for pre-school children, EarlyBird Plus for aged 5 – 9. The Healthy minds programme is for primary school aged children. The programmes aim to:
- Support families
- Empower parents and carers
- Help families to understand their child’s autism
- Structure interactions in which communication can develop
- Pre-empt problem behaviours and handle those that occur
The Next Steps parent programme is for parents of a young person over the age of 9 receiving a diagnosis of autism.
Contact the team to find out more details and when the next programmes are running.
For further details of our service please view our service description (PDF)
The ASSIST team work closely with the Wokingham Children’s Autism Partnership to deliver a wide range of autism specific workshops locally. Please contact ASSIST for more information.
Transition toolkit – generated by a group of parents and practitioners, the toolkit aims to help and support the planning of a move from one setting to another. Each transition will be unique to the child, and the toolkit promotes (as an example) best practice guidance. It includes appropriate actions for parents and carers, and the professionals involved in the current setting and the new setting.
- Provider:
- Service provided by Wokingham Borough Council
