Pilot underway in South Gloucestershire schools to improve support for neurodiversity

It's hoped it will improve support for children awaiting assessment for autism and ADHD

Author: Kellie MaddoxPublished 1st Dec 2024

A new pilot scheme is underway in South Gloucestershire exploring ways to improve support for children awaiting assessment for neurodivergent needs like autism and ADHD.

The six-month profiling pilot has been developed by local health and education services working with parent carer forums, charities, schools and other partners.

It will operate alongside the area’s existing autism and ADHD assessment service and will provide earlier identification and understanding of children’s needs, so that staff can work with families to develop support strategies while they wait for a formal assessment.

The pilot will run in 42 local primary and secondary schools across the South West, plus eight nurseries, until March 2025. Around 200 children and their families are expected to take part, including home-educated children and young people.

Sirona care & health runs the area’s autism assessment service and will be managing the pilot scheme on a day-to-day basis working with local schools.

Lead for children’s autism assessment at Sirona, Vicki Bates, said: “We know that many parent carers struggle to get the right help for their neurodivergent child, and we’re committed to addressing that.

“This pilot will complement the existing autism and ADHD assessment service, by providing an earlier understanding of a child’s needs and then guiding families to relevant resources and support.

“We’ve considered best practice from across the country in designing the scheme and we’ll be evaluating it very carefully over the coming months to understand its potential benefits in more detail.”

The three local parent carer forums for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire have been closely involved in developing the pilot.

Chief executive officer of South Gloucestershire Parent Carers, Rachel Trueman, said: “Many families find it hard to navigate the health and education system, or to know who to talk to when they have concerns that their child may be neurodivergent.

“Even when children are accepted on to the autism or ADHD assessment waiting list, the difficulty some families face in accessing support can mean their needs go unmet while they are waiting.

“I hope the pilot will tackle this by improving understanding of children’s needs at a much earlier stage in their journey towards assessment, and then helping families to access support right away.”

The pilot features a neurodiversity profiling tool, first developed in Portsmouth and now widely used in other areas, which will be used in education settings to provide an early understanding of children’s needs.

A neurodiversity support team at Sirona care & health will train professionals in schools and nurseries to complete the profiling tool, then provide advice on available guidance and support that could help the child or young person at home or in their school or nursery.

Detailed evaluation will be carried out after March to understand the potential impact and benefits of the scheme for children and their families.

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