ASSIST is a Wokingham Borough Council Service which offers information about autism, local events and the opportunity to attend courses run for parents who have a child with a recent diagnosis of autism.

work is underway to scope and develop a national autism peer education offer that will support parents and carers to access high quality learning materials across the country and provide regional training capabilities. vi] Boterberg S, Warreyn P (2016) Making sense of it all: The impact of sensory processing sensitivity on daily functioning of children. Personality and Individual Differences.

Ways to get involved

Children can develop low self-esteem. Autism Awareness and Acceptance Week is the perfect opportunity to uplift them and help them to boost their confidence. Let us flip all the negatives into positives and remember the empowering blessings of spontaneity, hyperfocus, creativity, and unconventional thinking… to name a few. We want to celebrate your wonderful child and YOU! And this beautifully designed Autism Acrostic Poem Poster can help us do that. Autism stands for: Autistic people often have difficulty 'reading' other people - recognising or understanding others' feelings and intentions - and expressing their own emotions. This can make it very hard to navigate the social world. Autistic people may:

Outdoor activities. This could be sports or a nature activity. It gives them a different environment to explore, and the sports will help them to use any extra energy they have. This is a task designed to simulate the difficulties that many people with autism encounter when trying to communicate. Pupils take part in an activity in which they have to think very carefully about the words they use and what they are saying.Putting this poster up in a staff room or sharing it with friends and other parents is a fantastic way to try and help more people be aware of some key facts about autism.

Just a thought, although there are some common issues within the different user groups, people are individuals, so I think the ability to personalise is what will truly enable accessibility. This resource has also been made with eco-saving ink. Feel free to print as many as you like for around your school, classroom or staff room!

iii] MacLennan K, Roach L, Tavassoli T (2020) The relationship between sensory reactivity differences and anxiety subtypes in autistic children. Autism Research.