Target Specific Service

Covid-19 UPDATE...

Tailor Ed Foundation is continuing to support families with a children with autism. Our staff are maintaining weekly one to one support for families and children via digital platforms, telephone and email support whom we were supporting before COVID-19.

We are also running online group activities each day for children with autism: circle time, story telling, fun activities.

We have also started up online group respite support for parents including coffee mornings and fun quiz sessions

Normal service details...

Appointments and work groups to help parents and carers design and implement strategies to tackle the challenges their children with autism face in daily life.

What is it?

Our target specific service is designed to help parents/carers address specific targets or problems in daily family life. The majority of appointments are with parents and a Project Worker although home visits to work directly with your child may be arranged when required.

We can offer over 50 appointments each month. Each appointment will last an hour. If longer is required, a double-booking can be made to allow more time. We also offer work groups on specific target areas or training topics which a group of up to 6 parents can attend.

Who is it open to?

Any family who has a referral already accepted with Tailor Ed can access this service. In order to give useful, tailored advice, we need to know your child and family. As a result, we can only offer this service to families already referred to us or those following on from our Early Years Service. This includes families who have accessed support from Tailor Ed in the past. We can now offer this service to families for a longer period, until their child is 16.

How does it work?

On your first appointment, we will complete an assessment with you to update our understanding of your child and family life. We will complete a more specific assessment on the target area you have in mind or can help you identify what you’d like to work on. With the information from the assessment, you will develop a tailored intervention plan with us and we will give guidance and support on implementing this. You can then make a further appointment to plan next steps and review progress.

Between appointments you can get in touch by phone or email to update us on how it is going or any issues that have come up. We can use videos and occasional home visits to support you as well.

What can I ask for support with?

Over the last few years families have used this service in lots of different ways. If you’re unsure if the target you have in mind is something we will work on, feel free to get in touch and discuss it with us.

Below are some suggestions of the sorts of things we can help with:

Communication

We can help you find ways to improve communication between you and your child, for instance expanding how your child expresses what they want and need and how to use visual supports to aid understanding. We can help design and produce visual supports for your child during office based appointments. We also have experience of helping parents talk to their child about their diagnosis and other more complex communication areas such as dealing with online safety.

Daily stresses

Daily transitions, finishing something enjoyable, staying focused on essential daily tasks are often areas that can be difficult and we can help with. Often these will impact on being able to go out and about in your community and use public transport – again areas we can help you address.

Personal care

We can help you find strategies around daily necessities whether your child struggles to tolerate these things or wishes to develop more independence. Specifics targets can include washing, diet, teeth brushing, getting a haircut, dressing, sleeping and taking medicine.

Life events

We can also offer support around life events such as moving house, explaining bereavement, explaining why a family member is going to hospital or moving out, and navigating puberty.

As well as one to one appointments, our work groups can focus on these areas with a small group of parents as well as looking at broader themes such as understanding your child/their diagnosis and identifying the best ways to help them develop their skills.

How do I access this?

If eligible for this service you will receive a monthly email which details appointment times and locations across the city. You’ll be able to make an appointment by phone or email.