About the Attention Autism programme

Something worth communicating about

I have always wanted speech and language therapy to be something children and people with autism looked forward to and really enjoyed, not just something they had to do. If the therapy itself was dynamic, engaging and joyful, surely everyone involved would work with enthusiasm, motivation and creativity. Lets face it, we remember good times, shared experiences and simply having fun. Attention Autism was borne from this ideal.

I have now had the pleasure of working with hundreds of children and adults with autism and am delighted to have shared in their laughter, their attention and their learning. The Attention Autism approach is based on creating something worth communicating about.

Children, whether they are autistic or not, make sense of the world around them by taking in information through their senses, working out what it means to them and relating it to what they really understand. They build a bank of knowledge and experience that shapes how they interact, develop and grow as individuals. The problems start when you are not sure what a child is taking in. What do you do if they don't seem interested or don't share any interests with you?

This is the all too familiar problem when teaching children with autism - The answer is to make your interactions irresistible!

"For most of her life learning has been something that she has had to struggle through, to put up with usually on the promise of a reward - which was for the most part, to do her own thing! Learning and the class teacher was something she wanted to escape from.....I wanted my girl to learn through fun like any other child....and to enjoy it!".......

Rebecca's Mum

It is my vision:-  

  • To lead the field in the provision of specialist autism intervention that places joyful and dynamic learning at its centre
  • To develop a practical accessible framework that empowers individual creativity
  • To develop a service that welcomes and supports innovation
  • To translate research into a practical application in the field
  • To nurture and develop a team of highly skilled colleagues who will further develop the work in the field
  • To take good practice developed in the field of autism and to build innovative and accessible intervention for other vulnerable groups of children and adults.

Attention Autism has been designed to help parents and professionals give their child with autism an irresistible invitation to learn using fantastic activities and having a really good time whilst doing so.