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How to access the ASD Outreach service

The ASD Outreach team are based at Kings Park School:

Newhaven School – King’s Park Campus

Eltham Palace Road,

Eltham,

LONDON SE9 5LX

Telephone: 020 8921 3311

E mail: ASD-Outreach@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Who can access the ASD Outreach Service?

  • Any child with an ASD diagnosis attending a Greenwich mainstream school
  • Families can access our training if their child has an ASD diagnosis and they are resident in Greenwich

 

What do I need to do to be referred?

 Families will need to fill in a consent from which can be obtained via:

  • Ringing or emailing the office via the links above
  • From your child’s school SENCO

You will need to:

  • Fill in the form and sign and send back to the address/ email above
  • Send a copy of information confirming that your child has a diagnosis of ASD

 

Who works in the ASD Outreach Service?

  • The service is led by the Head of SEND Outreach services who is a specialist ASD teacher.
  • There are 5 specialist ASD teachers who have all worked in specialist ASD settings over a long period of time before working with the team
  • Additional specialist Speech and Language Therapy from OXLEAS NHS trust
  • Additional specialist Occupational Therapy from OXLEAS NHS trust 
  • An ASD transition co-ordinator who oversees the transition of pupils with an ASD from primary to secondary school
  • ASD Outreach Workers who are highly skilled staff who have typically worked within a specialist ASD provision before coming to work with the ASD Outreach team

 

How do we work with children?

  • Some children will be “review on request “as their needs will be being met at school level and they don’t need ASD outreach input at that point in time, children move flexibly between levels of need according to need, on a term by term basis.
  • Where children need support directly, the service works with children in blocks and uses the levels in the chart below. Children move up and down levels according to what they need at a particular time:

 

 LEVEL  

 

 DESCRIPTION

 

        TYPE OF INTERVENTION

 

 SESSIONS ALLOCATED

 

 A

 

 SHORT TERM BLOCK 

 

  • Introducing a specific intervention e.g. a 5 point scale, setting up a work station etc.
  • Year 5/6 students where there are concerns re transition and they need a specific strategy to be introduced to support them.

  

 Block of 3 sessions

 Recommendations/aim setting and visit record at end   of the block

 

 B

 

 HALF-TERMLY   BLOCK

 

  • Review and update of established programme including PECS
  • All year 6 students where there are concerns re transition

 

 

 2 sessions per term.

 Recommendations/aim setting and visit record at each   review.

 

 C

 

 TERMLY REVIEW

 

  • Update of ongoing communication programme for verbal child
  • All students in year 5 and 6 from spring term in year 5.

 

 

 1 session per term.

 Recommendations/aim setting and visit record at the   review

 

 D

 

 REVIEW ON     REQUEST

 

  • All students at a minimum, if not receiving a more intensive package.

 

 As stated ….school request review

 

WHO DELIVERS ASD OUTREACH SUPPORT?

  • All children have an allocated lead professional from the Outreach team, decided at the outset of intervention depending on the information in the referral. Typically this is a teacher, but can be a Speech and Language Therapist if this is felt to be appropriate. They will assess the child in the school setting with the school ASD Outreach Worker, write an initial report and coordinate all input from the service. This means reviewing all intervention plans developed by ASD Outreach workers.
  • Ongoing input in school would be from the school’s allocated ASD Outreach Worker, but with teacher input as needed. All end of block summaries are seen and discussed as needed with a teacher/SALT within the team.
  • Teachers deliver most training together with the SALT and OT in the team as needed.

ASD Outreach worker qualifications and skills

ASD Outreach workers come with a range of different qualifications and experience, but typically have:

  • Worked in a specialist ASD setting
  • Have a range of different training experiences specific to ASD
  • Have extensive experience in delivering interventions linked to the age range in which they will be working
  • May have post graduate qualifications
  • Have worked with a range of children with an ASD, often in a range of settings
  • Have worked within an educational setting relevant to the age range of the children they will be supporting

ASD Outreach training

School based ASD Outreach Workers are on a specialist teaching assistant scale and do the direct support in school via a shadowed working/training approach:

  • Modelling interventions and strategies
  • Setting aims with the teaching assistant

Formalised training would be delivered in a range of ways, typically by a teacher. Courses are run at the central base so any of the teachers above, or the SALT or OT as appropriate or together, could be delivering the training.

A full list of all the courses on offer, all of which are free to schools, with the exception of Attention Autism, which has to be delivered by a licensed trainer, is available via the link below

In addition, whole school training can be delivered on site, such as ASD awareness and ASD for mealtime supervisors, on site at school, again free of charge to the school.

To find out more about the service and strategies available click here