Early Years: Engage, Communicate, and Play

There is a wealth of evidence that a child’s development is most rapid during their pre-school years. This means for children with a developmental delay it is vital that early intervention should commence as soon as possible; and yet we found that there is a clear gap in specialist support for pre-school aged children (15 months -5 years). So, we launched a dedicated Early Years’ service for young children with autism and other communication difficulties, their families and professionals.

Our dedicated, multidisciplinary team focus on creating positive outcomes in social, emotional, cognitive and speech development - all tailored to the needs of the individual child and family.

They also provide support for parents in understanding their child’s behaviours, teaching strategies to help navigate and meet their child’s individual needs - with immediate and long-term positive impacts for the wellbeing of the child and family.

Thanks to grants from Children in Need and the Big Lottery Fund, and the generosity of individual supporters, we launched our Early Year’s provision as a free service in 2018. Since then we have supported over 50 families.

There is substantial demand for specialist support, and we’re determined to secure the long-term future of our provision so we can continue to empower families and help set children on a path to achieving their full potential. We are seeking your support to help ensure that the service remains free and inclusive to all families wishing to access it.