A charity campaigner who set up an applied behaviour analysis (ABA) school for pupils with autism has received an OBE.
Karen Sorab gained the OBE for services to education after setting up Rainbow School in Wandsworth, London, in 2000.
Karen Sorab: humbled by receiving an OBE after setting up a school that uses Applied Behaviour Analysis
Just three pupils in a hut
She was among a group of parents behind the launch. It started life with just three pupils in a hut on the grounds of Wandsworth’s Beatrix Potter School.
Charity BeyondAutism now runs the school across two separate Wandsworth sites, Park House and Tram House.
Tram House has been redeveloped and it reopened last month.
The two sites now have more than 80 children and adults attending, aged 15 months to 25 years.
‘Humbled’
Sorab, 55, now chair of trustees at BeyondAutism, said she was “humbled” at receiving her OBE.
She added that she was “exceptionally proud” of the students who “make everything worthwhile”.
Around 16 London boroughs use the schools. Parents often fight lengthy battles for a place, including taking local authorities to tribunals.
Councils can be reluctant to fund places because of higher costs linked to one-to-one support and expert consultants used to supervise ABA.
The system uses rewards to develop positive behaviours.
Redeveloped: the new Tram House school building in Wandsworth, London
Sorab set up the school because she wanted a better future for daughter, Alex, who has autism.
Encouraged by progress using ABA
Before Alex turned three, experts told Sorab that she would probably never communicate. But Sorab educated Alex at home using ABA and found her progress very encouraging.
Sorab set up the charity with other parents because there was no suitable school locally where their children could continue using ABA.
Now aged 23, Alex is studying horticulture at an independent London college. Her mother says she has made strong progress there.
Related:
- Beam launches UK’s first online ABA service
- Train as an ABA therapist for your child’s programme
- Crackdown on fake ABA
- Looking for tools to support the therapy and education of your child?
Published: 1 March 2018
