Established in 2001, Autism Early Support specialises in supporting autistic children through specialist education and therapies. They work closely with families to offer practical strategies, support and advice.
New service is an innovative online platform
This summer, they launch their brand new service, The Parent’s Portal – an innovative online platform offering guidance, knowledge and a peer network via parent support groups and practitioner workshops.
The Portal has been designed and curated by the AES team. Their CEO, Sarah Sweet-Rowley, explains how it was realised:
“Every day we would receive calls from parents who had nowhere else to turn, with limited resources. At best we could listen, signpost and add them to a waiting list.“‘Meanwhile, the parents we were working with every day were sharing their frustrations about the information they had access to, it was too often out of date, poor quality, conflicting and inconsistent – and overall just too difficult and time-consuming to navigate.
“The Portal was created out of our drive to be able to offer a more immediate and robust solution for parents.”
AES applied for funding from the CAF Resilience Fund in 2021 and when they were funded, The Parents Portal project became a reality.
What the service offers
They have created a unique, online platform offering parents with children aged 2-16 years:
- Access 24/7 – it’s been designed to be flexible and to fit around family time
- Trusted guidance – it contains reliable knowledge from AES practitioners who have worked with autistic children and their families for over 20 years
- An expanding resource library of content that has been curated and categorized to make things easy to find, store and read or watch again
- A programme of live interactive workshops delivered by AES practitioners with lived experience and autistic advocates from across the UK
- Signposting and advice and guidance on funding EHCPs and the SEN process
- A community of members – the platform is interactive and it allows parents to talk to our practitioners, meet other parents and join discussion forums
- It’s a non-judgmental space, where ideas are exchanged freely and parents can feel affirmed, listened to and supported.
How to access the Autism Early Support service
For unlimited 24/7 access to all features, there is a charge of £10 per month* per household.
There is no joining fee and parents can cancel at any time.
The Portal goes live on July 3rd. To pre-register your interest or join a live demo go to https://autismearlysupport.org.uk/parents-portal/
