At this current time, social media pages and forums are flooded with SEN training and opportunities. Probably more than ever before due to the restrictions of Covid 19. Businesses that were running a face to face service, like autism act, have had to change their services. My favourite phrase is ‘I had to turn my business on a sixpence over night’ – but it is true. For a small, independent, fledgling business it could have spelled disaster but the passion I have for consultancy and training made me reinvent my services. However, it was important to still keep my high standards for content and delivery.
If you are considering using autism act for your training needs, here’s 5 reasons to convince you to make it your first choice.
1 Experience of the consultant and trainer
The consultant and trainer is me! I am Sarah, Sarah is autism act and autism act is Sarah. I have a wealth of experience since graduating with a B Ed honours degree in 1994. My mainstream experience as a primary teacher, SENCO, Inclusion Leader, Assistant Head have all led to the unique perspective I have when advising autism in a mainstream setting. My experience as a local authority autism specialist teacher, gaining a M Ed degree autism in 2018, gave me the opportunity to use my mainstream experience to help provide realistic and manageable, yet specialist advice.
As a local authority autism specialist teacher advice, consultancy and training was my job – that’s what I provided for 28 local schools. These skills underpin the services for autism act, so it’s my comfort zone, what I am good at and what I am passionate about.
From March 2015 to December 2019 I was a registered trainer for the Autism Education Trust. I used one of their concepts as the basis for my M Ed dissertation, which as since become one of the basic, underlying themes of the autism act service.
2 Easy to understand concepts
Autism is complicated, it’s complex – to be honest it’s blown my mind on many occasions, made me think outside the box, ponder on the why and the what. However, underneath it all is a very tangible concept that can be the key to our understanding as the supporting adult.
This concept underpins autism act consultancy and training because once you understand the key autistic differences, you can build a deeper understanding of an individual child, whilst informing and guiding your own practice. This work is in line with up to date thinking on autism, promoting ‘difference not deficit’ by the AET.
3 Range of training available
Another reason to choose autism act for your training needs is the range offered. Tuesday night zoom workshops have now become a permanent feature due to their popularity. They cover a range of topics to suit a range of training needs. While the Tuesday night zoom workshops have to have a generic approach, booking a staff meeting (either virtual or face to face) meets bespoke needs. I have the experience to make a staff meeting meet the needs of your school, whether you are primary, secondary, infant, junior of a pre-school setting.
Training also comes in the form of coaching individuals or small groups. Again, this is bespoke to your needs and the type of provision you want coaching or putting in place in your school.
If you want a more 1:1 training service, this can be done through consultancy either face to face or via zoom. This gives the opportunity to meet your own needs as much as possible, whether you feel you are starting from the very beginning or you want a critical friend to extend your thinking and level of skill. autism act can meet both of those needs.
4 Quality service
As a former SENCO I know what standard of service I would want to access and this drives the quality of the service I am offering. Over the years, I have been on courses myself where I hadn’t felt I’d learnt what I wanted to, or didn’t feel the recommendations would work in my setting. The autism act aim is to deliver honest, realistic, down to earth, usable training. I do not train masses of people in one go; it’s about the quality of the service and not how many people I can train via zoom. This enables the service to be friendly yet informative and professional.
If you are considering 1:1 training or consultancy, I go at your pace and start at your starting point. That is really important; that none of the basic yet critical information goes unnoticed or is left unsaid.
I want returning customers; people coming back to autism act because they are impressed with the quality of the service and what it offers.
5 Value for money
Being new to business, I had no idea what to charge for my services. I had to turn my hand to some research to find out what others were charging and what service was offered for that price. I had to take into consideration my own level of skill and experience, in addition to what people can afford or are willing to pay. All services are costed accordingly and I believe autism act offers a value for money service. I am a business and need to make a living, whilst delivering an affordable, quality service too.
So 5 unequivocal reasons to consider autism act for your training needs. There are lots of training opportunities out there to choose from but what I deliver is unique to autism act.
#autismawareness #raisingknowledge #buildingconfidence #feelingempowered #smallbusinessservice #qualityservice