Home Support
Our programme
SENARP Home Support brings specialist autism support into your family’s home, for children at any school in Barking and Dagenham. The same Home Support Advisor visits every week for most of a school term, and the strategies stay with you long after.
In partnership with the NHS and Barking and Dagenham Council since 2022.
What happens
How the programme works
From the first visit to the last, the same advisor works with you at home.
Step 1
Home assessment
About an hour in your own home, including a SCERTS communication profile. A written report follows, setting out where your child is now and where support will matter most.
Step 2
Your advisor prepares
Over two weeks, your Home Support Advisor reads the assessment, agrees visit times around your family, and makes your child’s resources and visual pack.
Step 3
Weekly visits and training
Ten weekly visits for primary-age children and eight for secondary, from the same advisor. Together you work on the hardest parts of the day, such as routines, communication, sensory needs, self-care and independence, and you learn the strategies as you go. Every visit is written up with photographs and a note of what was done.
Alongside the visits, parents have training on autism and the approaches behind them: live online sessions each week for primary families, and recorded sessions for secondary families to watch when it suits them.
Step 4
After the visits
The resources stay with you, and a progress report goes to you and your child’s school, so the strategies carry on in class. Families are also invited to termly coffee mornings on Zoom.
How we work
Built on two established approaches
All behaviour is communication, even when words are absent.
Spoken language is one tool of many. Children also communicate through gestures and sign, photos and symbols, voice-output devices and their behaviour, and part of our work is recognising what your child is already using. Everything an advisor does is built on SCERTS and TEACCH, two recognised approaches your child’s school is likely to know too.
SCERTS
Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support. An evidence-based approach used in schools, homes and communities, built around three pillars.
S
Social
C
Communication
Social communication
Sharing attention, making requests and connecting with others.
E
Emotional
R
Regulation
Emotional regulation
Managing strong feelings, so a child stays available for learning and connection.
T
Transactional
S
Support
Transactional support
How parents, carers and teachers adjust the environment to help.
TEACCH
A structured teaching approach developed at the University of North Carolina, and one of the most widely researched ways of teaching autistic children. We follow its holistic approach.
T
Teaching
Clear, explicit teaching.
E
Expanding
Skills grown step by step.
A
Appreciating
Valuing how autism works.
C
Collaborating
Working alongside families.
C
Cooperating
A shared, consistent approach.
H
Holistic
The whole child and home.
TEACCH’s four principles
Understanding
Start from how your child experiences the world, their strengths and their challenges.
Individualised
Support is shaped around your child, never a one-size-fits-all programme.
Structure
Space, time and tasks are organised so that expectations are clear and explicit.
Predictability
Visual structure helps your child see what is happening and what comes next.
Who it’s for
Is Home Support right for your child?
Any school in Barking and Dagenham
For children at a school in Barking and Dagenham. The referral comes from the school.
Reception to Year 13
For children and young people from Reception to Year 13.
No diagnosis needed
For autistic children and those on the autism assessment pathway.
From a parent
Before SHS I felt overwhelmed and did not understand what was triggering my child. I feel 100% empowered now. I have a whole toolkit ready to help my child continue to thrive.
Parent
Could Home Support help your family?
The referral comes from your child’s school, so the place to start is a conversation with their SENCO or Inclusion Lead. Schools can refer at any point in the year.