A new online service for Parents of Autistic Children has been launched by a Bucks-based charity.
Established in 2001, Buck’s based charity Autism Early Support (AES) specialises in supporting autistic children through education and therapies.
The charity also works closely with families to offer practical strategies, support and advice.
This summer, AES launched 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.
It will be beneficial to parents who are recognising differences in their child and they are exploring neurodivergence, or for those parents who already know their child is autistic.
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 resource, 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were working with every day were sharing their frustrations about the information they had access to, it was too often out of date, poor quality, conflicting and inconsistent – and overall just too difficult and time consuming to navigate.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 The bespoke, online platform from AES offers parents with children age 2-16 years:
1. Access 24/7 - it’s been designed to be flexible and to fit around family time
2. Trusted guidance - it contains reliable knowledge from AES practitioners who have worked with autistic children and their families for over 20 years
3. An expanding resource library of content that has been curated and categorised to make things easy to find, store and read or watch again
4. A programme of live interactive workshops delivered by AES practitioners with lived experience and autistic advocates from across the UK
5. Signposting, advice and guidance on funding EHCPs and the SEN process
6. A community of members – the platform is interactive and it allows parents to talk to AES practitioners, meet other parents and join discussion forums
7. It’s a non-judgmental space where ideas are exchanged freely and parents can feel affirmed, listened to and supported.
How to Access 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 is now live and resources can be accessed via registration here.
