by Anna Kennedy
Parent and/or carer involvement is encouraged. The staff aim to establish a collaboration in order to share expertise and generalise a student’s new skills. Educational workshops are run and college open days held. There is regular communication between the college and the parents/carers, who are also encouraged to participate in college events and celebrations.
As with Hillingdon Manor and the Upper School, parents/carers and staff liaise to plan optimal educational programmes, to assess progress accurately, to formulate individual learning plans and to conduct home visits.
The staff team at the college are particularly empathetic to the needs of the students and their families. All are professionally qualified and experienced, and more than 45 per cent of them have experience of dealing with the challenges of autism in their personal lives which, obviously, is of great benefit to the students.
Here, students are able to develop their academic, life and vocational skills through a creative, stimulating and personalised educational programme that promotes enhanced wellbeing and social inclusion. The aim is to provide a calm, reassuring environment alongside a comprehensive, high-quality curriculum with an emphasis on intensive individual support and development.
The principal carries out a rigorous initial assessment and thorough baseline assessments are executed throughout the first term. This ensures that a clear understanding of the needs of each individual student are realised. Learning plans are designed to identify realistic and achievable targets for each student.
To offer the best opportunities for students’ development, it is vital to maintain a good ratio of students to staff. We provide a minimum student-to-staff ratio of two to one with a minimum student-to-teaching-staff ratio of four to one. This allows each student to receive the individual and personal attention they require. Furthermore, one-to-one teaching is allocated for weekly tutorials and student guidance counselling. We also access the services of speech-and-language therapy, psychology and, if it is required, other specialist services such as occupational therapy and sexual counselling.
The students are given access to ongoing in-house training and external courses and qualifications in understanding autism and Asperger Syndrome, behavioural intervention, curriculum development, health and safety and first aid.
The goals for students are wide-ranging. Our staff try to enable them to participate independently and achieve to the best of their ability, and help them to develop positive self-esteem, a sense of worth and respect for themselves and for others. They are guided to a stage where they can relate and communicate in an effective and constructive manner, and taught how to access and use technology.
It’s important that the students are able to understand and influence the world in which they live and that they are able to develop their physical abilities and coordination skills; that they can participate in new activities and extend their range of experiences. The staff help the students develop their cognitive abilities, such as reasoning and problem solving, as well as helping them develop their moral, social and cultural understanding.
A strong emphasis is placed on values such as mutual respect, recognition and ethical behaviour; equal opportunities; open communication; a focus on achievement and improvement; a commitment to students, staff and the community; and continual and constructive self-evaluation.
To reinforce those values, strategically placed noticeboards feature reminders of some of the expectations required of the students:
Be responsible for your own learning! Plan, participate and review;
This is YOUR college! Help improve it by sharing your ideas;
Make the most! Take advantage of tutorial and counselling services;
Think of your health! Inform staff of your medical needs or if you feel unwell;
Think about security! Keep your possessions safe in your locker;
Make positive choices;
Obey the rules! Don’t bring weapons, drugs or alcohol into the college;
Care for yourself and others!;
Be safe! Follow the Health & Safety and Fire procedures;
Be fair! Treat staff and students with respect and consideration;
Behave appropriately! It helps keep you and those with you safe;
Be assertive! Ask for help and tell staff if you are unhappy;
Celebrate diversity! Enjoy what makes us all unique;
and finally:
Respect the college environment! Keep it clean and tidy.
There is an emphasis on intensive individual support and development. By formulating individual learning plans with a multidisciplinary approach, the students are encouraged to be independent and to reach their full potential.
The team have designed a curriculum that is broad enough to provide each student with a wide range of concepts, experience, knowledge and skills, all of which are necessary to increase their level of independence. The curriculum is relevant, by which I mean that all learning is connective, and it provides a strong foundation that prepares the students for the responsibilities and experiences they will face when they are able to lead a more independent adult life.
The curriculum comprises three main areas: the core curriculum, which is overarching and is embedded through all areas of learning; the vocational; and the life-skills and independence curriculum.
The overall curriculum is, in many respects, like a menu from which the appropriate learning for each individual is selected. All programmes contain elements from each area but the balance and nature of what is offered will be selected to meet the individual need.
The programme for a student with good practical and basic skills who has the potential to work will, for example, focus on the development of work-related skills. It is likely to include the opportunity to access a college of further education and to achieve nationally accredited vocational and literacy and numeracy qualifications, and will prioritise the independence skills required in order for the student to live and work as independently as possible – such as independent travel, managing benefits and bank accounts, and cooking and shopping.
For another student who, perhaps, has limited communication skills, poor literacy skills and difficulty participating in learning, the independent learning programme might prioritise learning from within the core and independence and life-skills area.
Students learn wellbeing skills, which show them how to take care of and be responsible for their physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and environmental wellbeing. Subjects include fitness; swimming; hobbies and pastimes; anger management; anxiety management; community participation; music, drama and arts and crafts.
Through vocational skills the students prepare for the world of employment. Subjects include seeking employment; preparing for employment; work experience and a college business project. We feel confident our broad curriculum can provide students with all the necessary strategies and skills they require if they are to move on towards independent living.
The college has developed strong community links, which enable the students to generalise and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes they have learned to other situations, thereby broadening the range of learning experiences available to them. Community participation is encouraged by making full use of local and wider facilities. These may include shops, libraries, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres and art galleries. Trips are organised to parks, the coast, various towns and the countryside, as well as places of historic interest such as castles, stately homes and museums. Outings to airports, railway stations and factories also prove popular.
Not only is the college blessed with good quality staff, but it also has a highly respected patron. Professor Uta Frith, FBA, FmedSci, FRS, studied experimental psychology at the Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, and subsequently trained in clinical psychology at the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry.
Since completing her PhD on autism in 1968, Uta has worked as a scientist funded by the Medical Research Council and is now professor in co
gnitive development at the University of London and deputy director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Her main focus of research is developmental disorders, in particular autism, and also dyslexia. Her book, Autism: Explaining the Enigma, has been translated into ten languages and she has successfully conveyed the results of basic research to a wide readership, including parents and clinicians. Uta was one of the initiators of the study of Asperger Syndrome in the United Kingdom, where her work on reading development, spelling and dyslexia has been highly influential and her outstanding record includes 31 highly cited papers in the field of psychiatry/psychology.
At the same time as we acquired the replacement site for West Middlesex College, we had plans to open a residential centre for eight adults aged 18 and over – a completely different kettle of fish from one for children. It would be a really difficult task to find a suitable building to replace our facilities at the former St Mary’s Centre and to get it to comply with the regulations set down by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, which carries out a spot inspection every year and publishes a report on every aspect of the home. The rooms would need to be a certain size and we’d need eight bedrooms. Again, we would require permission for change of use and to be able to secure funding from social services or the National Health Service, or from the Learning and Skills Council for each student.
We eventually found a six-bedroom building in the Greenway, Uxbridge, advertised in the local newspaper for £650,000. There were also several other rooms that had the potential to be converted. We managed to get it for £635,000 – again with a mortgage through Barclays Bank.
The building, which we’ve named The Old Vicarage, would be separate from the college, which we felt would be more real-life – normally a person goes to college and goes home again afterwards. Not only that, the building needed refurbishing and extending to add a further two bedrooms and install showers and bathroom in each person’s room. A conservatory added a further £30,000 to the bill, and the lounge was extended. It was a big project, which, at times, proved quite stressful.
In October 2005 we moved in. It’s a lovely house. The adults had got used to living at the St Vincent’s hospital site, so moving to The Old Vicarage was stressful for them, too, but it all turned out for the better in the end. A lot of forward planning by care manager Lorraine Harland had been undertaken to keep the stress levels to a minimum, including a project plan entitled Operation Move. Staff rolled up their sleeves and worked extra hours to help ensure everything went smoothly.
The home itself is set within large front and rear gardens, which gives it privacy from the road. There are facilities for laundry and cooking, together with many recreational facilities such as Sky TV, games consoles, a pool table, basketball hoop, a computer room with internet access, and four communal rooms on the ground floor.
Esther officially opened the home and said how nice it was to find a place like this that didn’t smell of cabbage and disinfectant, and that she’d be happy to live in a place like it herself.
The Old Vicarage generates a safe, homely and attractive aura – a safe environment where the residents have twenty-four-hour support. Here, the aim is to prepare them for life in the outside world and to diversify their range of abilities as much as possible. The ethos of the West Middlesex College also applies here. Great efforts are made to enhance residents’ self-esteem, self-worth, confidence and personal identity, as well as their cognitive abilities, coping strategies and communication skills.
The admission criteria are the same as at West Middlesex College, plus an ability or willingness to cooperate with the home’s relevant policies and procedures in order to maintain a safe environment for all residents. New arrivals must also demonstrate an ability to co-exist without any major disruption to current users of the home and be willing to undertake meaningful day activities. They must also be willing to undertake an assessment to determine whether or not The Old Vicarage is able to meet their needs.
We aim to provide a care package, led by the needs of the resident yet supported by a quality staff team, who are understanding of and responsive to the needs of the individual. The home is run by a well-established, friendly and professional team. Ongoing training is provided to ensure all staff are kept informed of current research related to autistic-spectrum disorders.
Although the home is registered to take residents from 18 years of age, we’ve had some aged up to 40. We try to support the residents in all aspects of their lives and have supported their access to many areas such as language night schools, physiotherapy, private maths tuition, personal fitness training, a dietician and chess tournaments.
Just as at the West Middlesex College, residents at The Old Vicarage have the opportunity to enjoy organised excursions into the wider community. The home has its own eight-seater minibus, which enables staff to take residents on a number of activities such as dry-slope skiing, golf, fishing, bowling, boating and ice skating. For the less energetic, trips to theatres and cinemas are regularly organised, as are annual holidays, which are truly beneficial experiences for the residents.
The final months of 2005 were most satisfying. Not only was The Old Vicarage finally up and running, but Hillingdon Manor won a nationwide competition run by British Telecom. The prize included a cheque for £1,000 and a variety of electronic equipment.
It was another proud moment for all the staff involved, as the school was chosen as one of the most effective communication-centred educational establishments in the country, which was deserved recognition for the high quality of work going on there.
We aim to ensure that the highest standard of good home-care practice at The Old Vicarage is maintained. This was confirmed following an unannounced Commission for Social Care Inspection in June 2007. The inspection resulted in a very favourable report, which, although very satisfying, came as no surprise to us. Nevertheless, reviews of the service at The Old Vicarage are regularly held in order to aspire to providing the best-quality service possible. There is never a reason to be complacent.
Residents will leave the college after three years, either to take up a place of employment or an apprenticeship elsewhere or, maybe, to secure a place in a mainstream college. Because the college at the time of writing is still in its infancy, very few students have yet to reach that stage.
Chapter Ten
Unity is Strength
My personal ambition in life is to remain fit and healthy so I can carry on with this work and to look after my family. I worry about what will happen to Patrick and Angelo, come the time Sean and I are no longer able to cater for their needs, but we hope to be able to cover every aspect of their future support care before we end our days.
Hopefully, we can also offer the benefit of our experiences and offer advice to others. If someone in your family has been diagnosed with autism, please remember there is help out there. It’s so important to talk to someone – don’t try to carry the burden on your own. Talk to other parents with autistic children. It’s important not to feel alone. The National Autistic Society has come on in leaps and bounds since we first tried to contact it and is a very good source of useful information. Alternatively, you could, of course, contact us at Hillingdon Autistic Care Society or at Hillingdon Manor.
Try to remember, however dire the circumstances may appear when you’re faced with this situation, that you are not alone! In the London Borough of Hillingdon alone, it was estimated there were 2,129 people with autism in late 2007. I’ve found it helps to have an interest that allows me to have some time just for myself. Dancing is my way of coping with the stresses of day-to-day life. I can appreciate how some marriages can be put under immense pressure when trying to cope with an autistic child – whether it be the ending of the relationship or taking to alcohol, cigarettes or Prozac. Dancing gives me something to look forward to – something that’s just for me.
I can also use dance to help the pupils. I teach dance at Hillingdon Manor School several ti
mes a week. The children love the mixture of dance and exercise. This is undoubtedly my favourite part of the week because I can enjoy watching the improvements they are making each week. Dance stretches the imagination and bodies of autistic children and there are other benefits such as stronger muscles and bones, better coordination, agility and flexibility. Dance also improves their spatial awareness and balance, which many autistic children often find difficult. I’ve found that dance increases their physical confidence and their mental functioning, which is particularly apparent after they have performed in front of their parents.
It’s very rewarding but, on one occasion, while teaching dance at West Middlesex College, I stepped onto my left foot and went over on my ankle. I was in agony, having ripped my Achilles’ tendon. I didn’t want to shout out in pain in case I alarmed the students, so I asked them to sit on the mats to perform floor exercises.
After they had completed their exercises and relaxation session, the lesson ended and they left the room. I was crying in pain and hopped into the staffroom before being sent to hospital for treatment. My leg was set in a plaster cast for three months. I was still able to go to work at the school each day, though I had to hire an automatic car to do so. The injury took five months to heal and, although I was still exercising at home, I desperately missed the opportunity to dance.
The diagnosis of symptoms on the autistic spectrum still needs to be improved, but it is getting better, resulting in more adults now being identified with the condition. Unfortunately, some of them have already been misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia when, in fact, they’ve had autism all the time. As a result, many individuals have been given inappropriate medication, which may have damaged them, and now, instead of having autism as their primary disorder, mental-health issues are more dominant because of what the drugs they have been prescribed have done to them. If only the correct diagnosis had been given at the outset, earlier intervention for autism could have been made and it wouldn’t have cost the boroughs so much when these people reach adulthood because some progress, however limited, could have been made.