Coventry Children's Neurodevelopmental Service supports World Autism Awareness Week
Coventry’s Neurodevelopmental Service helped to raise awareness of Autism in the City of Coventry Health Centre on 1 April, to support World Autism Awareness Week. The team wore pink or purple to help raising awareness of Autism in the community and to collect donations for the charity The National Autistic Society.
The Neurodevelopmental Service is a multidisciplinary team comprising Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Paediatricians, a Nursery Nurse, Neurodevelopmental practitioner and a Clinical Coordinator. The team provide a number of parent education sessions to support parents and carers before and after their child’s diagnosis.
Gemma Cartwright, Lead for Neurodevelopmental Services at the Trust said: “The sessions aim to empower parents and carers by providing information about Autism. We also signpost to resources and services available locally which offer support. We hope to provide an understanding on how Autism can impact on children’s emotions, their communication and also how they process and respond to sensory information.”
As part of World Autism Awareness Week, the team asked the children attending one of their intervention groups what it meant to them to have Autism. The quotes they gave included: ‘I have a better memory than most people’; ‘Different perspective on the world’; ‘Having different interests’, and; ‘Thinking and being different’
In addition, the Neurodevelopmental Service hosted an Autism Strategy day recently to bring together agencies from across Coventry to develop services for children, young people with Autism and their families. One of the outcomes of this successful day was to create a working group to raise awareness and train others in how to support individuals with Autism and their families.
If you suspect your child may have Autism, you should first talk to your GP and ask for a request into the service. More information about the service can be found on the Trust website www.covwarkpt.nhs.uk/services/children/children-young-people-family/occupational-therapy.