“[The course] really helped me to better understand the needs of some of the students I come into contact within my role as ELSA. It gave me the knowledge that will enable me to tailor my sessions more appropriately to individual students already diagnosed and also empowered me to spot signs of undiagnosed autism in the future.”
“[I rate the course] very highly. The resources are extremely helpful too.”
”Thank you very much for an informative session. I have made many notes. Coming from someone who has taught a child with PDA this training was really good. I wish I had it whilst I was teaching him!”
“It had a very positive impact on our school. We send the resources we receive on the training to all staff. I did a short introduction to the Zones of Regulation last year and from January the whole school, every class uses it. The aim is that every child has access to learn to self-regulate, not just autistic children. We had lots of positive feedback on this. I also did a coffee morning to the parents about the Zones and had similar response. And today we are doing our first ever Autism assembly celebrating World Autism Acceptance Week.”
“I feel the role of Autism Lead and the training has given me quality resources to share with staff and a person for staff to come to for advice and support. The teaching assistants have been given training, as well as teachers, which has empowered them and helped them realise that they have a key role in the support of autistic children in their classes because of the relationships they develop with the children and observations they can make when the teacher is teaching. Overall I think all staff have a better understanding of autism and about how small adjustments can make a huge impact for our autistic pupils.”
“This has helped our school as I am able to pass on information to everyone on a regular basis. I am also using a lot of your work to deliver some staff training in the summer term to everyone, including support staff. The half termly meetings we get are extremely engaging and I have taken a lot away from them.”
”The service is very good, very informative. Professional, inclusive, and friendly delivery. Good amount of useful information and resources.”
“Alex is a great presenter, makes everything really accessible, acknowledges everyone’s contributions. I would like to disseminate lots of the information to my colleagues.”
“This is a great resource sharing opportunity to roll out information to a large number of colleagues.”
“I found it useful having time to meet and discuss specific issues on a professional level and to be able to come away with ideas and strategies that are do-able and relevant. This was my first training session at Cognus and I have come away really impressed. I can already see how to use some of the ideas, have shared ideas with our team, and will take ideas to our next weekly meeting to discuss.”
“It was useful to discuss real life, relevant scenarios, and examples. Links to useful documents and services are helpful.”
“It was a fantastic training session, one of the best I’ve attended. Informative and useful. Thanks Rebecca!”
‘This has helped our school as I am able to pass on information to everyone on a regular basis. I am also using a lot of your work to deliver some staff training in the summer term to everyone, including support staff. The half termly meetings we get are extremely engaging and I have taken a lot away from them.’
‘By attending meetings with Cognus and receiving updates from you, it has meant that we have the most recent resources with which to support our pupils. In addition to this our ELSAs have also received training via Cognus and they too are now supporting children within the school.’
‘I feel the role of Autism Champion and the training has given me quality resources to share with staff and a person for staff to come to for advice and support. The teaching assistants have been given training, as well as teachers, which has empowered them and helped them realise that they have a key role in the support of autistic children in their classes because of the relationships they develop with the children and observations they can make when the teacher is teaching. Overall I think all staff have a better understanding of autism and about how small adjustments can make a huge impact for our autistic pupils.’
“It has been helpful understanding which behaviours I exhibited that were typical of an Autistic person and how to deal with them.”
“I liked learning about a lot of things that I didn’t know were because I’m autistic. It was good having the fiddle tools.”
“It felt like a bit of time and space away from the normal school routine where I didn’t need to focus on complicated topics in maths or other subjects.”
“Liked that it was structured and well planned out. Chatting is not a bad thing but this was more productive.”
“I feel more positive about the week ahead because we looked at positive ways of thinking such as the silver linings exercise which helps you to think of the positives in bad situations.”
“It was useful thinking about a Plan B for travelling alone.”
“It was good having someone to talk to.”
“Recognising how I think – I know how I think but I don’t always know why – today helped on the why which is good.”
“Rebecca’s 1:1 sessions with many students each week, are a time, in which they can explore social situations, experiences they have had, which ultimately guides them in their growing up. The relationship that is built on openness and trust, enables the young person to flourish. What an incredible job, to help young people feel good about themselves, feel confident, feel ready for the world.”
100% of students asked participated in evaluating the service. All gave the support they received 4* or 5 * and all would recommend the support to other autistic young people.
“[I] found this a really informative and interactive session. Thank you. I will be trying to complete a young person charter map to understand what their needs are, what impacts and helps them during assessments/interventions, and recommend families to also try it.”
“Thank you!! Very useful! and informative :)”
“The training was helpful and valuable.”
“Thank you for sharing your expertise. This will improve my practise and benefit the young people I work with.”
“As an undiagnosed autistic, I found tools for myself as well. I haven’t chased up a diagnosis because I feel as a woman I would get dismissed for not being “autistic enough” but this gave some clarity that I do in fact share a lot characteristics and stresses. I felt validated.”
“Rebecca imparted her knowledge with confidence and clarity. Thank you.”
“Rebecca, Alex and Asma are amazing! I only ever give praise when it’s due – it’s all you! I genuinely, genuinely sing the praises of Cognus, in all the departments because dealing with so many different local authorities Cognus is just sensational – it is just world class above every other local authority I deal with and I’ve been here 20 years! Hand on heart I absolutely adore Cognus in terms of efficiency in terms of structure, systems and quality of provision.”
“100% positive impact. Rebecca is so passionate and knowledgeable, which clearly shows in her work.”
“Young men are empowered to feel proud of who they are and are proud to say part of their identity is autistic. Alex has given parents the tools to support their sons and help them regulate more at home. Alex is excellent at what she does.”
“The session was very detailed. It will have a huge positive impact on our councillors and their awareness of autism.”
“The trainer demonstrated a high level of skill in demonstrating her own hands-on experience. The training was highly effective in terms of sharing practical knowledge and engaging with participants who were successfully encouraged to share their own experiences. A wide range of issues were covered e.g. what changes are made in schools to support those with SEN; do those changes extend to behaviours and what does the law say about reasonable adjustments. I thought it was excellent.”
“Rebecca has been working with many of our students over 5 years, and the work she completes with them is sensational! She instils in them a sense of pride, pride that they are wonderful, have many fabulous qualities and characteristics, and pride to be able to share their autism diagnosis with others, be that close family members or even the whole school when delivering the annual SEN assemblies and form times. Incredible knowledge, care for the kids and clearly loves her job! The list is endless of what Rebecca has supported us here with, but everything she does, she does with the student at the heart, with a passion in her belly to always give her best, and she is for so many students and parents someone who has changed their life!”
“All of it amazing. It was brilliant.”
“It was useful talking to everyone. Openness. Honestly. Content. Looking forward to part 2.”
“The presentation was from an individual lady who herself has a diagnosis of autism.”
“Overall the online workshop was highly informative. Liked the option of being able to ask questions in message thread while the workshop was running. It’s a massive plus that a 1:1 parent call is offered if needed!”
“I thought it a very well-run session that brought so many different factors that I had not considered into my mind. Of course, no one can be fully prepared as we have to see how each child fares and reacts, but I felt far more ready to face this stage of my son’s development post the workshop.”
“I need more courses!”
“Thank you for sending these helpful links and introducing us my son’s speech and language therapist. Thank you for your kind support and help.”
“The session was amazing, yet again from your team and so valuable for myself. So please pass on my gratitude. We are so fortunate in this borough, to have this service. Especially when we are so in need of this valuable advice.”
“I am so grateful for the work that Alex has been doing with my son. It is really helping him to understand himself and accept himself and I feel that he is slightly embracing his difficulties after so many years. Alex’s work is invaluable and I hope that this service will be able to expand as there are so many people who would benefit from it.”
“He [my son] seems a lot more confident which he says comes from understanding himself better. Knowing his challenges and having the tools to navigate them also adds to that confidence. The whole process has been smooth. I have been given a lot of supporting material which has helped me as a parent process my son’s diagnosis.”
“It was very helpful to meet Alex. She is very knowledgeable and understanding about autism and towards the people she is helping. This is calming and reassuring and validating for the young person like my son, because normally he is invalidated wherever he goes as people do not understand him and his difficulties at all and expect a lot from him that he can’t cope with. Thank you very much for your help and understanding.”
“Thank you for your support, it was very thoughtful and encouraging.”
“Alex was fantastic, and has real insight into the challenges being a child or parent in this situation and gave me fresh perspectives on situations that I hadn’t considered. Thank you, Alex, your support has been very much valued and appreciated.”