Eating a healthy, balanced diet is good for overall health but some autistic people have difficulties with eating. The National Autistic Society and Beyond Autism have lots of helpful information about when to be worried about your child or young person’s issues around eating and how parent carers may be able to help. 

ADHD guidance

Some food groups can have an adverse effect on people with ADHD. The Tees, Esk and Wear NHS Foundation Trust have some useful information about what affect food groups have on ADHD children and young people.

Lots of children and young people have problems with sleep at some point. Cerebra’s Sleep Advice Service offers support and resources for sleep difficulties. 

The ADHD Foundation have some resources about sleep on their website, search Sleep, in their resource library.

The Autism and Complex Communication Team have also produced a document on Supporting sleep for children with ASD (PDF) which you may find useful.

The National Autistic Society also have advice for parent carers on their website. 

Making friends is an important part of any child or young person’s life. Some autistic children and young people find making friends challenging which can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Ambitious About Autism have some top tips about making friends as an autistic child or young person, including an easy read version available for free download. 

ADHD guidance

The ADHD Foundation have a useful factsheet for parents on Developing and supporting social skills, search in their resource library.

It is important that all children and young people know how to keep themselves safe. The NSPCC have worked with Ambitious about Autism to develop a range of tips, advice and practical examples for families to help keep their children and young people with SEND safe online. 

When we are out and about the way we teach our young people road safety skills can be influenced by their needs and challenges. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) have produced a useful guide for parents about teaching road safety skills to children with additional needs. Along with general advice it also includes advice regarding children with specific additional needs such as ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. You will also find information about different teaching aids, how to use them and where you can find them.

We have a Keeping safe page on the SEND Local Offer with information about keeping children and young people with SEND safe both in the online and real world.

Some neurodivergent children and young people can present with anxiety-led behaviours that are challenging for families to experience and support.  The Newbold Hope offer training, support and resources for dealing with behaviours that challenge, and is a small, parent-led organisation which was set up by Yvonne Newbold MBE. 

The National Autistic Society also have a section on their website covering different behaviours with guides and resources you may find helpful.

It is important that schools make reasonable adjustments when applying their exclusions policy. The Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA) have a section on their website about exclusions. It contains useful advice about what schools should do, what parents can do if their child is at risk of exclusion and information about the law.

Autistic children and young people can be more vulnerable to being excluded from school. It is important that schools make reasonable adjustments when applying their exclusions policy. Autism Education Trust have created guidance for parent carers on school exclusions which helps with navigating equality law, rights and entitlements when their autistic child or young person is excluded or at risk of exclusion from school.

Everyone will experience ‘demand avoidance’ (resistance to doing something that is requested or expected of you) at some point. Demand avoidance in relation to neurodivergence means the continuous and marked resistance to ‘the demands of everyday life’, this could include the essential activities of everyday life such as eating and sleeping as well as expectations such as going to school or work. The pattern of demand avoidance behaviour is not seen as an independent condition but as part of the ASD presentation. Nationally and internationally PDA is not an accepted as a diagnosis but describes a strong behaviour pattern in a child with Autism. 

Current Position on Diagnosing Demand Avoidance 

Demand Avoidance (P/EDA) is not currently a recognised diagnosis in the United Kingdom.  It therefore cannot be officially diagnosed.  Herefordshire and Worcestershire diagnostic services are only able to give diagnoses that are listed in specific classification manuals  (ICD-11 or DSM-V). As assessment services are focussed on understanding children and young people, rather than just a diagnosis. Therefore, where demand avoidance traits are identified through the diagnostic process, these will be described and documented in the final diagnostic report. Recommendations for strategies and approaches that may help a child or young person who experiences demand avoidance will be made. 

Mental well-being is important for us all.  More information on looking after mental health can be found here: Children's and young people's mental wellbeing. The National Autistic Society also has lots of information about mental health on their website including a range of topics such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and more.

Self-care

Self-care is about the things we can do to look after our own mental health. Anna Freud has a bank of self-care strategies and resources created by young people for young people to support positive wellbeing. These resources are not specifically for the neurodivergent but are created for the general population. The strategies are not a substitute for seeing a mental health professional and sometimes outside help and advice is needed. You can find out more about mental health and emotional wellbeing support available in Worcestershire on our website. 

Worcestershire Mental Health Support Services 

The following services are available in Worcestershire if your child / young person needs some extra support around their mental health:

On-side Advocacy provide a range of early intervention support for children and families and have experience of supporting neurodivergent children, young people and their families. 

ActOnIt (Year 6 and above)

ActOnIt is a school-based service designed to provide children and young people with the skills and techniques to better manage their own emotional wellbeing and improve their confidence and self-esteem. This can be delivered one to one or in group work through their Blues and Bouncing Back programmes.

Youth Support (11 to 17 year olds)

Onside Youth Support offers young people weekly one to one support sessions. Young people have the opportunity to learn skills and techniques to better manage their own emotional wellbeing and improve their confidence and self-esteem, in a confidential safe space.

On-side Children, Adolescents and Families (CAF) Team (Aged 8 to 18 years)

The CAF team support children, young people and their families with a whole range of issues and problems that may be affecting their health and wellbeing. These include: low level mental health, family relationships, education and training, health and wellbeing, special education needs and disabilities, and traumatic life events. Support is person-centered and tailored to your individual needs.

YourSpace (11 to 25 years)

YourSpace offer free access to Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs across the county for young people aged 11 to 25 years. For those aged 16 and over you can refer yourself or just turn up. Those under 16 will need a parental or professional referral and parental consent. Parent or professional and self-referral forms are available on the Onside website. Hubs are located in Redditch, Worcester, Droitwich, Evesham and Malvern.

Kooth (Young people age 11 to 25)

Kooth is an online, mental health and wellbeing service for children and young people. It is free and provides a wide range of therapeutic tools to help children and young people and support their mental wellbeing. The team of accredited counsellors provide safe and effective support to children and young people. Kooth also have a useful guide for parents on supporting your child with mental health concerns.

Shout

Shout is a free, confidential, 24/7 text support service for anyone in the UK who is struggling to cope.
To start a conversation, text the word HERE to 85258.
Shout's trained volunteers are there to listen at any time of day or night, and messages won't appear on phone bills.

Shout 85258 is a de-escalation, volunteer-driven service. Shout work with people in immediate distress to take them through text conversation to a calmer moment and empower them with support and techniques to take their next steps to feeling better and handle future issues, as well as possibly signposting someone to further support services or their GP so that they can get continuous and long-term support.

There is no limit on the number of text conversations. Find out more about Shout.

NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire Talk Therapies (16 years to adults)

Talking Therapies provides a range of free, confidential support to people aged 16 and over across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. 

This includes: 

• online therapy
• groups and courses
• 1 to 1 support

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

CAMHS provides specialist mental health support to children, young people and families across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This is specialist support for children and young people experiencing mental illness or very difficult feelings and experiences. The CAMHS website provides more information about the services available.

Herefordshire & Worcestershire Key Worker Service (under 25s diagnosed with Autism)

The Key Worker service is a team that offers support to young people with learning disabilities and / or a formal diagnosis of autism, who are at risk of being admitted to a hospital as a mental health inpatient. The team work closely with the young person and family to help to understand your needs and act on your behalf to co-ordinate access health, education and social care support in the community.  A short video about the service is also available.

While we are not supporting  PDA Society has further information on how to support children and young people who are demand-avoidant both at home and at school Helpful approaches – children – PDA Society.

The National Autistic Society regularly updates its webpage on Demand Avoidance.
 

Young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) may need support to achieve greater independence and employability. This support needs to start early, and should centre around the young person's own aspirations, interests and needs. There is a whole section on the SEND Local Offer on Preparing for Adulthood (16 to 25 years) including support finding a job, annual health checks, accessing further and higher education, day centres and housing.

Everybody experiences puberty as part of growing up, and it can be a difficult time for young people and their families whether they are neurodivergent or not. We have a page on the SEND Local Offer about Puberty. You will find a number of resources on there to help you explain about puberty, self-care and sex.

It is important to talk with autistic children and young people about sex, sexuality and relationships at an age-appropriate level. The National Autistic Society have put together some ideas for talking to your child or young person about sex and puberty, as well as links to some useful resources. 

Autism West Midlands have a section with information sheets you can download, in the Adult Information Downloads section there are factsheets on: Friendships, Dating and relationships, Online dating and Sex and relationships.

 

Gender identity describes how a person feels about their gender. Some people feel their gender identity matches the one they were born with, others do not. The National Autistic Society has information about gender identity on their website, including interviews with autistic people about their gender identity. 

ADHD guidance

You may find an article in Additude magazine about gender identity and ADHD interesting: Gender Identity and ADHD: Supporting Diverse Children and Teens (additudemag.com)

There is very limited good, neurodivergent specific information re bereavement and grieving. YoungMinds provide non-SEND specific information for parents about talking to your young person about Grief and Loss along with a guide for young people Dealing with grief and loss which you may find useful. The charity Mind also have information on their website too. 

There is limited research on what bereavement is like for autistic people but the National Autistic Society have created a guide about bereavement that parent carers may find useful. 

Under 18s

Any child or young person with a recognised disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) is entitled to an assessment of need (as children in need s17 Children Act 1989). When a child or young person or family requests an assessment, it is carried out by talking and listening to the child or young person and their family. The assessment will also consider the specific needs of parents and other family members in their role as carers. The outcome of an assessment will enable the local authority to make a judgement about the level of need and most appropriate pathway of services to meet that need. Further information can be found here: Social care support for children with disabilities.

Over 18s

The Care Act 2014 sets out local authorities' duties when assessing people’s care and support needs.  You are entitled to an adult social care assessment of your needs if you are over 18, live in the Local Authority area and meet the eligibility criteria. Further information can be found here: Assessments and eligibility (care and support needs).

Carers

As a Carer you have the same rights to support as the people you care for.  Adult carers can be supported and assessed under the Care Act 2014 and for Parent Carers also under the Children and Families Act 2014. Further information can be found here: Support for carers.