We often hear from Parent Carers who would like to learn more about Autism whilst they await an assessment/diagnosis. Or maybe your child has emerging needs and you'd just like to find out a bit more about Autism.

For this project, the BNSSG Parent Carer Forums have joined together to provide and host a range of online and face-to-face workshops. To attend this workshop, you MUST live in Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire.

This workshop gives a broad overview of communication.

• What is it?

Communication is a vital part of everyone’s lives. Communication difficulties can affect both you and your child. There are many different ways that this can be displayed and can lead to you and your child feeling very frustrated.

• How does it present?

Communication difficulties present in a variety of ways. In this workshop we look at how communication is not simply based around speech. We look at communication as a two-way process – how children communicate their needs and how they respond to what is being communicated to them.

• What is the connection with executive functioning?

Children with communication difficulties can find it very difficult to understand what is being asked of them. They may have a very different view of what needs to be communicated and how. This can lead to difficulty in organisational skills, planning, processing and self- regulation issues.

• How can we best support our children with communication difficulties ?

This workshop looks at strategies on how to support communication difficulties. We aim to provide insight into communication without the only focus being on the spoken word. Whilst also sharing knowledge on ways to develop speech and two-way communication needs.

This workshop will be delivered by an SEND professional and an experienced SEND parent carer.