Student A joined Outreach in February 2017 before moving to Brook View School in September 2017, leaving in July 2019.
When Student A joined Brook View school, he was very anxious and struggled to communicate his emotions. Because he only had minimal social skills, it was difficult for him to connect with his peers or build relationship with mentors, which made school a potentially stressful and alienating environment. He rarely engaged in lessons produced no evidence of written work.
We provided him with a high level of support to enable him to deal with his anxiety and occasional inappropriate behaviour. Staff reminded him of boundaries where necessary and provided him with the help he needed to adhere to them by offering Unconditional Positive Regard – in essence, this meant remaining non-judgemental when he crossed boundaries and calmly, respectfully discussing why certain behaviours are inappropriate and how to avoid them. We recognised that many of his behaviours were as a result of his autism and helped him to appreciate that there were ways he could address his anxiety through communicating with staff and using a range of techniques to reassure himself and calm his anxiety.
During his time at Brook View school, Student A pushed himself out of his comfort zone, tried new experiences and ways of learning. This enabled him to engage on an academic level, producing written work and completing tests.
We were delighted to see his sense of humour begin to shine through as he developed his social skills and learning about appropriate behaviour in school and society. This allowed him to build some strong relationships with peers and mentors.
Since leaving Brook View School, Student A has developed independent social skills, including cooking for himself, being able to look after himself, bus travel, and caring for the family cats. He has been hugely successful in moving onto further education at Chelmsford College on a special provision course, where he continues to make excellent progress as he moves towards adult life.