Welcome to our new-look newsletter. This is a bumper edition summarising our main activities from 2024 and highlighting some key events for us this year – including our conference in October. Further editions will now arrive in your inboxes twice a year to provide updates on our work and upcoming events. A new feature we are introducing is a regular blog spot we are calling the Director’s Take, when one of our team will write about a current issue – and our response to it.
We hope you enjoy catching up with us. As always, please direct any enquiries or feedback to info@atautism.org.
Director’s Take
In this newsletter, Richard Mills, Advisor to the board, shares his thoughts on supporting autistic and other neurodivergent people in the Justice System:
‘Autistic people and their families are impacted in so many ways by the different branches of the justice system. We have continued our involvement in individual criminal cases to ensure that the nature of autism and culpability are understood to ensure justice, worked with police and the NHS to promote greater awareness, and with colleagues at FLANC in drafting guidance for the family justice system. In so doing we continue to be concerned at the slow progress in understanding and responding to autism in ways that promote fair access to justice across all sectors. We will continue to work with those organizations that are committed to bringing about change and with individuals facing injustice.’
Family Justice Council Guidance on Neurodiversity in the Family Justice System for Practitioners
“We continue to work with those organizations committed to bringing about change”
AT-Autism Conference, 8th October 2025
‘Autism: the art of the possible’
It’s what I do that counts
Our conference this year will be on the theme of ‘Autism: The Art of the Possible’ and will be held at Church House Westminster, Dean’s Yard, London SW1P 3NZ on Wednesday 8th October 2025. In person, live-stream and on-demand tickets will be available. You can register your interest now by signing up here.
Guest speakers include Andrew Reece, Professional Officer and Social Worker, British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England. Andrew has recently been in the news for his campaigning on Homes not Hospitals. He and his team worked to release Kasibba from a mental health hospital where she had been inappropriately detained for 45 years, spending 25 years in long term segregation. https://socialcarefuture.org.uk/stories/changing-our-lives-kassibas-story/
Andrew will be accompanied by Lucy Dunstan from Changing our Lives: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/the-exchange/exhibitions/making-home/why-are-we-stuck-in-hospital
CONFERENCE TICKETS
Early Bird tickets will be released shortly, please register your interest and we will contact you when these are available online. A limited number of concessionary tickets will be available for those on low income.
Courses and services
Delivering training was one of our main activities last year. Read on to find out more about the National Autism Trainer Programme, our flagship Synergy programme, and the SPELL framework, plus workshops on autism and neurodiversity more broadly, autism and girls, autism and school absenteeism, and facilitation skills.
We partnered with Anna Freud to deliver the National Autism Trainer Programme (NATP), a ground-breaking autism Train the Trainer programme commissioned by NHS England in 2022. Our whole team was involved in this huge project, from managing the freelance training team to leading the highly valued Community of Practice, generating course content, training cohorts, and providing governance.
Courses for six different settings were fully co-produced with over 100 content developers, most of whom were autistic with relevant lived experience. Pairs of Trainer facilitators, at least one of whom was autistic, co-delivered each 4-day course to small cohorts averaging 14 – 18 people in size. This enabled deep engagement and reflection on the materials, thoughtful discussions on how to apply learning to delegates’ own settings, and delegate sharing of small changes they made during the course that were already having an impact.
‘One of the best training courses I have attended in my 30-year career in nursing. Absolutely brilliant. Wonderful and empathetic trainers.’
NATP delegate
Over 5,200 delegates were trained in total, many of whom have started implementing the training to colleagues in their own NHS, education, or health and justice settings. You can read about some of the past work plus current implementation plans by using the hashtag #NATPMentalHealth on social media.
The SPELL framework was one of the core approaches within NATP.
Originally developed in the UK in the early 1990’s by professionals working with autistic children and adults as a way of understanding and responding to autism, the early ideas were influenced by direct experience of autism education, based loosely on Montessori principles. These were adapted to autism and later informed and modified by the involvement of autistic perspectives.
Whilst the handbook and training manual are currently being revised by us to incorporate our evolving understanding of autism and recent videos, with this 3rd edition to be published by Pavilion in September 2025, the framework itself has stood the test of time.
“My outlook on supporting Autistic people will change hugely. Will use SPELL & ABC [Acceptance, Belonging, Connection] to personalise my approach.”
NHS delegate
This framework is and was designed to prevent or reduce anxiety and distress and increase opportunities for learning and inclusion. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that it is now used and valued by practitioners and clinicians not just in educational settings, but also across multiple inpatient and community health services, plus health and justice settings.
Whilst we have always offered closed courses to train staff within one organisation on SPELL, we will soon be offering places on public training days. This means people will be able to book places as individuals, from different companies. We’ll also be offering a choice of online or in-person training for anyone doing Day 1, and competitively priced subsequent in-person days. Contact us to register your interest: info@atautism.org
SYNERGY
Synergy is one of our flagship programmes at AT-Autism.
Developed with our partners the Laskaridis Foundation, Greece, and now delivered with colleagues at the National Body for Neurodiversity, Donaldson‘s, Synergy provides a means of understanding and responding to behaviours of concern. This is achieved by reflective practice that promotes staff wellbeing through a system of CPD and bespoke training, mentoring and support.Originally designed for school staff, it has since been successfully delivered across multiple settings where staff may be under stress and have limited resources.
Following an independent positive evaluation by the University of the Peloponnese the programme is being rolled out to NHS and Local authority settings in the UK, and in Japan, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore with plans to further expand the programme through a Community of Practice. Once again, we contributed to the Annual Synergy conference in Athens.
Some key elements of this programme are also included in the National Autism Trainer Programme, and delegates from inpatient and community mental health settings, health and justice settings, as well as residential special schools all told us how helpful the approach has been to them.
“The technique of transitioning between ‘system 1′ and ‘system 2’ in managing ‘challenging behaviors’ of autistic individuals proved particularly beneficial. The training inspired a shift in perspective from ‘othering’ to fostering a sense of ‘we’.”
Dr Ismail Farhat
Additional training
“Love, love today. Good pace, great content. Very thought provoking. Thank you, looking forward to Part 2.”
Delegate on introduction to neurodiversity course
In addition to delivering the National Autism Trainer Programme, SPELL training and Synergy training, we have also delivered the training below to students and practitioners in multiple roles in health, social care and education settings, in the UK and internationally:
- Introduction to neurodiversity
- Introduction to autism
- Workshop facilitation techniques
- Autism and girls
- Autism and absenteeism from schools
“AT-Autism delivered a fantastic training session with our participation team in December, enhancing our understanding of working with autistic children and young people. The trainer was personable, knowledgeable, and made the session both fun and interactive.”
Ayesha Akkari, Participation Programme Lead
Read more about our training here
Consultancy and clinical support
We were consulted on Family Justice Council guidance on working with neurodivergent people in the Family Justice System. For more information on this now published guidance, see the Director’s Take by Richard Mills.
We were also part of the steering group for the development of an online training package at Middletown Centre for Autism, Northern Ireland.
We have continued to participate in the Scottish Government’s review following our review of the pilot of the post–diagnostic support services for adults.
We have provided expert witness clinical services in several legal cases, some of these in a pro bono capacity.
Research and evaluation
The Autism and Wellbeing in Schools project
This co-designed programme, a partnership between AT-Autism and Anna Freud, was delivered by Anna Freud trainers to over 100 schools across England and Wales. An evaluation of the impact of this programme is underway, using a participatory model reflecting the Kirkpatrick methodology.
Donaldson Trust
We continue to work with our colleagues at the National Body for Neurodiversity on the evaluation of their various programmes.
LinC programme
Inspire Foundation, Malta. Our evaluation and review of the LinC programme continues. This is an important service for children excluded from mainstream provision that is supported by the Maltese Government.
Neurodiverse Self Advocacy
Evaluation of this mentoring programme continues.
Jersey
Our work on the all-island consultation with Autism Jersey and the Government of Jersey was completed and incorporated into the strategy for the Autism Jersey charity.
Other news
Our website underwent a refresh last year, with fantastic design input from Fia Kayongo (pictured), who is studying for a BA in film at the University of Brighton, and with web design and development from WeGo Digital. We think this best represents the work that we do, whilst making it easier for you to find the information you need. Let us know what you think!
Explore our new look website here
