Family Service

Support after Diagnosis - Family Workshops - Ongoing Support - Information & Resources - Contact Us

Our Family Service provides free information and support to families (mainly, at present, those living in the London Borough of Bromley) whose child, aged 18 years or younger, has been diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

We may also be able to help before a formal diagnosis has been given.

Support after Diagnosis
We can help families understand what their child’s diagnosis means. Parents and/or carers are invited to an initial meeting to talk about the diagnosis. We can answer any questions they may have and we provide families with our Family Information Pack.

Parents/carers are welcome to ask for a further meeting, or to contact us by telephone or email if they have additional questions, or if they would simply like to talk things through.

If parents want us to, we can liaise with other agencies which support children with ASD.

All information provided to us will remain confidential. (The only exception is where there are safety or child protection issues).

Family Workshops
We run group information sessions for parents, carers and family members, including our “Introduction to the Autistic Spectrum” workshop.

In this 9-hour workshop, spread over three days, we provide an overview and understanding of the Autistic Spectrum, suggest strategies that can help at home and describe the range of services available in the local area. Parents and carers also find it very helpful to be able to hear the experiences of other parents whose children have recently been diagnosed and to share their own experience.

We run a condensed, 4-hour version of the Introduction workshop on some Saturdays. This workshop, “Introduction to the Autistic Spectrum - Family Information Day” is aimed at the extended family, including grandparents, aunts and uncles, and adult siblings. It is of course useful for parents and carers who are unable to attend the longer, mid-week Introduction.

Dates and times of upcoming workshops and other Family Service events

Ongoing Support
We can provide ongoing support for individual families through telephone calls, email and meetings.

We regularly host informal coffee mornings where parents and carers can meet to share experiences.

Parents and carers who have attended our “Introduction to the Autistic Spectrum” sessions* are welcome to attend any of our other information sessions and workshops. These cover not only general topics relating to ASDs but also very specific issues, including transitions in a child’s life such as transferring schools and approaching adulthood.

* The reason we ask parents/carers to attend the “Introduction to the Autistic Spectrum” workshops, before they come to our “follow-on” sessions, is simply so that in the follow-on sessions, we do not have to cover the basic information that we provide in the “Introduction” for the benefit of parents/carers who have not yet attended the Introduction.

Other ways in which we can help include providing support when you apply for Disability Living Allowance for your child (we run a workshop to help parents/carers understand the DLA application form) and help with other relevant allowances and benefits.

Dates and times of upcoming workshops and other Family Service events

Information & Resources
We have a library of books and resources (including DVDs) which families can refer to. Burgess Autistic Trust members can borrow these resources from our library for up to one month (see our Resouces page).