This month’s Guest Scribble is written by Sarah from Focus Surrey, a Saturday ABA (Applied Behavioural Analaysis) club for children with autism and other related social communication disorders. Focus Surrey is an invaluable resource for families, run entirely by volunteer parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Club Ethos and Inspiration

Focus Surrey aims to create a stimulating and fun learning environment where children are taught communication, social, independence and play skills, using the principles of ABA, in order for them enrich the lives of themselves and their families. For families, Focus Surrey offers the chance to increase their support network and develop their knowledge through a series of guest speakers on autism-related topics.

We started the club because, as parents of autistic children who follow ABA programmes, we wanted to help other families experience ABA because we have first-hand knowledge of its benefits. ABA can be costly for families and it is a big commitment. Therefore, we wanted to offer more affordable access and allow people the opportunity to try it out. We also know many children are failing at school and parents can frustrated and helpless, so we want to say to those parents that there is another option in ABA. We want to help them feel empowered by offering them talks given by autism professionals.

About the Club

The club is open to children with autism and those with other social communication disorders aged 2 to 12 and it operates in Cheam, Surrey. We have up to 20 children attending. We have a BCBA (Board Certified Behavioural Analyst) consultant and MA qualified ABA therapist who assess the children and devise suitable targets to work on. Training is given to volunteer tutors by a BCaBA (Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst) through two days of initial training. Training is then ongoing during the club from our BCBA and MA. Each child has a 1:1 volunteer ABA tutor.

We provide support to both parents and children. For the children, we have four rooms set up to encourage the following activities: sensory, gross motor, turn-taking/play and arts/crafts. For the parents, we have guest speakers come in to give talks about a variety of topics. These topics have included: speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, video modelling, challenging behaviours, and legal advice on 1:1 basis.

What we love

 We love seeing the happy smiling faces of our pupils. It is great to watch and experience relationships developing between the child and their 1:1 tutor. We also like to see parents engaging with other parents and sharing their experiences. 100% of our surveyed tutors from our first term said they got more out of the experience than they expected and would recommend it to others.

What parents love

“I like that it is just a small group and the 1:1 support has benefitted in bringing out spoken words.”


 

“It is great to have opportunities to meet other parents in the same boat. I have been really impressed with all the volunteers and their commitment to the children.”


 

“I love chatting to other parents. I love the talks. I love the fact that [my child] is doing something meaningful on a Saturday.” 



Interested in signing up?

 Please see our Facebook page Focus Surrey and see Focussurrey.co.uk. Please note that we are run by volunteer parents and are operating a waiting list.