Working in Partnership With

ACER leads the way in research and teaching in education and care for individuals on the autism spectrum and is situated in the School of Education within the Department for Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs (DISN) at the University of Birmingham.

Communicate-ed offer a range of special educational needs training courses, particularly those dealing with Examination Access Arrangements, all of which are available online.

They also offer face to face training in venues round the country. Their expert course tutors are available to run tailor-made courses for schools, colleges, local authorities or support services, providing practical, value-for money, relevant training for education professionals involved in the area of Special Needs.

Douglas Silas Solicitors help parents of children with SEN throughout the assessment, including those who need to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal.

They either advise them indirectly as a ‘consultant’ (i.e. helping them do things) or represent them directly (i.e. do everything for them).  Douglas has successfully represented parents of children with SEN for two decades to help thousands of parents get the right provision for their child.

Optimus Education is a leading provider of professional development support and school improvement information for schools, academies and other educational institutions. Since 1997 they have been helping primary and secondary school leadership teams to manage staff development efficiently and effectively, stay compliant and drive whole school improvement.

Rising Stars is an educational publishing company whose products are created with teachers and learners (who always know best).

KIDS support over 8,000 disabled children, young people and their families every year by delivering around 125 services across England.

KIDS is unique; there is no other organisation dedicated to providing such an extensive range of services to disabled children and young people, aged 0-25 years, irrespective of their impairment or condition.

Priestnall School is a large 11-16 comprehensive secondary school in Stockport, North West England at which Gareth has been Director of Curriculum Support (SENCo) since 2002.

Independent Parental Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered charity (number 327691). IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.

Skyrocket Training has established itself as the leading provider of professional learning opportunities for teachers in Welsh schools. It is run by active teachers who are dedicated to driving up standards in Welsh schools through high quality professional development. All courses are held in excellent venues and are run by highly regarded professionals who are there to offer innovative and proven strategies to meet the challenges facing schools.

Lucid Research Ltd was incorporated in 1995, specialising in the creation of innovative software for assessment and training that is backed up by scientific research.  Lucid has been the market leader for 15 years and pioneered the development of easy to use computerised tools for teachers in the early identification of dyslexia (from 4 years old) and the profiling of cognitive skills in young children.

The decision to establish the Middletown Centre for Autism was formally recognised at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting on 11 April 2002, when it noted and endorsed the agreement which had been reached between the Department of Education (DE) and the Department of Education and Science (DES) to establish, on a North-South basis, an all island Centre of Excellence for Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Middletown, Co. Armagh.

Blackberry Cottage Consultancy was set up in 2010 by Abi Steel so she could reach as many families as possible by working directly with the parents and children of individual families, and by working with teachers and whole school staff teams to support, motivate and educate the adults who will be passing on their skills, knowledge and care.

USL bring a unique combination of classroom experience, in all sectors of education, an informed theoretical knowledge and personal experience of living with a SpLD. Their training events draw on all these elements to create sessions that are interactive, informed and motivational.

trugs (for teachers), trugs at home (for parents/carers) is a systematic synthetic phonics group of resources to enable anyone, who can themselves read, to help a child/student to progress their level of reading/spelling. The structured decodable card games combines the professional phonics side of learning to decode print with the fun side of playing card games in a hugely, effective and engaging way. The pupils will be succeeding in a manner that captures their enthusiasm and achieves incidental learning.

The National Autistic Society is the leading UK charity for people with autism (including Asperger syndrome) and their families.  They provide information, support and pioneering services, and campaign for a better world for people with autism.

The Alliance for Inclusive Education is a national campaigning and information-sharing network led by disabled people. They campaign for all disabled learners to have the right to access and be supported in mainstream education. ALLFIE believes that the whole education experience should be inclusive of disabled learners, both inside and outside the classroom. Disabled and non-disabled learners, learning together create opportunities for the building of relationships and the creation of an inclusive society that welcomes everyone.

Texthelp Ltd, was first incorporated in 1996 and quickly became the market leader bringing assistive software to Education, Corporate and English-speaking markets. The company remains at the forefront of innovative software development, supporting those with dyslexia and literacy difficulties in learning to read, write, study and communicate with ease and independence, and more recently in the ESL (English as a Second Language) markets.

Contact a Family is a national charity for families with disabled children.  They provide information, advice and support and bring families together so they can support each other. They campaign to improve their circumstances, and for their right to be included and equal in society

The Educational Rights Alliance is a national, grassroots organisation committed to advancing equality in education for children and young people with disabilities. They believe that the term ‘special educational needs’ is outdated and too often used as a term of abuse and believe that too many children and young people are at risk of being failed by our ‘SEN’ system despite the fact that they are entitled to equality under the law. The ERA believe that low-expectations of children and young people must be challenged.

Sofia Correia Alegria is a qualified Clinical Psychologist and Existential Psychotherapist trainee, from Lisbon, Portugal.  Sofia has worked with Gareth since 2015 directly developing specific approaches to supporting young people with autism at Priestnall School and developing new models of support and training for other schools and settings.  Additionally, Sofia manages requests and liaises with external commissioners regarding training and consultancy, in addition to supporting research, writing and editing of academic papers and the blog SENCology®.

Studio 3 was founded by Dr Andrew McDonnell in 1992.  The aim was to provide both training and clinical consultancy services.  They provide a range of supports for children and young people, older adults, intellectual disabilities, autism and acquired brain injury, not just in the UK but also worldwide.  Studio III works extensively in Europe where they have programs in Denmark, Germany, Norway, Republic of Ireland and Sweden, whilst they also have developing programs in Australia, Canada, Israel and South Africa. Studio III also support not for profit collaborations in Greece and Malta. Studio III are specialists in supporting individuals with a range of behaviours of concern; which include, the  management of physical aggression, Self Injurious Behaviours (SIB), trauma and abuse, both with children and adults, self harm and autism.