A little about us & why we founded the school

Without functional communication adults with autism are isolated from their community, family & even those that care for them.

Imagine being unable to ask for your most basic needs to be met. The frustration felt by those who lose their ability to communicate is easy to imagine – now try to imagine never having that ability.

For those with autism who are described as “non-verbal” it is vital that their education is based around the ability to communicate and that teachers can teach in a communication style that makes sense to the student.

Our experience is that our children have thrived following the introduction of effective communication systems based on Applied Behaviour Analysis & The Pyramid Approach to education. Children who have been unable to access any area of the curriculum have no understanding of social interaction, listening & communicating, maths, science, literacy & all the areas we hear discussed in meetings with the schools teaching our mainstream children.

We felt we needed to establish a school in the West Midlands & Warwickshire for our children & as a support model for the rest of the UK.

Without clear & early intervention these children often grow into adults with no communication & independence skills, they become the most dependant and sadly most vulnerable group that need the largest amount of support. By giving children a better quality of life, communication & independence we also reduce their long term dependence on their community.

Whilst it is true that it is a legal obligation for the Local Authorities to provide an appropriate education for these children we cannot expect that each authority will have the expertise, space and funding to run units and specialist schools. They do indeed have many special schools but for many children they source education further a field from specialized schooling. In the West Midlands & Warwickshire we have no behaviour analysis schools (ABA) or schools that use PECS (the Picture Exchange Communication System developed by Pyramid Education Consultants) to teach.

As parents, family, friends & professionals in the field of autism we cannot wait for somebody else to tackle the deficit which is why The Island Project was founded.