Type of service: Nursery and pre-schools

Barnet Early Autism Model (BEAM) is a specialist autism home-based service for families of pre-school children under five with a confirmed diagnosis of autism by a paediatrician. BEAM staff work in partnership with parents in their homes to maximise learning opportunities and support their transition into educational settings. This is done by: providing a flexible package of home based educational visits, arranged to meet the individual needs of the child and their family. During these visits a Facilitator works directly with the child to model appropriate strategies and learning activities which are continued by parents or other family members in between visits; recommending strategies and helping parents to develop skills to manage their child’s behaviour; promoting the development of communication and providing advice on appropriate communication strategies; providing relevant information to families on the educational options available in order to enable them to make informed choices; and close liaison between the pre-school setting the child attends, home and BEAM. We operate an open referral policy. The referrer will be informed regarding whether the referral has been accepted. We communicate through emails, letters, phone calls, home and school visits. The BEAM Team is led by a specialist Advisory Teacher and consists of specialist, well trained support workers, called Facilitators.

Aimed at: Child

Specialisms: Generic