BRIGHT Futures School in Greenfield is leading the way with a ground-breaking approach to autism and education.
In 2016, research published in The Lancet showed that if parents were supported to change their communication and interaction style with their autistic children, they could decrease the severity of their child’s autism.
This finding was reflected in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on managing autism in children (CG170), which recommend that commissioners should provide this type of approach to addresses core autism difficulties.
There are a handful of approaches which meet the criteria set out in the NICE guidelines and one such approach was already being used at Bright Futures School (BFS).
BFS was set up in 2010 by Zoe Thompson and her late husband Dixon Milburn when the local authority was unable to find a suitable educational placement for their son Philip, who has autism.
In February 2020, the school moved to Greenfield after an extremely generous gesture from cleaning firm Robert Scott, who built a brand new school for staff and pupils.
Staff put the approach into practice with some of their pupils and while some good progress was made initially, it did not generalise outside school, except for Philip, whose parents had already been using the approach in the home for a couple of years.
Zoe said: “This just bore out what the Lancet research had found – parents have the power to make these life-changing differences to their child’s autism.
“School can support what parents do but unless parents are leading the implementation of the approach, it is not possible to bring about such far-reaching and lasting changes.”
After several years of using the approach, Philip’s autism score decreased from 19 out of 22 to 12 out of 22 on the ADOS test, which shows the severity of the autism.
Zoe said she is aware of families all over the world who use a similar approach and that some of these children no longer meet the criteria for autism.
She added: “Our goal is to help our children to master the developmental milestones they missed when autism got in the way.
“Whether they stay on the autism spectrum, or come off the spectrum, it doesn’t matter.
“What we want is to give our kids the competencies they need to better manage uncertainty and unpredictability so they don’t become overwhelmed and/or unhappy.
“I’ve seen too many autistic kids crushed because they can’t cope with the uncertainty and unpredictability that everyday life brings and their families often go under with them. It’s time to change that.”
Zoe’s next goal became seeking to use her pupils’ Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) to get this approach in place in the home so staff could mirror the work parents were doing.
“It took years and several nasty tribunal experiences with different families before we finally made it in January 2020 when our first home-and-school programme was agreed,” Zoe explained.
“We now have three home-and-school programmes due to start in January 2021 for Oldham pupils and another home-and-school programme being considered for an additional pupil by that pupil’s neighbouring local authority.”
Staff from BFS will visit each pupil in their home during the school day for five hours per week to model for parents how to put the approach into place.
Parents then video themselves putting the approach into place with their child and send this to their autism consultant who gives them feedback and reviews targets.
Lauren is currently running a home-and-school programme for her daughter who attends BFS.
She said: “When I began my home-and-school programme, I felt really lost and hopeless. I couldn’t think about the future for my daughter or even read her school reports because it was just too painful.
“My daughter self-harmed frequently by biting her arms. I felt really disconnected from her and completely powerless to help her.
“Then I began to focus intently on our RDI home programme. My consultant worked with me, providing feedback and advice. I started to change my interaction style with my daughter bit by bit.
“As a result, my daughter has come a long way. She understands me so much more and I understand her. She accepts the limits I set and she is much happier overall.
“Her self-harming is not an issue any longer because she can communicate more effectively and with more intent, so she doesn’t feel the need to self-harm in frustration.
“We now do things together and she engages with me. She has more confidence in the face of challenges and her problem-solving is blossoming.
“Now I can think about the future with hope for where we will be as a family. Our future changed from bleak to bright and it feels incredibly empowering.”
An exciting future also lies ahead for BFS, with Zoe adding: “Not only have we got the perfect building for our school but also, with the funding of these home-and-school programmes through EHC plans and with the partnerships we are able to make with parents, we have the best provision that we could possibly hope for.
“We already know from anecdotal evidence that the approach is powerful, effective and life-changing. It’s very hard work for parents, but so worth it.
“Our job now is to formally monitor and document progress so we can provide very clear evidence that the approach works.
“Then we will have a repository of evidence that can be shared with parents from other schools as well as with professionals who are interested in supporting families to implement the approach.”
The approach used by BFS is based on the principles of Relationship Development Intervention (RDI). More information is available online at www.rdiconnect.com
Further information about Bright Futures School for children with autism is available on the school website www.brightfuturesschool.co.uk
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