North West care provider pioneers care for people with autism

Peter Begley as he delivers staff training

April is Autism Awareness Month and a North West social care provider is one of the first in the country to pioneer the use of a sensory profile to help understand the individual needs of clients with autism.

Future Directions CIC is a social care provider for people with learning disabilities and complex needs and its Operational Network Manager, Peter Begley, was instrumental in the decision to use the profile.

“Dr Olga Bogdashina MA PhD is Co-founder, Programme Leader and Lecturer at the International Autism Institute and has received critical acclaim for her work on the hypo-and-hyper-sensitive sensory perceptual experiences of autistic people,” he said. “Part of her work is the development of a sensory profile and we have been given permission by her publisher to use part of the profile and help pioneer its use in the UK to further develop person centred support.”

In autistic people, senses can be either over developed to be hyper-sensitive or underdeveloped to be hypo-sensitive, both can impact on how a person will experience and cope with different environments. Profiling sensory sensitivity, allows carers and family members to capture a person’s characteristics and provide further information to develop a person centred approach to support the autistic condition. Future Directions support 25 autistic clients and each one has had a sensory profile completed.

“The profile is carried out by people who already know the person,” said Peter. “Essentially is looks at both their historical and current behaviours and helps to define and explain `why` somebody behaves the way they do.

“For example, client M likes his own personal space and will often spend time in his room alone. Sometimes M will cover his face and head with his duvet and weighted blankets. Prior to completing his sensory profile, we thought well that’s just the way he is. However, the profile has now helped us realise that M is hypo-sensitive to visual and auditory noise. When a certain thing gets too much for him, he attempts to shut out the `whole world`, covering his head with his weighted blanket and duvet. It is his way of reassuring himself and helps him feel safe.”

The sensory profile covers seven key areas including sight, sound, touch, smell and balance and once completed, allows Future Direction Personal Assistants to update a Positive Behaviour Support Plan and so ensure the person centred approach to an autistic condition.

Family input is also invaluable to developing the sensory profile and Future Directions worked in partnership with them to provide a coherent approach to understanding M`s personality and what support he requires to enhance his life skills.

M’s mum said: “It’s hard to believe that something as simple as this profile has helped all of us manage some of M’s more unpredictable behaviour. I believe it has helped him feel safer in the world and hopefully taken away those elements that heightened his anxieties. Making a few simple changes to his day to day environment has worked wonders.”

Future Directions has incorporated the sensory profile into its staff training on supporting individual’s with autism and it has become an essential part of its philosophy to support people with autism and meet the requirements of the Autism Act