Not Stupid (23 page)

A
fter all the recent upheaval, life goes on at Hillingdon Manor and its associated facilities. Sadly, in July 2006, Angela Austin said goodbye and strolled off into the sunset to enjoy her well-earned retirement, while Sean Pavitt swapped his role as head teacher at the Upper School to replace her.

A year later, though, it was Sean's time to say farewell after he accepted a position as head teacher at an emotional behavioural disorder school in Dorset, not far from his parents' home. We were sad to say goodbye to Sean – and his wife Cheryl – after all his hard work at Hillingdon Manor and the Upper School, and knew we would find it tough to replace him, but we were very fortunate to find someone we considered to be the ideal person to take over the reins following an extensive internet search.

The staff and I were delighted, and not just a little relieved, to welcome Gail Pilling as the new principal at Hillingdon Manor in time for the following academic year, and we are
confident that, under her stewardship, the work at the school can only continue to develop in a positive manner. Gail began her career at Hillingdon Manor initially working alongside Sean Pavitt for a short while prior to his departure. She is an educational psychologist, a speech-and-language therapist and an HMI (Her Majesty's Inspector) – all three roles being of great relevance and benefit to her new post. Gail was also able to back up her impressive qualifications with some considerable experience in supporting children with autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Also, I am so pleased and excited to report that all the uncertainty and distress leading to the take-over of Hillingdon Manor have finally been put to rest. After a really stressful year which had seen tensions between myself and some of the directors almost reaching breaking point – not to mention all the problems associated with the much publicised ‘credit crunch' which made our ability to obtain loan finance much harder – we nevertheless strove to ensure that the developments needed to ensure the school could function appropriately were put in place.

Then, in the middle of 2008, we received an unsolicited approach from a company called Hillcrest Care Limited, one of the UK's leading independent providers of children's homes, foster care and learning disability services, who expressed an interest in teaming up with us. We already knew a certain amount about Hillcrest having been invited to one of their sites at Chipping Norton the previous summer. Without exception, we had all been very impressed by them. Coming through loud and clear during our visit was the fact that, although they were
a successful private company, they were very client focused and had a proven track record. This was something we could all relate to.

After their approach I decided to try to find out more about them. My thorough investigations revealed that they were a large company with many interests, which I felt were complementary to our own. Without question they are a professional company run by very competent staff. Conversations with Roger Colvin, their chief executive, and managing director Richard Greenwell, made it clear to Sean and I that they shared the same vision with regards to the future as we did. Sean and I were not supportive of the idea of using venture capital to take the services forward and, for us, the fact that Hillcrest is a private company made them particularly well suited. Because of all these facts, we gave the Hillcrest partnership our full support and, eventually, after obtaining the support of the other parties involved, the merger was approved. The process of selling the company was obviously going to be long and expensive and proved to be very frustrating for Sean and me. Nevertheless in November 2008 the process was, at last, completed.

I shall be remaining in my role as a director of Hillingdon Manor School and the other adult provision which we provide at The Old Vicarage, Summercare and at West London Community College – the new name that has since been given to West Middlesex College. I am a significant shareholder of the new holding company, Hillcrest Autism Care Limited, and I will work closely with the Hillcrest management team as we build on top of the excellent achievements we have made to date.

Hillcrest's acquisition of Hillingdon Manor and its associated facilities added to the 500 staff and 6 schools that are part of the Hillcrest family. This was a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. At last, we could look positively towards the future by expanding and enhancing the services we already had to offer. In his press release after the partnership came to fruition, Hillcrest's Chairman and founder Barry Sampson said: ‘We are delighted to be adding Hillingdon Manor School to the Hillcrest family. After our acquisition of Orange Grove foster care last year, which is going from strength to strength, we were keen to continue the strategic growth of Hillcrest into associated areas'.

Hillcrest is a well-established business. Founded in 1994, it currently has 10 specialist children's homes in England and Wales that cater for children with, amongst other things, emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is one of the largest childcare groups remaining in private hands. Hillcrests six fully registered DfES (the old name!) schools provide a full, rich and varied curriculum, which is delivered by qualified teachers and support staff.

The Learning and Disability Services wing of Hillcrest has created a number of exciting, pioneering and innovative projects which include residential homes for adults, and supported living with domiciliary care and residential children's homes that support children up to and during their transition to adult services. Barry Sampson, is also the chairman of Seaward Properties, which has been awarded one of the UK's top property awards, is the majority shareholder of Hillcrest Care, so we are more than satisfied with the high calibre of people we will now be working alongside.

Being part of the Hillcrest group will provide us with greater support and access to funds for expansion and development of the services we can offer. Hillcrest set to work immediately, adding an extra classroom block at the school to help accommodate the excess demand for places.

We have an exciting three-year development plan for Hillingdon Manor through which we will, hopefully, establish separate extended primary, secondary and Intensive Communication and Life Skills Department provision which is desperately needed due to the excess demand we have been facing. We also have plans to extend our admission criteria for our adult provision to include adults on the autistic continuum with more complex needs, and this will create a facility that will also benefit Angelo when he reaches 19 years of age.

Things have just been getting better and better, particularly at West London Community College, where work is still ongoing to meet the complex and specific needs of the students by way of a person centred approach. Each individual's programme is currently designed to promote the students' intellectual, psychological, cultural, physical and creative competencies. We offer courses in ICT, life skills, vocational training skills, stress management, assertiveness, and relationships with sex education. Among the more practical groups are a lunch enterprise scheme and a tuck shop. We offer choices of community-based physical activities such as swimming, football or working out in a gym.

The college was successful in securing a grant from the Football Association, which will run for the next three years. This has enabled us to form a seven-a-side football team in the West London Disabled Football League. As I write, the team
are preparing for their second match, having won their first game quite magnificently!

Academic study at the college is available through a variety of routes. It is essential to plan, with the student, which option best meets their needs. This could be anything from attending university to a correspondence and distance-learning programme. Our staff work closely with colleagues from other services to form a multi-disciplinary team, providing a holistic approach to students' welfare and well being.

Weekly guidance counselling sessions are invaluable and provide students with the opportunity to raise any subject they choose in a private, safe and supportive forum. Students also have the option of an additional weekly session with a psychotherapist as this is particularly beneficial to those students who require Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

I have to say that working with my new colleagues from Hillcrest, Barry Sampson, Roger Colvin, Richard Greenwell and others, has proven to be a real joy. As I have said earlier, we have formulated some very exciting plans to expand our services for people with autistic spectrum disorders, and there is no doubt in my mind that the future is now very positive indeed. My former colleagues have now moved on, and Sean is no longer involved in the company. Sean is one of the few people to successfully represent someone with Asperger's Syndrome in an Employment Tribunal, and he will continue his legal work; he will also be spending a lot more time developing his interests in financial markets.

Meanwhile, we have been further encouraged to learn of a potentially helpful Autism Bill which has been put forward by
Angela Browning MP who for many years has championed the rights of individuals with autistic spectrum disorders. If this Bill becomes an Act, it will be an extremely welcome piece of legislation. At the time of writing, the Bill is only at the second reading stage and, even if it gets the appropriate support in Parliament, will not come into force for quite some time. Nevertheless, I and the staff at West London Community College have been particularly pleased to read that the Bill appears to be focusing around independent living and daily life skills as these issues have, for the past year, been our main focus of learning. Our students have been thriving in a culture of independence and choice. Yes, academia is important but if choice is not made available, it is not a person centred or client led service.

We have been delighted that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have both pledged their full support for the draft Bill should one of their MPs be selected in a Private Members Ballot. This makes it all the more important that people contact their MP to ask them to enter the ballot for Private Members Bills and to take on the Autism Bill if successful.

We've been urging organisations to pledge their support for the Bill which aims to strengthen information about the numbers of people with autism and their needs in order to improve local planning and commissioning of services. It aims to improve inter-agency working to ensure effective transition for disabled young people who are moving from child to adult services and, finally, it aims to ensure access and appropriate support and services for people with autism in adult life.

Readers will, by now, be fully aware that this is a major issue
for Sean and me. Like other parents in our position, Sean and I are determined that everything possible is in place to help our children, Patrick and Angelo, cope with life, especially in the event of anything happening to us! The transition from school to adulthood for young people with autism demands a high degree of inter-agency cooperation, and this is where difficulties often arise.

Furthermore, eighty-six per cent of local authorities say that if they had more information on autism prevalence in their area it would help them with long-term planning. As things currently stand, adults with autism are often unable to access the right support and, consequently, become dependent on their families. Sixty-one per cent of adults with autism rely on their families for financial support, while forty per cent live at home with their parents.

Structural barriers prevent adults with autistic spectrum disorders from accessing the support they so desperately need. Local authorities tend to provide services via specific teams, with the teams categorised into client groups. People with autistic spectrum disorders will usually come into contact with the learning disability team and/or the mental health team. However, as autism is a developmental disorder, it is not appropriate to categorise autism as simply being a ‘learning disability' or a ‘mental health problem'. Failure to understand the needs of people with autism means that many individuals, particularly those with Asperger's Syndrome or
high-functioning
autism, find themselves falling through the gap between services that refuse to take responsibility for them.

A lack of understanding of, and training in, autism means
that the health and community care needs of a person with autism are not properly understood in an assessment; they are then unable to access the services they need, and the right types of support are also lacking.

The top three types of support that parents and carers believe their son or daughter with autism would most benefit from are, according to surveys, social skills training (sixty per cent), social groups (fifty-six per cent), and befriending (forty-nine per cent) and yet there is a clear shortage of these types of support.

If this Bill is passed through parliament it will make a difference to the lives of thousands of adults with an autistic spectrum disorder. Gaining the support of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats has been a major step forward.

We are committed to raising the awareness of autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Over recent months, three of our college students have developed a training package they can deliver to a variety of delegates, including social care professionals, company employers, parents and young people in transition. ASDAT – Autistic Spectrum Disorder Awareness Training – can be purchased by contacting the West London Community College.

Looking to the future, we have to recognise that our students, like everyone else, have emotional needs that have to be met, particularly when it comes to relationships. A group of students at the college devised and developed a friendship and dating agency which they called Friends 1st and, to date, there have been four successful events with up to thirty attendees at each. However, unbeknown to us, a Christian organisation also calls itself Friends First and they informed us that we should change the name of our dating agency as they had been using it for the
past nine years. This came as a huge blow to the students who had really worked so hard on this project and had really established the name.