Information from the Recent Neurodevelopmental Pathway Workshop

07/12/2021

On the 17^th December PACC hosted a virtual workshop to provide an update for parent carers about the work done so far to create a new neurodevelopmental pathway, including Autism and ADHD support and assessment.  This work was prompted by concerns raised by families during the SEND Local Area Inspection (Jan 2020), when the existing pathway was identified as a ‘significant area of weakness’ in the inspection report. As a result of the inspection findings Shropshire Council and Shropshire CCG were required to publish a Written Statement of Action and work as been ongoing since this point.

PACC has provided representation on the ND Pathway working group and has shared ongoing feedback from families.  In March 2021 there were also two workshops hosted for Shropshire by The Council for Disabled Children, to explore how services could work together more effectively and what the new neurodevelopmental pathway should look like.  These sessions were attended by parent carers, schools, colleges and practitioners from health and social care services. The key messages from parent carers shared during these sessions are captured in the presentation here, along with the agreed core principles and vision agreed for the pathway.

In response to this initial activity the work group then looked at pathways from other areas and existing resources locally, focusing eventually on the Coventry model, which offers early quality support and transparent access to diagnostic assessments.  The Coventry pathway starts with the Dimensions Tool, which can be viewed here.  As part of the work in Shropshire the ND pathway working group looked in depth at the Dimensions Tool and felt that creating a Shropshire version of this tool would be useful. Other work completed has focused on school-based pathway, for those 5-16 years and proposes the creation of a team of Higher Level Teaching Assistants, specifically trained to support young people with neurodevelopmental conditions (in particular autism and ADHD), who will offer both school and home based support. The HLTA Team will be supported by a specialist, senior Education Psychologist and admin provision.  Funding to date has been secured for 2 HLTA’s, the Ed Psych role and admin support.  Work is ongoing however to create more capacity in the 0-6 pathway, to develop a transparent and effective assessment process and to create a post diagnostic support offer.

More information is available on the presentation shared as part of the update, available here.  PACC asked two questions as part of the workshop which we would be keen to hear your response to.  Please email your answers to the questions below to enquiries@paccshropshire.org.uk

1. Do you agree with the draft vision for the Shropshire Neurodevelopmental Pathway, please tell us what you like or dislike about the proposed vision.
2. What would a good post diagnosis support offer look like?