By Bhavini Vithlani
Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
I am proud to say that Magic Words have officially completed the first parent support group, put together to help and empower the parents of our young autistic clients.
So, where did the idea for this group come from?
After working in our Newport Pagnell clinic for almost a year, I noticed an ongoing similarity between a range of my sessions. I was carrying out individual sessions focusing on intervention for autistic children under 5, helping them to develop their communication skills and increasing parents’ confidence in how to embrace their child’s unique styles of communication. The similarity I found, was each parent expressing to me how isolating it can be to be a parent of a child with additional needs. This can stem from older generations in the family having difficulties understanding how we approach autism in modern day society and the advances in research and intervention techniques, to having friends with typically developing children who can’t fully understand the challenges of having an autistic child. In both of these cases, it is not always for want of trying.
What happened next?
After hearing how the parents were feeling, I felt like I was in a position of being able to administer change and provide support. I was aware that my colleagues also saw clients who were in a similar position to my own. I approached my line manager with the idea to organise a support group for the parents of autistic children; to help them realise they are by no means alone in their journey and to create a platform where they can talk with other people who can really and truly relate to their positions. I was surprised and extremely grateful when I received the go ahead from my line manager after she had consulted our brilliant Directors. This was in July at the end of the school year in 2022, so I planned to start organising the logistics of the group as soon as we started back at work in September 2022.
How did the group develop?
As the school year started, my timetable became very full, very fast. Between working in my contracted schools and managing my clinic clients, it was hard to find the time to work out the logistics of the group as quickly as I had wanted to, but I didn’t let that stop me. When some time was freed up unexpectedly, I used this to work on the group. I set up a spreadsheet where my colleagues could let me know if they had clients who would be interested in attending, unsurprisingly to me, this filled up quickly. I tested various platforms to see which one would work best and decided that conducting the group online would give our clients from all clinics and geographical areas the best chance of being able to attend. Once I found time in my schedule, I started to send out the emails to inform the interested parents about the group.
How did it go?
The group started well, I introduced the basic rules and intentions of the group and encouraged parents to share their thoughts, hardships, and successes with the group. I emphasised that this was the parents’ space to talk openly and advise each other based on their own experiences, not to be led by the therapists. After some time, this is exactly what started to happen. As it continued, I almost couldn’t believe what was transpiring in front of me. The result of one idea which I took a chance on. The result of the support I received from Magic Words to follow through with my idea. The result – parents sharing their troubles and receiving advice from other parents who have been in their shoes. It was positively overwhelming and very moving for me to witness.
The group is now running monthly. I know myself and the other members of the Magic Words team are invested in continuing to provide support to our parents – they are after all the ones who spend the most time with their children and we will do whatever we can to empower them.
