The autism and social communication team are a team of specialist teachers who work to provide specialist advice for children and young people in mainstream primary and secondary settings, who have difficulties in the areas of social interaction, communication, flexibility of thinking and sensory differences. Some of these children and young people may have a diagnosis of autism, or may be on the pathway to a diagnosis of autism, but not all.
Important - please read along with the downloadable documents below
What to expect following a referral:
- The team of specialist teachers process referrals weekly
- Communication to school will be shared from the admin team with a referral outcome of allocated, deferred or declined. Deferred or declined outcomes may be issued where evaluation of SEN Support has been unclear or there is a lack of information or parental consent with the referral paperwork. On the referral form, we ask for a brief reflection of what provision has worked or not worked already in school, so that advice can be clearly tailored to the child’s needs in line with the graduated response to a child’s SEN
- Where a referral is allocated, the specialist link teacher for that school will aim to make initial contact with the referrer within the following three weeks. Initial contact may involve either; arranging an observation of the child in their day to day provision, meeting with class teacher, meeting with SENCO or other professionals, meeting with parent or pupil directly
- After the initial contact, a level of need will be identified and a record of involvement will be created and shared with recommended strategies, resources and advice. School will have clear next steps, and next steps for the specialist teacher will be clear. Next steps may involve either; closing the case on receipt of initial advice in agreement with school, monitoring and reviewing the case (with other professionals and services where required) for an agreed time period.
Specialist teachers can provide time limited involvement such as:
- Training for whole staff to raise awareness about Autism
- Advice about flexible approaches to teaching and learning
- Resources and information about the use of visual support systems
- Guidance about environmental considerations
- Support and training to recognise and reduce anxiety
- Advice about Sensory Issues
- Support for transitions within school
- Support for transitions between provisions
To complete a referral to the autism and social communication team please use the online form.
The autism and social communication team require the following documents to be uploaded with the online referral form (see the download section to download the documents).
- Parent/carer signature
- ABC behaviour analysis form (if applicable)
- Any other relevant paperwork such as reports from other professionals such as SALT, EPS, CAMHS
Online referral
Whilst completing the online referral form you can save your form progress by clicking the 'Save and come back later' button if you need to.
For further information please email lssreferrals@salford.gov.uk
Downloadable documents
If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.
This page was last updated on 15 September 2022