Our approach to developing your autism strategy

Our approach to developing your autism strategy includes:

• Strategic needs assessment, using quantitative and qualitative data and story-based approaches – all building on the Autism Self-Assessment Form – to ensure individual and community needs and strengths are clear and based in real experience
• Mapping services, pathways and leadership, identifying strengths, weaknesses, gaps, assets, costs, and supporting market development for new and innovative provision
• Developing an effective, locally defined Autism Strategy, for and genuinely coproduced with people living with autism, including families.
• Providing informed leadership support and facilitation to develop a multi-agency, all ages, local partnership board that is effective, proactive, innovative, sustainable, and well-led, and has the key people involved, based on the principles of co-production
• Working with stakeholders including families and young people with autism to review out of area, locked and restricted residential placements, with a view to supporting return to their own communities and to reinvest cost savings to more proactive, person-centred care
• Comparing your area with others’ strategies, commissioning approaches and provision to identify positive practice, quality outcomes, costs, and improvement measures
• Reviewing employment opportunities and support to develop innovative approaches
• Unlocking the potential of Personal Budgets to support personalised, more effective services
• Supporting the development of sustainable peer support and advocacy
• Conducting a training needs analysis and development of training strategies at all levels to include strategies for developing awareness in the community, as well as knowledge and understanding in universal services.

Examples of our work includes the following:

Strategic support

• Multi-site review of strategic and service level arrangements alongside experiences of families and young people at risk of out of area placements
• Co-production of a county-wide all-ages Autism Strategy in Lincolnshire - read our case study here
• Market analysis and development: including identifying and bringing new, person centred providers into the market and evaluating effectiveness
• The Greenlight Toolkit: a practical guide to improving your mental health services so they are accessible and flexible in supporting people with autism and people with learning disabilities. Includes a benchmarking club of organisations who have used the Greenlight Toolkit
• Articulation of current and potential pathways for young people with Learning Disability, Autism and Challenging Behaviour Workforce development, building on our development of workforce guidance for Skills for Care
• Workforce development, building on our development of workforce guidance for Skills for Care
• Development of employment strategies.

Evaluation, audit and research

• Local employment support strategy and delivery, focusing on people with learning disabilities, mental health problems and autism
• Our Challenging Behaviour Audit examines the extent to which the factors known to underpin effective commissioning and service delivery for people who challenge are in place
• Cost effectiveness of different models of employment support for disabled people
• Use of social care Personal Budgets to support disabled people to gain or retain paid work
• Developing employment as an aspiration and outcome for young people.

Action-learning sets

• Work with commissioners from across England to share best practice and practical lessons in supporting people with LD, autism and challenging behaviours
• Work with independent providers on identifying and developing excellent practice.