Introduction
Education, health and care colleagues, as well as parent carers, children and young people in Somerset all believe that support is essential before any formal assessment.
A diagnosis is not needed to get support. There are services and tools that can help if you think you or someone you care for might be neurodivergent. These early steps can give useful ways to manage things and feel better, even without a diagnosis.
Phone the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopmental Partnership Advice Line if you are a parent, carer, young person, or professional. They can:
- Give you advice including strategies to try
- Provide brief psychoeducation to help you understand how the brain works (if helpful)
- Tell you where to go for more help that suits your child
Phone number: 0303 033 3002
Open times: Mondays 1pm to 4pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9am to 12pm
WISE Up Workshops
Being a parent or carer of a child with extra needs can sometimes be tricky, and it’s not always easy to know what to do.
To help with this, the Somerset Parent Carer Forum has made some special workshops. These are based on what parents and carers have said they want help with.
The idea behind the project is to empower parent carers through Workshops for Information, Support and Education (WISE). All the workshops are delivered or co-delivered by someone with lived experience of being a parent carer.
Find out more on the WISE Up Workshops page.
Supporting your neurodiverse child
Supporting Your Neurodiverse Child is your essential guide written by parent carers to navigating autism, ADHD, and other conditions with confidence and compassion.
Filled with expert advice and Somerset processes, it helps you celebrate your child’s unique strengths and become their greatest advocate.
Whether you’re just starting your journey or looking for new ways to help your child flourish, this book is here to empower you every step of the way.
Find out more on Somerset Parent Carer Forum website.
Neurodiversity Interventions – graduated response
Schools should start helping children as soon as they see they might need extra support, instead of waiting for a diagnosis.
Development advice sheets
Every child develops at their own pace. Advice Sheets from the Children and Young People’s Therapy Service help you spot developmental milestones and understand common variations in typical development. They also describe difficulties you may see and practical advice on what to do. While not exclusive to, many areas of advice relate to common areas often experienced by neurodivergent children. The advice sheets include topics such as:
- physical and motor skills
- play and sensory
- feeding and self-care
- communication and speech
As you put the suggested strategies into practice, journaling your experiences becomes incredibly valuable. Keeping a record of the specific strategies you’ve tried, how consistently you’ve applied them, and the impact they’ve had (both progress and challenges) creates robust evidence.
Sensory processing
We know that many, but not all, neurodivergent people have sensory processing difficulties. So the Sensory Processing pathway may be helpful.
Accessing services
Services are available to support children and young people right from the start, without needing a diagnosis. You will find options both within school and for use at home. For details on what each service offers and how to get in touch, view their individual record:
- Parent and Family Support Advisors (PFSA)
- Family Intervention Service (FIS)
- Children and Young People’s Therapy Service – Occupational Therapy
- Children and Young People’s Therapy Service – Speech and Language Therapy
- Early Years SEND Service – Inclusion Advisers
- Early Years SEND Service – Early Years Area SENCOs
- Educational Psychology Service (EPS)
- Access to Inclusion Team (autism and communication specialist advisory teachers)
- Autism Friendly Libraries and The Somerset Neurodiversity Collection
- Somerset Parent Carer Forum (SPCF)
- Young Somerset
- SENDIAS
Local support groups and charities focussing on neurodivergence include:
