Bethany Project>Autism Services

Bethany Project: Autism Services

What does it offer?

Bethany’s work around autism is developed and managed by Sibylle Janert, who has over 15 years of experience working with children with autistic behaviours, their parents and families, as well as running training and consultations for and with other professionals and workers.

Bethany offers individual experienced support in understanding the reason for a child’s autistic behaviours. It works with parents to observe, discuss and put in place appropriate strategies, activities and interactive games that may help.

Bethany acknowledge that equal rights mean being responsive to people’s differences. This means that it develops approaches to suit based on differing needs, whether cultural, family situation, class, education or financial. For this reason, it offers a range of different supports, e.g. closed and open groups, as well as individual mentoring and co-working with others where appropriate, i.e. where English is not the family’s first language.

There are currently four specific strands of work that the project undertakes.

Mentoring

Home-based individual support for families, which involves careful observation, modelling and practising ways to encourage a child’s development as well as helping parents find more effective ways of managing difficult ‘autistic’ behaviours. Video feedback is used where appropriate.

One parent of a 7 year old boy commented

‘You helped me so much. I used to either feed him or scream at him all the time. I just did not know what to do. Coming to my house you showed me what I could do and how to do it. Now, 2 years later, he is talking all the time and really keen on reading and writing. He plays with his sisters and wants to be social all the time, so we are now looking for a mainstream school.’

The Autism Training and Support Group

This regular weekly group offers mutual support for parents as well as information on specific topics for parents, and others involved with an autistic child. The group looks at practical applications of recent research and ways in which parents can help their children, it gives parents a chance to discuss individual issues.

A father who attends the group said

‘The Autism Training and Support Group is what I have been looking for the past 3 years. Finally there is someone with real experience who can explain things. I find the videos really helpful, - also sharing with other parents how to cope with difficult behaviours.’

‘EarlyBird’ Parenting Programme

This NAS (National Autism Society) programme is to date the only early autism intervention programme aimed specifically at helping parents. It is an intensive 3-month-course of weekly group sessions for 6 families including video feedback for individualised support and training.

The parents of a 3 year old girl commented

‘Every parent should go on an EarlyBird course. I hadn’t realised that doing everything for Aimee was not helping her. It was great hearing from the other parents how they are coping, and it made me see that Aimee wasn’t so bad. I also learnt so much from the videos, both our own and watching other people’s.’

Training, Consultancy & Co-Working

Bethany regularly provides these services to other professionals to help them implement its holistic approach to working with children with autistic and challenging behaviour. Social workers, health visitors, mainstream, autistic and NAS-schools/ nurseries, as well as other statutory and voluntary sector organisations involved with autism have all benefited. Among others this includes Phoenix School, The Spark Centre, APASENTH, Barnados, Bangabandhu Primary School, Cyril Jackson School, and further afield with the Oxfordshire Education Autism Service, Scotland, Germany, Manovikas Kendra, Mentaid and several other schools in Calcutta/ India and The Centre for the Rehabiliation of the Paralysed in Savar/ Bangladesh.

How is this approach different?

The approach taken by Bethany differs from others working with children with autistic and challenging behaviour in that Sibylle’s approach is based around understanding the child within the context of its family and community. She does not use a medical model in her work.

The approach is holistic, but practical and pragmatic. It is based around understand underlying reasons and encourages reflectiveness and observation from parents as well as self help skills. It offers practical child-centred advice, which focuses on communication and combines behavioural methods with extensive theoretical understanding of infant research and psychodynamic thinking.

Sibylle’s way of working differs markedly from that of most services working with these children. It is the only service focussing exclusively on working with the parents, parents are normally excluded from understanding the basis of their child’s behaviour.

She sees the child’s autistic behaviour as non verbal communication about its inner world and state of mind. She takes a view that focuses on understanding underlying emotional processes rather than a medical model focussed on an isolated description of symptoms. Her work aims to unpack years of anti developmental patterns and behaviours and replace them with meaningful, interactive behaviours through activities, games and other mutually enjoyable strategies. This helps to enhance the child’s non-autistic potential. Autism is seen as a difficult and complex problem, which leaves parents feeling frustrated and inadequate, Sibylle’s approach regards the parent’s feelings and experience of their child as crucial information, which can be used to plan appropriate strategies and action.

The Bethany Project
4 Westport Street
Stepney, London E1 0RA

Tel. 020 7790 6464
Email: info@bethanyproject.info