Gareth Jones, a teacher from Chester is bowled over by Elklan's Communication Support for Verbal Pupils with ASD training course.

'Wow! What a journey of discovery this course has put me on. Before attending this amazing course I had steadily honing my craft working with vulnerable and challenging children, including those with varying effects of an ASD diagnosis. I have developed strategies that I felt could support some aspects of difficulties faced by all of the children I have described in my assignments.

To a degree I have always felt as if I was on a gradual learning curve and I have developed my practice through the experiences of colleagues, low level half day courses and even trial and error. Throughout my Resourced Provision career so far, lots of routines, procedures and support materials have become embedded in my practice which has benefitted the progress of the children I teach. However, all of these taken time, perseverance and modification before they became integral pieces of my practice puzzle.

This course has changed my view of how to support ASD children in a profound way. It has provided me with strategies and resources that have an immediate impact and do not require time to embed. My understanding of the processes required for communication via the communication chain has made me realise the struggles that these children face.

The fantastic way a mindmap should be created with different colours and specific strands has helped immensely with year 6 transition to high school and using a chat cartoon to discuss a situation that has been re-occurring on many occasions worked much better for a girl with ASD to understand how that situation could look in a more positive way.

I have had success during non-structured times such as lunch time with a year 3 ASD boy who struggles with having other children around him and at ‘his table’. With looking at the physical structure environment, I introduced a small, individual table near the end of a long canteen table and that boy now tolerates having the other children close as they cannot breach his little table zone.

I feel that my practice has changed for the better in a short period of time due to the strategies and understanding I have gained from attending this course and completing the assignments in practice. The course has had had a huge impact on the way I view my practice and has made me realise that short term gains and successes are achievable with the children I work with.

Some courses I feel that if I come away with one strategy I can try in practice, it may have been worthwhile attending. This course I feel is a must attend opportunity as strategies and practices are not only in abundance, they are tangible and work with instant results. I would say that throughout my working life, this course has had the most positive impact on anything I have attended before.'

Thanks Gareth for your heartwarming and positive comments, and thanks Estelle Byrne for being such a great trainer!