"Brilliant PAPAS course"

Myself and my husband recently attended (remotely) the PAPAS course run by Fife NHS SALT and psychology teams. The 6 week course covers what autism is, how it affects communication and socialising, sensory differences, understanding and supporting behaviours. Vicky and Renate were brilliant at teaching and supporting us to be able to better support our autistic daughter by improving our understanding of her experiences. Reminding us that the reactions and behaviours we see are usually a culmination of lots of hidden triggers and experiences - just the tip of the iceberg! They both gave excellent advice and support without ever being patronising or righteous towards us, which can sometimes feel like how other people speak to you about your children. Their relaxed nature and excellent working relationship (and friendship) comes across from the start, immediately making us feel at ease and open to engage with them without feeling self conscious. 

It is a brilliant resource to have and it is great hearing other families experiences as well. They both remind us its important to look after ourselves too. It definitely makes you feel seen and less alone. They educate with genuine caring and compassion. 

This course could always be beneficial to any parent or family of an autistic child, however I believe that it could be more beneficial earlier in a child's referral pathway. They told us that has now become the case, which is brilliant! We will definitely aim to use the PAPAS course for older children in a couple of years time as our daughter's needs and challenges change as she ages and we will need different strategies to help her then too. Thank you to the amazing team in the Fife neurodevlopmental pathway and to Vicky and Renate in particular for such a well run, informative course.