ADHD Support

Parents and carers of children registered with a GP surgery in the Berkshire West NHS area (Reading, Wokingham and West Berkshire) who have an ADHD diagnosis or are on the NHS waiting list for a Berkshire CAMHS ADHD assessment can benefit from the support services detailed below.

• If you would like to register an interest in attending any of the free workshops or courses, or have any questions, please complete the online referral form,  for our partners Parenting Special Children, who provide the service’s ADHD support. You can also email contact@autismberkshire.org.uk or call 01189 594 594 (option 1) and leave a voicemail message. If a booking link for a workshop is shown, you can register yourself to attend.
• If you are a health, education or social care professional who supports ADHD children and young people and their families and you want to make a referral to the service, please click here for our referral form for professionals.

Helpline

Advice about support for families of children and young people with ADHD is available by emailing contact@autismberkshire.org.uk or calling 01189 594 594 (option 1). Also provides information about Autism Berkshire’s other services. Click here for more details.

ADHD advice workshops

For parents and carers, with Parenting Special Children’s specialist trainers. Please note that these are delivered as a linked series of three workshops, not as individual sessions.

An Introduction to ADHD: Looks at What is ADHD?, the challenges and concerns and the strengths and opportunities associated with ADHD, and signposting to management strategies.

Anxiety & ADHD: Looks at What is Anxiety?, why it makes sense to be anxious if you have ADHD, strategies to help support you and your child, plus signposting to other support that is available.

Managing ADHD Behaviours: Looks at attention challenges, hyperactive behaviours and impulsive behaviours and shares behaviour management strategies to help you and your child.

Forthcoming series of ADHD workshops (all sessions 7pm to 9pm):

• Tuesdays September 10, 17 and 24 – click here to register.

Follow-on workshops

Sleep Difficulties: This workshop for parents and carers, with trainers from Parenting Special Children, covers ADHD and autistic children’s sleep cycles and sleep needs, the reasons behind night settling and night waking, strategies to help parents and carers feel less stressed when sleep training a child, and parenting strategies for settling a child to sleep and staying asleep.

Children and young people whose families are registered with a GP surgery in the Berkshire West NHS area – click here for a list – and who have an ADHD diagnosis or are on the waiting list for an ADHD assessment can benefit from the following support services:

Social Confidence Course

A six-week course, in small groups, for children and young people aged 8 to 13 who are in mainstream education, and already have an autism and/or ADHD diagnosis or are on the Berkshire CAMHS waiting list for assessment.

The course aims to develop the confidence and emotional wellbeing of children and young people through meeting their peers and exploring the social world in a friendly and supportive setting. It looks at topics including knowing ourselves, developing and maintaining friendships, self-esteem, independence and self-advocacy.

Sessions take place on Mondays after school, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm at Tilehurst Youth and Community Centre, in The Triangle.

Forthcoming courses:

• Course 1: September 16, 23 & 30 and October 7, 14 & 21
• Course 2: November 4, 11, 18 & 25 and December 2 & 9

Tailored Interventions

These are based on individual need and are available for families of ADHD children, aged five to seven.

All these services are funded by the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West NHS Integrated Care Board and are available free of charge, along with other help available from the Berkshire West Autism & ADHD Support Service.