The Berkshire West Autism & ADHD Support Service’s free workshops and courses available online for parents, carers, children and young people are as follows – see the Autism Support and ADHD Support pages for more details.
Please note that all these services are only available to parents/carers and children and young people who are registered with a GP surgery in the Berkshire West NHS area (Reading, Wokingham and West Berkshire) – click here for a list of surgeries – who have an autism and/or ADHD diagnosis or are on the NHS waiting list for a Berkshire CAMHS assessment for autism and/or ADHD.
Parents and carers who would like to register an interest in attending workshops or courses, or have any questions, should complete our online referral form, email contact@autismberkshire.org.uk or call 01189 594 594 (option 1) and leave a voicemail message.
If you are a health, education or social care professional who supports autistic and/or 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.
Autism Advice Workshops
These are suitable for parents and carers of autistic children, whether they have a diagnosis, or are waiting for a Berkshire CAMHS assessment. All take place online between 10am and 11.30am.
Understanding More About Autism: Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Sensory Differences: Part 1, Thursday, January 23, 2025; Part 2, Thursday, January 30, 2025.
Supporting Behaviour: Part 1, Thursday, February 27, 2025; Part 2, Thursday, March 6, 2025.
Eating & Mealtime Challenges: Thursday, February 6, 2025.
Emotional Regulation: Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Workshops for parents/carers of Autistic Teenagers
These are suitable for parents and carers of autistic children aged 11 to 18, whether they have a diagnosis, or are waiting for a Berkshire CAMHS assessment and who are in mainstream education or home-educated and do not have learning disabilities. All take place online between 10am and 11.30am.
Autism & Teenagers: Friday, January 17, 2025.
Anxiety & Autistic Teenagers: Friday, January 31, 2025.
Teenagers & Social Situations: Friday, February 28, 2025.
Mental Health & Social Struggles of a Teenager: Friday, March 28, 2025.
Autism & Mainstream Secondary Schools: Thursday, December 12, 2024; Friday, March 14, 2025.
Transition to Primary School advice session
An online get-together for the parents and carers of autistic children aged 3 to 5, whether they have a diagnosis, or are waiting for a Berkshire CAMHS assessment, who will soon be starting primary school. Sessions take place online between noon and 1pm.
Forthcoming sessions: To be advised.
ADHD Advice Workshops
Please note that these are delivered as a linked series, made up of three online workshops – An Introduction to ADHD, Anxiety & ADHD and Managing ADHD Behaviours – and are suitable for parents and carers of children with ADHD, whether they have a diagnosis, or are awaiting an assessment.
Forthcoming series of workshops (all 7pm to 9pm):
- Tuesdays January 7, 14 & 21, 2025.
Autism & ADHD Follow-up Advice Workshops
These online workshops are suitable for parents and carers of autistic children and for parents and carers of children with ADHD, whether they have a diagnosis, or are awaiting an assessment.
Sleep Difficulties: To be advised.
Transition to Adulthood:
- Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 10am-11.30am: Hazel Wright, of employment support charity Graft Thames Valley, will talk about the services that it offers to disabled people and answer questions.
Social Confidence Course for children
A course for children in school Years 4 to 8 (ages 8 to 13), with sessions running after school on Mondays from 4.30pm to 6.30pm, at Tilehurst Youth and Community Centre.
Forthcoming courses:
- November 4, 11, 18 & 25 and December 2 & 9, 2024
- January 6, 13, 20 & 27 and February 3 & 10, 2025.
Autism Berkshire and Parenting Special Children also provide other services for parents, carers, children young people and autistic adults that are not funded by the NHS. Details are available on each charity’s website.
