"I felt frustrated at the lack of on the ground services offered"

I had a recent telephone call with a support worker. When the telephone call ended I felt frustrated at the lack of on the ground services offered by the trust.

The practitioner was very helpful and pleasant throughout.

I did recognise that my frustrations are likely because of the under staffing and under resourcing of this service. However as a parent if a child with a recognised disability, I feel that not enough is being done to support families with actual real life support.

I feel families would benefit from more face to face contact with a practitioner. That in order to build a therapeutic relationship with a family and recognise the gaps in knowledge or support they should be visiting the child in their home environment and speaking with the whole family unit.

Zooms and questionnaires are time consuming, time that cannot often be given when you have an autistic child and especially when there are other children in the home.

I also feel that these resources are repetitive and somewhat condescending given that most families have already sought their own knowledge given the long waiting lists.

The pyramid of care with 1:1 at the top makes it seems unreachable and when you do eventually get support such as OT you are told that your child cannot avail of this going forward as they are in a special school. However, input within schools is also limited as there are so many pupils requiring this and again, not enough staff.

The practitioner mentioned filling in charts to get to know the child. My child has been diagnosed for over 2 years now and any support had to be chased and followed up myself. I feel that as a service, they are not functioning and I am disappointed overall. From speaking to other parents I know that this is not just my personal view and I have been met with a consensus.