Primary School

The primary years are a critical phase in a child’s development. Our services and supports focus on social and emotional well-being to help children to gain an understanding of their world so they can function comfortably within it. We offer school, therapy, in-home and community-based supports that focus on individual needs and encourage skills and competencies, so children can explore and interact with their world with confidence and assurance.

Our services encourage children and families to value their own abilities, strengths and capacities, helping them to develop the necessary emotional resilience needed to manage disappointments and frustrations.

We work with children and families to:

• Increase social skills and relationships
• Deepen the understanding and sense of self
• Increase the sense of connection with others and the world at large
• Extend social, literacy and numeracy skills
• Maintain a healthy relationship with our loved ones

Encouraging resilience

It is important to focus on children’s strengths rather than on negative behaviours. Parents and carers can support children’s wellbeing and emotional development by showing understanding of their feelings and by offering encouragement and specific praise for children’s efforts.

By learning to value their own strengths and efforts, as well as those of others, children become much more adept at coping with stressful or unexpected situations. Through our services, we continually seek opportunities for children to be successful as this leads to children feeling competent and confident in themselves and in their world.

How we work

Our services use a family-centred approach, recognising the importance of working in partnership with family members. We tailor our support to meet the individual needs of children on the autism spectrum in their natural environment wherever possible. Our approach is based on understanding the learning characteristics of children on the spectrum, and promoting the use of visual supports and structuring their physical environment to encourage meaning and independence.

Our primary years services are delivered by a team of qualified education and allied health professionals using an evidence-informed, transdisciplinary framework. We work in partnership with individuals, families and communities and we provide information, support and education to give you and your child the specific skills, resources and networks you need.

The Aspect Comprehensive Approach

Aspect uses a comprehensive organisation-wide approach to support. Aspect's Comprehensive Approach encapsulates more than 50 years of Aspect's expertise in providing services to children, young people and adults on the autism spectrum.