World Autism Awareness Day is an internationally recognised day taking place on 2 April every year. In the week of 1 – 7 April surrounding this day, we would like to encourage you to find out more about autism and explore ways to support children and young people on the autism spectrum. We have collected below a few resources for everyone wanting to know and do more. All these resources have been developed by autism education specialists, people on the autism spectrum and parents or children and young people on the autism spectrum. You can also watch a video of Niall Aslam from Love Island talk about his autism and his school years.

For parents:

Understanding a diagnosis: Watch our videos featuring young people on the autism spectrum, parents and professionals talking about receiving a diagnosis. As Jonathan says in the film he made “You’re autistic. You’re awesome. You’re special” and we hope that these films help you to understand that.

Check out our videos on our YouTube Channel, and the brand new channel hosted by our Autistic Young Experts. 

Parent’s guide: These resources can help you find a school for your autistic child and give guidance on how to work together with your child’s school.

Early Years resources:

Autism competency framework: This resource sets out the knowledge and skills that are required for professionals in settings working with children on the autism spectrum.

Autism standards: A set of standards from the AET, to enable educational settings to evaluate your practice in addressing the needs of children on the autism spectrum.

Primary and Secondary School resources:

Autism competency framework: The framework is presented as a self-evaluation tool that practitioners can use to rate their current practice and understanding against a set of descriptors (knowledge, skills, personal qualities).

Autism standards: A set of standards from the AET, to enable educational settings to evaluate your practice in addressing the needs of pupils on the autism spectrum.

Post 16 resources:

Autism competency framework: The framework sets out the knowledge and skills that are required for professionals in settings working with learners on the autism spectrum.

Autism standards:  A set of standards from the AET, to enable educational settings to evaluate your practice in addressing the needs of young people on the autism spectrum.

Explore our phase-specific resources. 

For everyone: 

Niall Aslam from Love Island talks about his autism and his school years in this video created by the NAS.