Communication, social interaction and speech and language are pivotal life skills. They are linked to learning, attainment, behaviour, social and emotional development as well as mental wellbeing.

We are developing our team with specific training such as autism awareness, specialist learning support and Makaton training along with reinforcing speech and language strategies developed by the speech and language therapist. We are increasingly using strategies such as social stories, group communication sessions, relaxation sessions, active learning, visual prompts, individualised coping tools, low stimulation orientations and break clubs. We have also identified a range of specialist therapies to underpin our provision and to strengthen the support for students.

We are aiming to become a centre of excellence working with young adults with communication and social interaction difficulties and we believe we can do this with a curriculum that uses performance and the arts as a vehicle for building confidence, self-esteem, creativity and belief in their abilities to manage everyday life. Our intention is to further develop a curriculum and provision that provides a safe place for young adults to develop their independence skills and coping strategies and enables them to transition into their communities successfully.

Read about the therapies we offer here.

More generally, if you would like to support our work, there are many ways to help Orpheus students:donating, fundraising or volunteering.