About Autism Family Support Oxfordshire
Our ethos is to nurture, enable and inspire young people and their families and our work makes a real and lasting difference to the lives of autistic young people and their families. We are an award-winning charity, and families often describe us as “a lifeline”.
We provide:
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Information, support and advice for parents.
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Youth groups for children & young adults who are autistic and do not have a Learning Disability.
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Holiday activities for young people aged 8 - 18 who are autistic and do not have a Learning Disability.
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Training for parent/carers, young people and professionals.
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Strategic development, consultation and joint working with professionals.
We reach over 4,000 families across Oxfordshire - despite being a small local charity.
Our history
In the early 1970s an autistic boy was so disruptive in his primary school that the Headteacher reluctantly had to exclude him. He was taught at home for a while then his Home Teacher asked if she could bring him into school if she guaranteed he would not disrupt classes. The Headteacher agreed. Later two other similar boys were integrated back into the school and they were gradually joined by more children until a classroom in the school grounds was built.
 
From these careful, modest but visionary beginnings the “Chinnor Unit” was established. Led by our founder Sheila Coates, we pioneered inclusive and therapeutic education. The Nobel Prize winner Professor Niko Tinbergen gave a substantial part of his prize money to the charity. We fundraised and lobbied to provide flexible, therapeutic and innovative services to met each child’s needs. Autism-specific educational approaches were used and various therapies, such as music therapy, art therapy, and psychotherapy were used within the units, to provide care, respect, and enjoyment for each child.
The local authority, Oxfordshire County Council, recognised the excellence of the service and established and managed nine inclusive units across Oxfordshire. Over the following years other local authorities across the UK copied this model to establish inclusive education.
The spirit of innovation continued, and by the late 1990s we recognised that families needed support and advice outside of the school setting, and this became the new focus of our work.
Today
We continue to promote therapeutic education for autistic children, but our main focus is now directed towards supporting autistic children and young people and their families to be happy, healthy, and to achieve and thrive. Our ethos is to nurture, enable and inspire the autism community.