Recently, Jackie Latto, our Director of Autism Services, and I embarked on a very interesting and thought provoking trip to Denmark. I would like to share with you what we learned on this trip and tell you a bit about a programme that we are working on.

Earlier this year a team of staff from Scottish Autism began learning about a programme called Atlass . The appealing aspect of this programme for me, is that it promotes understanding of the interactions between people in any given situation.  So rather than a sole focus on the individual with autism, the dynamics of the interaction and relationships between staff, families and others is explored. This seems to me a much more realistic and indeed humanistic way of understanding the complexities of situations that lead to what we might think of as behaviours of concern.

We have been learning about the Atlass programme in connection with Michael McCreadie from another organisation called Studio III. On the back of our work with Studio III and in order to further our learning about the Atlass programme and share knowledge and practice, Jackie and I made a visit to an organisation in Denmark called Hiemdal who have been using and developing Atlass for around 3 years.

Hiemdal is much smaller than Scottish Autism but what was clear from our visit was that we face many of the same challenges. Meeting with parents, colleagues and some individuals on the spectrum leads me to conclude that autism is autism, regardless of where you may be.  What differs is the societal and cultural context and that can make all the difference to the life experiences of people.

I suppose Denmark is somewhat famed for the high taxation it levies on its citizens. What might be less well known however is how little they seem to mind this. Why?  Well, having heard about aspects of their “Social Law”, I am not really surprised. As one Danish mum told me, Denmark acknowledges that children with additional needs may, at times, be more expensive for families to support because of their behaviour and they also recognise that parents may need time off from work.

Differences in the societal laws aside, it still remains that that we face many of the same challenges in striving for the highest standards of care and support for individuals with autism.  Here in Scotland I see progress at a pace and level I haven’t seen before in twenty three years in the field. As a result I do feel there is reason for optimism as a result of the Scottish Strategy for Autism which has brought about a national focus on the needs of people with autism and their families.  A lot can be gained from sharing practice with others both at home and abroad.

https://youtu.be/GUm-lOol3kw