Specialist Autism Coordinator

SALARY: £28,762 to £30,000 per annum, depending on experience

HOURS: Full time: 37.5hrs, including one weekend day and evenings

Reports to: Service Manager

Since 1997 when we started as a small playgroup set up by parents dismayed at the lack of provision for their autistic children, RfA has grown into a major deliverer of services and support in London and the West Midlands with a turnover of around £2.5m per year. Our mission is to support and enable autistic people to live happy and fulfilling lives.

We want to change society’s attitude to autism whilst also providing essential services and enriching opportunities to autistic people. We are a values-driven organisation which employs values-driven people who want to make a difference. Our values are:
Inclusion, Creativity, Compassion, Courageousness and Expert. You will play a vital part in ensuring that we can resource and sustain this amazing work.

The Early Help Project is an exciting and evolving initiative that has been working in partnership with the Barnet Early Help team since 2020
. The project aims to reduce behavioural challenges and prevent family breakdown by offering early, meaningful, and practical support to families of autistic children and young people.

The role of the Specialist Autism Coordinator is central to the success of this work. You will support families referred to us through the Early Help pathway by helping them understand and manage their child’s behaviour
, introducing sustainable support strategies, and empowering both individuals and families to build confidence and long-term resilience.

Each family receives up to 12 weeks of tailored support
, with the intensity and frequency of visits determined by individual need. As an experienced autism coordinator , you will work closely with our Behaviour Managers to design and deliver personalised approaches that reflect the unique strengths and challenges of each family.

You will be a strong advocate for our values and our Positive Behaviour Management (PBM) approach
, consistently demonstrating empathy, professionalism, and integrity in your work with families, colleagues, and other professionals.

In return, you will receive ongoing training and professional development
, including in areas such as behaviour management, mental health, trauma-informed practice, and other fields that align with your professional interests and development goals.

• Deliver intensive short-term family support interventions lasting approximately 3-12 weeks.
• Work with approximately 7 families at any time, supporting between 20 and 28 families per year.
• Undertake initial assessments alongside the Service Manager and relevant professionals.
• Work with families to identify strengths, needs, goals and desired outcomes, and develop structured, autism-specific support plans.
• Build trusting relationships with families who may be resistant to services or experiencing crisis.
• Provide practical support to improve routines, communication, emotional regulation, sleep, boundaries, transitions and daily living skills.
• Offer flexible, autism-specific support across the spectrum, taking account of the needs of the autistic child or young person, parents, carers and siblings.
• Deliver home-based and community-based sessions that model practical autism strategies.
• Demonstrate co-regulation techniques, visual supports, sensory strategies and communication approaches.
• Support parents and carers to understand behaviour as communication.
• Use approaches such as body doubling, parallel play, structured prompting and visual supports.
• Gradually build family confidence and independence through coaching and collaborative practice.
• Work in…