Kasem’s* history

Kasem has a diagnosis of atypical autism. He attended a daycare service whilst living at home with his parents. Due to increasing difficulties at home, he moved into a residential care home where he stayed for a couple of years. The team at this home found it difficult to manage his challenging behaviour and his lack of engagement with his support team. The placement broke down and he briefly stayed at a respite service until a placement was found for him.

When Kasem came to us

When Kasem arrived at Glyn House he needed a great deal of support to help familiarise himself with his new home and the new people around him. At times, this proved difficult for him after undergoing such a lot of changes throughout the previous few years.

Kasem chose not to engage or accept support from the staff at Glyn House, except for one staff member who had supported him in a previous placement and had a great understanding of his needs and preferences. After leaving his family home, Kasem had not accepted support to access the local community and therefore lacked this important element in his life.

Kasem’s care

At Glyn House, Kasem’s support team spent time becoming familiar with his needs, preferences and especially his routines, which were very important to him. In fact, his routines had been described as ‘very strict’ and ‘you could even set your watch by it.’

Due to his anxiety around change, the team was able to support Kasem firstly in the single occupancy flat, this gave an opportunity for him to develop a relationship with the staff in his own time. With lots of positive reinforcement and once Kasem had developed trust in the team, he was then able to move to the shared main house where he could choose to engage in group activities.

Throughout Kasem’s time at Glyn House, his support staff have been working with him to develop his independent living skills and engagement with others by using a person-centred, transitional approach. They worked on things like laundry, personal care and meal preparation.

The next big goal for Kasem and the team was for him to access the community. They used creative communication strategies such as social stories to build understanding and help him feel prepared and comfortable.

Kasem today

After lots of great work with Kasem using the positive approach and encouragement, he is now engaging much better with his team and accepting of his peers. He is happy and settled at Glyn House and is making a scrapbook to document his progress. He continues to develop his daily living skills and even does some baking from time to time. Kasem is doing a great job of selecting a healthy-balanced approach to his eating habits without any prompts from his support staff.

Most importantly, Kasem is now accessing the local community with support from his staff. This is an amazing achievement for Kasem and the team are extremely proud. He is enjoying the trips out and opportunities that community leave brings, and the team are hoping to take him for a day out to the beach in the near future.

*Name has been changed to protect his identity