The VICTA Parent Workshop Programme has been running now since the pandemic.  Born out of a desire to help parents connect- in the virtual sense, we created this programme with the view to provide a platform for people to come together to seek support and advice.

These sessions have now been delivered to coming up to 300 participants and has become a foundation of the parents services element of our charity.  We work on the ethos of finding out the issues and providing the solutions and support.

Our most recent workshop examined the links between Neurodiversity and Vision Impairment.  Following on from a poll created in the VICTA Parent Network online support group, we found there was a high representation of our families who had a dual diagnosis of autism alongside VI.

After taking suggestions for proposed parent workshops, we found that a session on neurodiversity was of interest. We drafted in experts from GOSH to deliver a session.  We were pleased to welcome not one, but two doctors from the Neurodevelopment Assessment Service:

This service provides specialist expertise in the assessment and management of children and young people up until the age of 18 years with complex neurodevelopmental disorders. The main reasons for referral are diagnosis, second opinion, and educational/therapy/behavioural advice.

The assessment focuses on the entire child and their strengths and struggles to provide a developmental profile including:

• learning abilities and potential (cognition)
• social and communication skills
• speech and language development
• daily living and functional skills
• behaviour concerns such as ADHD and Autism spectrum disorder
• Skills for motor planning and coordination

If you would like to find out more information about the VICTA Parent Workshop Programme please contact parents@victa.org.uk or visit the website victaparents.org.uk.

Any suggestions of future session you want us to deliver we’re really keen to hear your thoughts, please get in touch using the details above if you have any ideas.