"We learned so much!"

My daughter is Autistic and as a result her language, understanding and communication skills are delayed making it difficult for her to speak to people or express herself. I attended the Hanen More than Words course hoping I'd at least gain a little info out of it. When I attended the initial group meeting in Cumbernauld with Ann, I dreaded getting there as we don't drive and live in Airdrie. We were then offered the course in Hairmyres Hospital in the evenings which we would never have been able to attend by bus. We'd have been lucky to be home by 11pm. We had to decline and we felt guilty at not being able to help our daughter.

A few months later I received an email from Ann offering us a place in Airdrie Health Centre! I couldn't believe she'd remembered us, especially with massive waiting lists. We could easily have been passed over for declining the first offer of a placement. We are really grateful at having the chance to attend and being able to take part!

The course is fantastic! It's relaxed and everyone understands what you're going through as they're going through similar. They loan out the More Than Words book to each couple so you don't have to pay for it and can have it at home to read between sessions. The information is amazing! We learnt what we were meant to be helping our daughter with and how to help her. Our daughter has came on leaps and bounds since using the techniques and Ann has been a great help. She goes out of her way to offer personal help and advice for your child and also informs you of local support for both parents and children. There are home visits where Ann will come out at a time that suits you both and go through an exercise. You then get to have some feedback and she gets to know your child a bit better so she can offer better advice for your child's own needs and not just textbook info.

I recommend this course to anyone I know that has a child with Autism all the time as the changes in our daughter are great!

The only negative thing about the course is that there's not more of them set up around Health Centres local to people. We waited months after our first referral and months again to get on a local course. If there were more of these courses put on in all areas, more children would benefit and more parents would have less waiting times.