As Speech, Language & Communication Lead TA at the school where I work, I initiated 'Understanding Me' with some of the children I work with as there was a need for them to be able to understand their diagnosis in a positive way. In looking for material, that is when I found this material on Elklan, while doing one of their courses. A student I work with has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and had an appointment with their Educational Psychologist at hospital. His Mum explained the 'Understanding Me' program that he was doing with me and the EP thought it was amazing that a school would be so proactive with one of their students. It is adaptable and flexiblle to suit the students you are working with so can decide what to include according to needs of the student and their range of understanding. Thank you for producing a material to enable me to work with students in such a way.

This is an extremely useful and accessible resource which aims to support children and young people in understanding their communication needs and any wider clinical diagnosis such as Developmental Language Disorder and Social Communication Disorder. It can be used by a whole range of professionals who may be working with the young person including Speech and Language Therapists and Teaching staff.

The programme can be used either on an individual basis or as part of a group and includes week by week session plans and accompanying resources. The new addition of the digital access resource proves invaluable and a huge time saving facility, which now eliminates the need for any photocopying.

Most importantly, this programme is designed to be fun and engaging for the young person. When implemented as part of a group programme, it enables the young person to identify with other children who may struggle in the same areas as themselves and to learn to accept their differences and celebrate their strengths.

My son was diagnosed with autism four years ago. He is now twelve and although we have discussed his diagnosis with him on many occasions, he still struggles to fully understand and accept his identity as autistic. This has a detrimental impact on his self-image and his self-esteem.

The Understanding Me resource offers young people with diagnoses like autism and other communication disorders a vital opportunity to explore their specific diagnosis in a positive and in-depth way. I believe there is a real need for this work to be done with the young person, and, until now, a definite gap in the resources on offer to young people and their parents.

Understanding Me is just what my son needs to help him to understand and accept his diagnosis, and to begin to build his very low self-esteem.

Understanding Me is a really excellent therapy programme for use with young people with a range of communication disorders, to help them understand and communicate about their diagnosis. The resource offers a sensitive and methodical approach in which young people examine their own strengths and difficulties in light of different types of brain intelligence. Crucially, the programme takes into account the language difficulties which may act as barriers to young people understanding the complexities of their diagnosis.

I am confident that Understanding Me will help many young people with communication disorders achieve greater understanding about their diagnosis and, as a result, experience an improved sense of wellbeing.