Free community support

Our community support is called Raupī te Raupō—He Poipoi Tamaiti, He Whaipainga te Āpōpō.

Raupī te Raupō is a newly developed Aotearoa-specific support programme aimed at supporting children to flourish.

The programme aims to help whānau and family members better understand and support children under the age of five who are autistic, or who are showing signs of autism/social communication differences.

Raupī te Raupō has been developed based on ideas from an autistic advisory group and an advisory group of Māori members of the autistic and autism communities.

Therapy structure and length

Each session will be up to one-and-a-half hours long. Sessions will switch between online discussion sessions, and in-home practical sessions.

Discussion sessions will involve you and any other whānau/family members talking with a coach without your child around. You will talk about some strategies that might be helpful for your child, reflect on videos of you and/or the coach supporting your child, plan access to other relevant supports for yourself and your child, and set achievable fortnightly goals.

Practical sessions will involve you, any other whānau/family members, and the coach playing and interacting with your child. Some of these interactions might be videoed to support reflection during the discussion sessions.

You and any other whānau/family members can generally choose the information that you learn about during the programme.