Deafness and Autism Spectrum Condition networking group Our group is open to any professional working with deaf children and young people. The group, which meets on Teams, provides a platform for sharing good practice, asking questions, discussing concerns and supporting each other in our professional roles. All are very welcome. Please contact our Education Advisor Carole at carolew@ewing-foundation.org.uk if you would like to come along to our meetings.
Book your day at Way to Play
Please join us on 4th March 2026 for a special event in Birmingham.
We will be hosting a training day based on the work of Autism New Zealand. The event, at the Edgbaston Park Hotel, is for professionals working with autistic deaf children and young people in mainstream settings, resource provisions and specialist placements.
A playful approach for young autistic children – presented by Neil Stuart (Autism New Zealand) and Alison Taylor (Bishop Grosseteste University)
The day will look at Way to Play, an approach to playing joyously with young autistic children, developed by Neil Stuart and Tanya Blakey from Autism New Zealand.
The approach helps to build children’s communication, social reciprocity, shared attention, imitation, emotion regulation, planning, and problem-solving skills through joyful caregiver-child interactions. Let’s Play is the parent mediated programme developed from the Way to Play approach.
During the training, Neil will describe the theoretical basis of this approach as well as demonstrating strategies used in Way to Play and Let’s Play. Neil will be using a combination of theory, narrative, metaphor, video and interactive examples.
The day will challenge your thinking and understanding of working with autistic children and young people and we hope you will leave inspired to implement new ideas and ways of working into your own practice with deaf learners.
Tickets to this special event are £75.
Please click here to find out more and book your place.
Recent events:
May 2025: Let’s look a little closer…
Working with deaf children and young people with Autism pre- and post-diagnosis.
Over 60 people joined us for a half-day webinar where experts in their field looked more closely at how we can best support deaf learners with autism. During the event, we considered strategies and interventions that can inform and enhance our everyday practice pre- and post-diagnosis of autism.
Sessions focused on:
- Meeting the sensory needs of deaf learners
- How best to facilitate deaf learners’ engagement with technology and supporting communication if the engagement with technology is delayed
- Drilling down into a case study – identifying needs, next steps and working within a multi-disciplinary approach
During November 2024 and January 2025, we delivered a two-part online workshop on Social Stories™ with Nicky Wallace, Specialist Teacher for Autism, York Specialist Teaching Team. Social Stories™ were developed by Carol Gray in the early 1990s. The terms ‘social story’ and ‘social stories’ are trademarks originated and owned by Carol Gray. The workshops looked at how Social Stories can be used effectively with deaf children and young people.
Session 1 included:
- What are Social Stories and why do we use them?
- The basic rules of how to write a Social Story
- How to share and read Social Stories with a child
- Discussion around issues specific to delivering Social Stories for deaf children and young people
- This session included some useful scaffolds and checklists for writing Social Stories
Session 2 included:
- Attendees had the opportunity to practise writing a Social Story
- We used our Social Stories to practise editing, critiquing and developing our skills and understanding to write Social Stories™ for maximum effectiveness
Our first Social Stories training sold out quickly, so if you were unable to book this time, please email info@ewing-foundation.org.uk and we will keep you posted of future Social Stories training dates.