Autism support Aiding Arnie to reduce his anxiety
Arnie* is autistic and had high levels of challenging behaviour when he came to live at one of our homes.
He displayed violent behaviour and had a very high and loud scream. His attacks involved biting and hitting, harming himself and others around him. At one point staff were being physically attacked 20-30 times a day.
When Arnie* moved to his Voyage Care home, working together with him our support workers made some changes to his routine that had swift results. Arnie* was obsessed with his computer and would get up at 3am and insist staff to support him with his personal care. Not only was he disturbing other residents, he was not getting enough sleep.
Extra staff were brought in to tackle his early rising and explain to him that he cannot use his computer in the early hours of the morning. Staff were consistent and after three nights of incidents, Arnie* understood the situation and started to sleep through until morning.
His support team worked with behaviour therapists to identify Arnie’s* anxieties and reactions, as well as recognising triggers for attacks. This one-to-one attention also allowed his support team to pick up on Arnie’s* methods of communication. He taps his fingers to communicate and his team now use finger tapping and understand his wishes. His anxiety dramatically reduced and incidents of challenging behaviour reduced from 20-30 a day, to 20-30 in the first year.
Using our holistic approach, Arnie’s* personality and his likes and dislikes have been allowed to shine through and his support team enjoy helping him to achieve his goals. He is visibly happier, his verbal communication is developing and he is able to enjoy new opportunities.
You can find out more information about our Autism support offerings here. If you would like to speak to our enquiry team call us on 0800 0353 776 or email referrals@voyagecare.com.
*Some of the details have been changed for confidentiality reasons.
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