Portage Service

Portage aims to enable parents/carers to gain skills and confidence in meeting the educational and developmental needs of their child. The portage home visitors make regular planned home visits, help to set appropriate developmental goals and suggest practical ways to aid children’s development. They offer a range of services such as lending appropriate toys and equipment designed to support the programme, providing information in particular regarding early education issues. They also offer to write progress reports for parents which can be shared with appropriate professionals as well as offering parent / child groups at local Children Centres. They work in collaboration with Speech and Language Therapists to offer training to parents of pre-school aged children with a diagnosis of autism following the National Autistic Society.