TreeHouse climbing high
12:20pm Thursday 29th June 2006 in
Having being housed in six temporary homes in the past nine years, the TreeHouse Trust has finally settled in Muswell Hill. KAY MURRAY finds out more about the charity that runs a school for children with autism.
Early in 1997, five families met, all of whom had children who had recently been diagnosed with autism a complex lifelong neurological condition.
After looking into the options available for educating their children, these parents discovered that there were no schools in the borough of Camden where they were based that dealt specifically with autism.
"We found there was a shortfall in north London of 800 places for children with autism, which reflected a national shortfall. So we decided to set up a school," said Virginia Boven, associate director of the TreeHouse charity.
Almost a decade later, the TreeHouse charity runs a school called the National Centre for Autism Education, which is setting the standard for education for children with autism.
Based in Woodside Avenue, Muswell Hill, the school is pretty impressive inside, despite being temporarily based in a huge, two-storey portable building. "It was such a relief moving to Muswell Hill, knowing that we own this piece of land. Even though we are in a portable building, we know that we have at least come home," said Ms Boven.
Inside, the school looks just like any of its mainstream counterparts, with colourful paintings and collages adorning the walls and little jackets hung on pegs outside the classrooms.
"One of the best things we can do for our pupils is give them the skills to participate in and enjoy the world we live in," said Ms Boven.
But there are things that hint that these children are different, like numerous visual aids. People with autism are neurologically and behaviourally different from their typically developing peers, when it comes to communication, social understanding and restrictive behaviour.
Because of this, the children here are taught using a system called Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA).
ABA is a child-centred approach that carefully reinforces the child's achievements and breaks down tasks into achievable steps.
Ms Boven said: "It is something that we looked into in 1997. It was being used in the USA and there was very convincing research in favour of it. We wanted to make that available in the UK, so we made contact and it was set up quite quickly.
"Five pupils will have five adults in a class with them, but it will not be the same person each day otherwise there's a danger children will get dependent on them."
Despite the need for teaching on a one-to-one basis, the school is also keen to include integration into the children's days. Visits to mainstream primary schools and a sleepover at Bowes Park, in Bounds Green, have all been enjoyed by the students since the beginning of the year.
Special systems are used to enable the non-verbal children to express how they are feeling or let an adult know what they wish to do.
Ms Boven said: "It hugely empowers them. The danger is, if they haven't got that empowerment, their way to express themselves is to have an outburst, and challenging behaviour like that means they have to leave the classroom. So children can learn more appropriate ways to behave in a community."
The school currently has 49 pupils and 100 members of staff, but it is hoping to increase its intake to 80 pupils from the ages of four to 19 in the coming years.
Ms Boven said that children at the school are funded by their local authority, after gaining a statement of educational needs, and that their family's status does not determine their place at the school.
"We were absolutely certain that ability to pay would not be a determining factor," she said.
The school has secured an investment of £5 million from Futurebuilders a Government-backed investment fund, and is now looking to raise a further £6.5m.
Director of fundraising, Susan Beck, said an appeal targeting the remaining amount had been launched.
She added that to date, a substantial amount had been contributed to the appeal, including a pledge from the author Nick Hornby, whose son attends the school, and more than £250,000 from The Pears Family Charitable Foundation.
But the charity is still working hard to achieve its £11.5m target.
"We're being supported by Talk Talk the home phone branch of the Carphone Warehouse mobile phone company.
"Every time somebody calls their direct enquiries number, 118 111, TreeHouse gets a penny, which could amount to £100,000 a year. The other thing the company does is recycle mobile phones.
"If people give us a call we'll send them a bag for the phone to send to us or they can drop it in, and we receive £3.50 for every phone."
If you would like any tips on fundraising to support TreeHouse or if you would like to volunteer, you can call Clare Goodburn on 020 8815 5433 or visit www.treehouse.org.uk
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