EarlyBird in South Staffordshire: reflections on an innovative model of interagency working to deliver an intervention for families of preschool children with autistic spectrum disorder

In this article three education and health services professionals, Julia Halpin, Sally Pitt and Emma Dodd, describe and reflect upon the way in which a small group of professionals from health and education services worked in collaboration to meet the need to inform and empower parents of preschool children with a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Julia and Sally, both clinical nurse specialists, and Emma, an educational psychologist, outline the background to the project in terms of demographics, epidemiology and service needs, and explain the way in which the interagency project was initiated as a ‘bottom-up’ response, reflecting on the advantages and disadvantages of this way of working. The team piloted an innovative evaluation method which is offered as a tool that could usefully be developed further.