You will study this course 100% online. It comprises a range of activities including:

There is no obligation for you to undertake every activity, but being involved in all aspects of the course will help you to achieve the learning objectives that have been outlined in the course.

There is no graded assessment. Instead, you will receive a badge for each completed Unit, and then upon completion of the whole course, you will be awarded with an e-certificate.

An accredited provider of the CPD Standards Office

We are proud to be an accredited provider of the CPD Standards Office for our online short courses and free courses, demonstrating that they conform to CPD best practice and are appropriate for inclusion in a formal CPD record.

The CPD standards office CPD provider

Course units

The course is made up of 5 units, each will require approximately 3 hours of study.

Unit content is guided by professionally recognised theory and evidence:

The first unit will give an overview of what autism is and provide activities that are aimed at examining the wide array of behaviours in which autism expresses itself. Activity 1 will allow you to explore views on cause, diagnosis and treatment of autism, whilst Activity 2 will use case studies to explore the spectrum and its severity.

In Unit 2 you will use the knowledge built in the first unit to look at autism in combination with other diagnoses: comorbidity. Different conditions that can coexist with autism will be considered, and you will explore the 5 behavioural themes of autism in more detail.

Unit 3 focuses on the individual with autism and their specific context. Context can be internal (differences between age groups and gender), or external (e.g. socio-economic factors). The impact of these factors will be discussed with relation to possible intervention strategies.

This unit focuses on specific intervention strategies that can be used and highlights their strengths and weaknesses. At this point in the course you will be able to link behaviours that you have observed to possible intervention strategies.

The last unit focuses on the help and support that is available to you. You will be able to participate in two end of unit activities including a case study and a development plan for future learning. The final unit will also continue to build your learning journal by collecting your thoughts in your ePortfolio.