CounterNarrative ASN grew from lived experience of navigating Scotland’s ASN system as a parent and carer, but the knowledge behind it has developed through years of professional practice, specialist training, academic study and research.

Like many families, our journey began with trying to understand what support our children needed and how to access it. Over time, this meant navigating education, additional support needs and wider services, while learning how decisions are made, where responsibilities sit and what happens when a child’s needs do not fit neatly within the support being offered.

Alongside this lived experience, I have a professional background in Scottish early learning and childcare, where supporting children with a wide range of additional needs formed an important part of my practice. I have undertaken extensive training in supporting children with speech, language and communication needs, alongside autism-specific approaches and practical strategies for understanding and supporting individual needs.

My professional experience is supported by a First Class Honours degree in Childhood Studies and postgraduate research focused on the experiences of autistic young people and their families within Scottish mainstream education. My academic work has developed a particular understanding of inclusive education, children’s rights and the Scottish policy and legislative frameworks surrounding additional support for learning, while also examining the gap that can exist between policy commitments and families’ experiences in practice.

Bringing these perspectives together allows CounterNarrative ASN to look beyond individual pieces of information. We consider the child’s needs and lived experience alongside the evidence, research, legislation, policy and processes that shape the decisions being made around them.

Through both research and experience, one thing has become increasingly clear: families are often expected to navigate extremely complex systems at the very point they are already under the greatest pressure. Understanding your child’s rights, the evidence behind a decision or the options available to challenge it should not depend on having professional or academic knowledge.

That is why CounterNarrative ASN was created: to make reliable, research-informed information more accessible and turn complex systems into knowledge parents and carers can actually use.

What began as a need to understand the system for our own family has developed into a commitment to helping other families understand it too, so they can ask informed questions, make sense of decisions and feel better equipped to advocate for their children.