The Birthday Party: A training film for front-line professionals and families to raise awareness about the SIGNS of autism.

Governments, charities and researchers systematically highlight the problems of delayed diagnosis, lack of educational support, and stigmatisation of children linked to a poor understanding of autistic signs. By developing a novel training film in a unique collaboration, we aimed to improve comprehension of the varied presentations of autism in order to increase recognition and support for those who have a subtler presentation or ‘mask’ their differences. In 2017-2018, collaborators from universities, government agencies and charities in five different countries created a training film, based on research evidence, to help professionals to identify the SIGNS of autism (Social interaction, Imagination, Gestures, Narrow interests, Sensory responses). The film was developed and translated into six languages, with help from members of the autism community in each country, then widely distributed and evaluated. Impact was assessed through brief questions asked before and after viewing the film. Responses to evaluation questionnaires from 850 professionals and parents identified improvements in understanding the signs of autism and highlighted the usefulness of the film for reducing stigma. Clarity and focus on individual/gender differences were very appreciated. The overall positive feedback led to the distribution of the film to parents, professionals and students. The film, now viewed by 27,000 people, has been adopted for national practitioners training courses in special education, and speech/language therapy in two countries. It is used to train teachers, professionals and medicine/psychology students in two other countries. It is part of clinical toolkits and national training resources in schools in the final country. Responses obtained through questionnaires confirmed the usefulness of the film for flagging up signs of concern that may be relevant for future referral. Notably, the video format was especially effective in improving understanding of autism signs, even in skilled professionals. Therefore, the next steps will be 1) developing training packages to be used with the film, 2) working with policy developers of different countries to make sure that the film is part of the training of education/medicine/psychology students, 3) ensuring the partnership of new countries in order to translate the film in other languages.