Autism Accreditation advisors

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The Autism Accreditation department has ten members of staff. Four people are based in Bristol and seven advisors work around the UK.

1. Stephen Pyott - North England and Scotland

Stephen has been a teacher since 1993, working in a variety of school settings both within the UK and overseas including mainstream, generic special needs and autism-specific environments. He has also worked in both day and residential schools.

Stephen joined the Autsim Accreditation team in August 2003. He has a first class honours degree in education, a postgraduate certificate in Asperger syndrome and is currently studying for an MA in autism at Sheffield Hallam University.

2. David Lovage - Midlands and Wales

David is qualified as a registered nurse for learning disabilities in 1992. He has worked in community residential settings as a manager from 1993-2001, primarily with individuals who challenge the service, including dual diagnosis. David has been working with individuals with autism for approximately seven years. For the last three years, this has been in a clinical role developing supported living packages for individuals, for which he won the national health and social care award for one of the projects he was involved in developing. He has completed the 'Approaches to challenging behaviour' course, and is in the final year of a B. Phil in autism in adults at Birmingham University.

3. Paul Sullivan - South, Midlands and Northern Ireland

Paul has 30+ years experience of working with people who have learning disabilities and/or an ASD. His interests include advocacy, relationships/ sexuality, music therapy, autism and ageing, and people with learning disabilities or an ASD who offend.

Paul has worked as an Autism Accreditation advisor for eight years.

4. Yvonne Mellor's caseload (secondment pending)- North East England

5. Hazel Errey - North of England

Hazel joined Autism Accreditation as an advisor in September 2006. Prior to this she worked as a teacher for 25 years, specialising in the field of autism for 13 years. After working in language units in mainstream schools in London and Cheshire she took up a teaching and team leader post at Inscape House School, Cheshire, in 1993. Following this in 2001, she became assistant head teacher at Rosebank School in Cheshire, a local authority special school for primary pupils with autism spectrum disorders and early years assessment. In both posts she played a key role in preparing the schools to become successfully accredited by Autism Accreditation.

Hazel has completed a masters degree in special educational needs at Manchester Metropolitan University and a postgraduate certificate in education (autism) at Birmingham University.

6. Gary Beckwith - East Anglia and North London

Gary has many years experience working for a combination of local authorities and The National Autistic Society in a variety of support and managerial roles. Gary has participated in Autism Accreditation reviews since 2005 as a team leader and was appointed as an advisor in March 2007. Qualified in the co-ordination of learning and development provision, Gary has a keen interest in staff development and is currently working towards the Diploma in Quality at the University of Northampton.

7. Stephen Dedridge - London and South-East

Stephen has been a teacher since 1987, becoming the SENCO of a mainstream comprehensive high school in Herfordshire before working as a consultant on autism spectrum disorders for the London Borough of Ealing SENS team.

In August 2007, Stephen became an Autism Accreditation advisor. He has postgraduate certificates in both education and psychology and an RSA diploma in special educational needs. Stephen wrote a chapter on including pupils with ASD for the book Looking At Inclusion: Listening To The Voices Of Young People.