William’s history

William has a diagnosis of learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and also fragile X syndrome. He has spent a large part of his adult life in and out of placements, prior to coming to Willow House he spent many years in a hospital.

When William came to us

When William came to live at Willow House, he was very unsettled and had a number of behavioural issues. He was very aggressive with staff and other residents. Due to his autism, one of his main triggers was noise, this would make him upset or angry and he would raise his fists and charge at staff or smash plates. William struggled to communicate effectively with staff and didn’t accept support from them when they offered it. William’s vocabulary was minimal, he would speak only with broken sentences. Staff were unable to instigate a conversation with William without him becoming angry. Initially, William chose to spend a large amount of time isolated in his bedroom away from staff and other residents.

William’s care

Due to William’s intolerance of noise and other people the team at Willow House created a new quiet lounge for him. It was a cosy lounge with a sofa and a TV that William used nearly all of the time.

After a while, William started to feel safe. The staff team would give him space and observe his communication preferences. They learnt to wait for him to approach them with a question, rather than asking him things he wasn’t expecting that he was unable to process. Even meal times were challenging, asking him if he would like to go and eat was met with aggression, so the team and William worked out a process where the staff would leave William’s food in a set place and he would collect it when he was ready.

Everything with William needed consistency, a routine was very important. The team worked with him at his own pace to develop his personalised care plans. Over time he developed trust with members of staff and would start to communicate with them, minimally at first, but then as time went on he started having full conversations with the staff and often other residents.

William today

William is a different man today, the change in him is unbelievable. He loves the company of other people, quite often wanting to sit and chat with the staff team.

William now has a close relationship with his dad and loves his weekly outings with him. He loves nothing more than visiting local cafés.

He has become more independent with his routine, he can sort out his own laundry and will even put them in the washing machine with some prompts from staff. He loves making his own coffee and rather than watching a staff member clean his room, he is happy to help out with that job now too.

William would always hide away from parties due to the number of people and generally, they would be noisy. He now loves parties, celebrating birthdays and other special occasions with the other residents. William is now a happy person who is much more relaxed.

“William has come on so much since being at Willow House, he is funny and sociable and loves to sit with me and chat about his day”.
Team member at Willow House

* Name has been changed to protect his identity