Testimonials Of My Work In This Field
"I have known Tina for many years. In particular, we worked together at the
National Diagnostic and Assessment Service for Autism Spectrum Disorders for
almost a decade. Tina was an extremely
valued team member and we were really sorry to see her go. I have always held her in the highest esteem
as an autism diagnostician and practitioner who is totally committed to giving
the highest level of service."
Professor Thomas AWN MacKay
MA(Hons), DEP, MAppSci, DUniv, PhD, CertEd, FSAScot,
FAcSS, FRSA, FBPsS, CPsychol, CSci
"I have known Tina for over 20 years and consider her
to be an outstanding practitioner in the field of Autism. She demonstrates a drive and a commitment to
learn about, and learn from, people with Autism of all ages and is particularly
skilled in designing and delivering personalised interventions that improve the
lives of people with Autism, their families, and associated staff. Through her skill and experience, she knows
what makes a real difference to people's lives and has the ability to
communicate this in such a way that delivers and enables positive outcomes for
all.
Tina has wisely elected to focus on providing support for transitioning in autism.
I know that she sees transitions in the broadest sense and primarily as
a skill that can be acquired and applied in all aspects of a person's
life. I know from my own professional
experience how she has transformed the lives of many people over the years with
her individualised and highly professional support and guidance.
There are very few other professionals around with her range
and depth of experience in this area and I would commend her highly."
Jim Taylor: knows Autism
(formerly Director of Education, Scottish Autism)
"Tina came to
work with our son just as he was diagnosed with ASD/HFA.
We were having
issues where he was completely paralysed at times with anxiety and no amount of
structure or organisation was helping. He experienced a lot of negative thinking
and had a tendency to catastrophise the smallest of things. On a positive note
he was really keen himself to get help and to understand why he found things so
difficult. Tina worked with him for about 9 months exploring his thinking
patterns and giving him strategies to help change those patterns. This year he
has completed college successfully with no meltdowns and he is now looking for
work. The practical strategies for managing day to day are now helping because
he had help and still has strategies to deal with his negative thoughts. These
are much less obtrusive now and he is more able to think things out without
becoming overwhelmed. He is also more practiced at being able to talk to family
members when he is finding things more difficult. We are very grateful to Tina
for the work she did with him and hope that many more young people will
continue to benefit from her immense skill in this area."
Parent
"My daughter Katie is 28 years of age. She had a breakdown earlier this year due to stress at work. I asked Tina to help Katie with her anxiety as it was a very sad time for Katie and I desperately needed help. Tina was amazing. She came round once a week and when she first met Katie she talked about her sad, dark eyes. Within a couple of months Tina managed to transform Katie back into the lively girl she was. The strategies she used for her anxiety were amazing. Tina provided a very detailed report each week. The session would be an hour - I would come in for the last 15 minutes and we would discuss how Katie was feeling and strategies I could help her with. Katie clung on to her every word, even calling her 'Fairy Godmother'.
Katie is now back to herself. For the past few weeks Tina has concentrated on Katie's communication and this has also been very successful. Katie is waiting on a diagnosis for Autism and Tina is going to put together a report that will highlight the reasons she thinks Katie has Autism. Tina has been a 'rock' these last few months and Katie, my husband and I will never forget her getting us through this very sad period in her life and bringing her back to the lively, chatty girl she was. We will all miss her but intend to keep in touch.
Thank you Tina xx"
Mrs Connell, (parent).
"I have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending Tina who worked diligently with my teenage sons who both have a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. Whilst Tina will be the first to admit she was initially viewed as "the enemy" who was going to enforce structure in the home and skills in independence she worked hard and cleverly to develop trustful, respectful relationships with the boys and has gone a long way to calming the chaos in our home. We no longer feel the need to work with Tina on a regular, weekly basis but recently one of my sons had some worries that he wanted to discuss with someone outside of our immediate family and Tina was our first port of call. I now class her amongst my gurus and can oft be found with my hands on my hips spouting "now what would Tina say?"
Parent.
"We have known Tina in her professional capacity for
around fourteen years. Tina is very conscientious regarding her work and
always conducts herself in a professional manner. She gains trust and confidence of the clients
she works with, whilst at the same time putting them at ease and maintaining a
warm, friendly relationship. Tina puts
her whole being into her work, she really cares for the people she works with,
she is a very special lady who will go above and beyond the parameters of what
is expected of her if it will benefit her client, she will adapt and change
with her client to gain results, on their terms. Tina has counselled and supported our son,
who has autism, through some of the most distressing and challenging periods in
his life, ensuring that we as parents were always kept informed, and most
importantly included (where appropriate) with any interventions or programmes
being utilised, thus, keeping continuity for him. I believe that our son has benefited greatly
for having had the privilege of working with Tina, she has helped him be the
fantastic young man he has grown up to be."
Janet and Brian Cowell (parents)
"I am Alistair Cowell and I started at Struan in August
2000 when I was 12 years old. One of my
classroom assistants in my first class is Tina, and she used to work with me in
that year. I was at Struan for 6
years. Tina moved onto psychological
consultant, still within Struan, and used to help out the pupils of
Struan. I was a close friend of Tina
during my time at Struan. Tina has
helped me a lot during those six years and has made me a difference."
Alistair Cowell
"Our son was diagnosed with Classic Autism at age 3 and
is now 16, so over the years we have worked with many professionals from a
variety of disciplines, but no one has made such a positive impact on his life
as Tina has. Her knowledge, experience,
insight and understanding have been of enormous benefit, not only to our son,
but to all our family. The support she
has given us in very difficult circumstances has been immense. Tina has always been able to work through
complex situations and offer us practical advice and workable strategies to
help improve our son's understanding and ability to manage in real life. Her knowledge, down to earth and caring
approach have made her a real pleasure to work with. She understood, persevered and helped him
achieve so much when others would have given up. Tina always looked past his disability and
saw only his ability and we will be forever grateful to her for that. We consider our family to be very lucky to
have had Tina's guidance and direct input over the past four years, she has
been a true blessing in our lives."
Sharon and Pat Holton (parents)
"Coping with autism can be a challenge and when our family engaged with Tina our lives changed so much for the better. During the last 3 years she has had regular sessions with my son that have made an amazing difference to him and to all the family. Most importantly, she has helped my son to understand his own autism and the strategies that he can use to cope with everyday challenges. She has also helped our family circle to understand how the autistic mind works and functions. I would recommend Tina to any family with challenges in the autism space. She is truly professional in every way."
Parent.
"I consider myself lucky to have worked with Tina
Hedges. Her practice, knowledge and
expertise has helped shape my approaches and understanding of Autism and
behaviour ever since. As a Depute Head
teacher working with pupils with Autism, Tina’s psychology background and her
years’ experience working with pupils gave an entirely different focus to that
of my education background. This autism
lens was one which recognised all behaviour as communication and taught me to
explore this as an insight into developing an understanding of a pupil. In turn this understanding helped focus the
supports, target specific areas of development and helped share their
motivations, key to supporting learning.
She is effective at delivering training, supporting staff of all levels
in a way that is encouraging and empowering.
More importantly her work with individual pupils is outstanding and her
child centred, calm and individualised approach has helped and continues to
help some of the most challenging and isolated pupils to develop socially,
emotionally and beyond expectations. “
Ruth Chalmers
Depute Head Teacher
Fairview School
"I had the privilege of working alongside Tina for 3
years. Her depth of knowledge on autism
comes from a diverse range of practical experience. She is dedicated to working with and for
young people, adults and/or their families through her considered and solution
focussed approach that has at its core the individual, their strengths and
their needs. Her extensive work
supporting transitions across age and stage was focused, clear and tailored to
each situation, environment and context.
Her friendly and respectful approach reflects her view of her role as a
vocation."
Jayne Porter
"Tina has an in depth knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and a wide experience in using a range of specialist support strategies and interventions. She is very holistic in her approach and understands the individual needs of each child, truly embracing how the condition affects them and their families. Tina is a genuine ambassador for people with ASD and is highly committed to enable them to manage their difficulties and support families' understanding of the condition."
Karen Whitehead,
Occupational Therapist
"I have had the honour and absolute privilege of knowing Tina Hedges for the best part of 11 years. As a young person on the autism spectrum, Tina helped and guided me through some of the toughest times of my entire life and even passed on some of her own knowledge about autism to me which enabled me to help a young friend of mine who has autism at a lower functioning level than myself. Tina was also instrumental in preparing me for life beyond school. Now I live in Edinburgh and have a good job and my first ever flat of my own. Tina was one of the many people who helped me achieve this. I would recommend her services to anybody."
Murray MacDonald