Private coaching for people with communication challenges including Autism and Down Syndrome.

John coaches adults and teens with Autism and Down Syndrome to communicate with confidence and self-awareness. John’s aim is to enhance social skills in five main areas: conversation skills, voice and body language, greetings and farewells, pro-active listening and telling engaging stories.

John supports his clients in learning how to make authentic connections in engaging conversations. John’s coaching approach is intuitive, theatrical and tailored to the individual. John’s methods are unorthodox and as far as we know, unique to John. Success relies on the client having fun while experimenting and discovering new ways to face old problems.

Laughter embeds the lessons that underpin them.

John’s coaching style involves really getting to know each client and their specific strengths and challenges. After identifying and agreeing on behaviour adjustments aimed at improving communication, we co-create playful easy-to-remember cues and strategies for building positive new habits.

“My son Liam’s conversation skills took a hit under a year of Covid texts and tweets. John has done a reboot. Taught him what he missed out on in lockdown. It’s my gift to Liam’s future partner… friends…work mates…I m just trying to figure out how to send my husband. Our son has Autism and really struggles to learn social communication skills. John’s flexible and engaging teaching style has made a real difference to Liam’s future. John ‘gets’ autistic kids and has a huge range of ideas to help. Liam will do ‘real life’ easier because of John’s classes.”

Heidi Bubb – Parent of Liam (aged 18)

 

“Together, we discover, practice, laugh, role-play and review, gradually building patterns and routines that support improved personal interactions. I feel it important to emphasise victories and incremental improvements without focusing on any faux pas. I have created a program of simple effective exercises to help build a comfort level for clients who struggle with relationships and sustaining engaging conversations. Over time, these subtle modifications become habits helping to strengthen the client’s ability to self-reflect and self-correct.

I use every tool in my box – from Theatresports-style games to pictographs, to music and storytelling, anything that helps me connect and channel impulses towards positive interactions. It’s a joy for me to coach clients with Autism, Down Syndrome and other communication challenges. I learn so much from each of them as I share with them things that I have learned.”

– John Knowles – teacher

NDIS: John’s coaching is ideal for families that are self-managing their NDIS funding. It gives you flexibility, input and the choice to decide what type of support John can offer to meet your goals.