The Autism Toolkit
Now available.
A calm, practical guide for parents and carers making sense of autism, support and everyday family life.
Written by Vicky Carpenter, autism specialist for schools and families, The Autism Toolkit offers gentle explanations and practical tools for understanding, connection, regulation, communication and shared support between home and school.
Sample - Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Autism Toolkit_pages.pdfA calm, practical guide for parents making sense of autism, support, and everyday family life.
You know your child.
You notice what soothes them, what feels hard, what overwhelms them, and what others sometimes miss. The Autism Toolkit begins there.
Written by Vicky Carpenter, an autism specialist for schools and families, this beautifully illustrated book helps parents and carers understand autistic children with greater confidence, compassion, and clarity.
Inside, you’ll find gentle explanations and over 70 practical Toolkits to help with everyday areas including:
sensory differences and sensory overload
routines and transitions
sleep, eating, and movement
emotional regulation and dysregulation
shared attention and communication
visual supports and processing time
friendships, identity, and self-advocacy
working with nursery, school, and professionals
The book follows a compassionate Journey Framework:
Understanding → Connection → Regulation → Communication → Identity → Advocacy
Rather than offering quick fixes or behaviour programmes, The Autism Toolkit helps adults look beneath the surface, recognise patterns, reduce overwhelm, and respond in ways that protect connection and wellbeing.
It is especially helpful for families who are beginning to notice differences, waiting for assessment, adjusting to a diagnosis, or looking for a calmer way to support their child at home, in the community, and in conversations with nursery or school.
Although written for parents first, the book also includes professional guidance and a dedicated Professional Appendix, making it a useful parent-friendly resource for SENDCos, teachers, early years practitioners, therapists, and family-support professionals to recommend or use in shared conversations.
Every small step is already support.
Free linked resources
I’m also developing free resources to support schools, SENDCos and family support teams using the book in shared spaces with parents and carers, including coffee morning tools and practical discussion prompts.
