The Child Autism UK team

Our Team

Suzy Yardley, CEO

Suzy Yardley MSc, UKBA(cert), BCBA, is CEO of Child Autism UK, responsible for governance, risk management, financial management and managing the Child Autism UK team.  Suzy has 30 years experience in the field of autism and behaviour analysis, and during her clinical work, supervised programmes for more than a hundred children. She was Clinical Manager between 2005 and 2019. Suzy is also Chair of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis.

Kirsty Hayhoe, Research Lead

Kirsty Hayhoe MEd. DipHE. RNLD, GACT(ABA), UKBA(cert), BCBA is the Research Lead at Child Autism UK. Kirsty has more than 30 years experience in the field, and held the position of Clinical Manager from 2005 to 2019. Kirsty will be publishing the initial results from the outcome study later this year

Claire Cotterill, Clinical Manager

Claire Cotterill MSc, UKBA(cert), BCBA is the Clinical Manager at Child Autism UK. She has more than 20 years experience in the field of autism and behaviour analysis and has worked with more than 100 children. Claire is responsible for overseeing the quality of our services and ensures staff receive regular training in all the latest, evidence-based strategies, as well as ensuring they have all regulatory certificates and checks. Claire is also part of the UKSBA, working on certification.

Sarah Martin is our Senior Case Manager.  She has an MSc, UKBA(cert) and BCBA.  She supports the clinical and research team and has special responsibility for training new case managers, and keeping information up to date.

Sarah Martin, Senior Case Manager

Sarah Martin is the Senior Case Manager and is responsible for training new staff.

Our case managers

All our case managers work with a focus on child-centred, ethical and values-led practice. All have a MSc, and hold the UKBA(cert) and the BCBA qualifications. All are registered members of the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis (UK-SBA), which is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).  All have more than 10 years training and experience in working with families and schools to design effective teaching and behaviour support strategies to help each child reach their potential. In addition, all have experience running Vinelands and VB-Mapp assessments, creating IEP goals, writing Annual Reviews and Tribunals reports, and running other services such as training talks.

The team meets regularly for ongoing training and to share ideas—meaning families and schools benefit from the whole team’s experience and knowledge! In addition to in-house training, case managers attend conferences and external training to enhance their clinical experience.

Our case managers cover the majority of the UK.

Lorraine Dench, Finance Manager

Lorraine Dench our Finance Manager and has been with the charity since 2002. Lorraine is key to ensuring the administration of the accounting procedures runs smoothly and she also supports the CEO, clinical staff and office staff.

Tessa Williams, Helpline Officer

Tessa is one of our Helpline Officers, and has been with the charity for 5 years. Tessa has experience with other helplines (such as Samaritans) and is passionate in ensuring every caller is helped and supported.

Sarah Lockwood, Helpline Officer

Sarah is another of our Helpline Officers, and is our newest team member. Sarah has lived experience of being a parent of an autistic child, and is also a trained teacher. Sarah joined the team to provide more direct support for our families.

Toni-Marie Sherman, Grant/Events Fundraiser

Toni has been with the charity for more than 15 years, and liaises with trusts and grant funders to share how Child Autism UK is benefiting our children and their families. Toni also supports all the amazing people who fundraise for us through a range of events.

James Savage, Corporate Partnership Lead

James leads on engagement with our corporate partners, promoting, managing and creating fundraising events and also raising autism awareness