A way of teaching built for neurodivergent and disabled children from the start, not bolted on afterwards
The Freedom Approach is my rights based, neuro-affirming, holistic pedagogy. Schools, alternative provision, community groups, EOTAS packages and councils can license it and train their teams in it, with training that counts towards CPD. Prices are published, and it all starts with a free 15 minute call.
What it is
Most models used with neurodivergent children start from a typical child and measure the gap. The Freedom Approach starts from the child in front of you. What do they need to feel safe? What makes their energy run out? What lights them up? What are their rights? Then the room, the relationships and the teaching are built around the answers.
It is not a curriculum and it is not a behaviour programme. It is a way of running a learning space so that children and young people who have not been able to attend school, or who attend at great cost, can learn again in a group, with a trusted adult beside them, at a pace their body can manage.
I wrote it out of 31 years of lived and professional experience, as a disabled and neurodivergent educator and parent carer. It has twenty five principles and four elements of practice. It has run every week since 2025 in the learning groups at Neuroverse Community CIC, and it is how I teach my one to one LAMDA lessons. In 2026 this work won me the Purple Pioneer award at the Scope Disability Equality Awards. It is owned by Yasmin A Darling Consultancy Ltd.
You can see it in practice in my one to one LAMDA lessons, online, open to every young person.
Who it is for
EOTAS and alternative provision
Providers building or delivering education otherwise than at school (EOTAS), who need a written pedagogy that a commissioner and a family can both understand and hold you to.
Schools and SEND teams
Resource bases, nurture provision, inclusion leads and SENCOs who want a rights based alternative to age normative, gap finding models, and who need to show inclusion under the current inspection framework.
Community learning groups
Clubs, home education and unschooling groups and not for profits running small groups for neurodivergent and disabled young people, with a parent or carer alongside.
Local authorities and commissioners
Teams commissioning packages for children who are out of school, who need a named, licensed approach with training, tools and a written record of progress that stands up at annual review.
How it is different
| A deficit model asks | The Freedom Approach asks |
|---|---|
| Which developmental stage is this child stuck at? | What does this child need in order to feel safe enough to learn? |
| What are the gaps against the typical milestones? | What are their strengths, their stress sparks, their glimmers and their access needs? |
| How do we get the child back on track? | How do we build the room, the day and the relationships around the child? |
| Who is the trained adult who fixes this? | Who is the trusted adult who co-regulates, until the young person can regulate for themselves? |
| Is the child compliant? | Are the child's rights being respected, and can they tell us when they are not? |
The full set of principles is on the approach page. The thinking behind them is on why it works. What it looks like in a nursery, a school, a trust, an alternative provision, an EOTAS package or a community group is on in your setting.
What it costs, and what happens next
Prices are published, so you can see the number before you ask.
- Training for one person
- Foundations £195. Parents, carers, home educators and unschoolers £95. Volunteers in registered charities and CICs £120. Practitioner £595. See the training.
- Training a whole team
- From £700 a day, online or in person.
- A licence
- Package licence £450 in year one. Small provider licence £750 joining fee. Licensed Setting £1,250 joining fee. Groups and local authorities on enquiry. Licences taken out before 31 August 2027 are 20 per cent off in year one, except at the group tier. See every licence in full.
- What happens next
- Book a free 15 minute call. We talk about your provision, the young people you work with, and whether the approach is right for you. If it is, you see the short licence agreement before you pay, your team is trained across one term, and I review your provision and support you while you put it into practice.
Yasmin A Darling
Equitable education, neuroinclusion and SEND consultant. A mixed race, disabled and neurodivergent woman, 31 years with children, young people and families.
I wrote The Freedom Approach out of 31 years of practice. I train every practitioner and review every licensed setting myself.
- Twice Outstanding by Ofsted
- Winner, Purple Pioneer, Scope Disability Equality Awards 2026
- Nursery World Newcomer of the Year 2014
- PGDip Merit, PGCert Distinction
- Working with children and young people since 1995
Yasmin's full record, dated and evidenced“We were delighted to celebrate your incredible work towards disability equality.”
John McLachlan, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Scope
In other people's words
Yasmin A Darling Consultancy is rated 5.0 on Google. Every quotation is reproduced exactly as written, with the writer's full name.
Yasmin's knowledge and understanding of young people and neurodivergence is outstanding. I have been a teacher for 23 years but the way she explains this complicated area of working with young people is the best training I have ever had.
Sarah Dowie, teacher
Yasmin came to our School of Larks circus venue and did a team training session with our teachers. It was fantastic! Yasmin is super knowledgable and up to date with everything Neurodivergent.
Claudia Weston, School of Larks
She brought a thoughtful, reflective, and compassionate approach to her work, demonstrating a strong understanding of psychodynamic principles and their application within a primary school setting.
Hayley Bird, Executive Deputy Headteacher, primary school, May 2026
The record behind the work
Every line here has a certificate, a letter or a published report behind it, held on file and available on request.
See the full record
- Twice graded Outstanding by Ofsted
- Outstanding in all areas at both inspections, 5 July 2013 and 25 March 2014, as a registered early years provider. Certificates for 2012 to 2013 and 2013 to 2014, signed by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, in my birth name, May Angelica Collin.
- Winner, Purple Pioneer, Scope Disability Equality Awards 2026
- Presented at the Kia Oval on 30 April 2026, and confirmed in writing by Scope's Interim Chief Executive. Scope recognised this work: making education accessible for young people unable to attend school, through a community based option and a neuro-affirming pedagogy.
- Nursery World Awards
- Joint winner, Newcomer of the Year 2014, as Maisie Collin. Finalist, Childminder of the Year, 2015 and again in 2016.
- Recognised in early years
- Outstanding Contribution to Childminding, local authority certificates, July 2015 and February 2016. Food for Life Early Years, Soil Association, December 2016, then invited to judge the Soil Association's awards. Accredited Living Wage Employer, June 2016.
- Postgraduate study
- Postgraduate Diploma in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies, Merit, University of East London, taught at the Tavistock and Portman, 2016. Now in further training there: in training, not qualified, and not a therapist, counsellor, psychologist or social worker. Postgraduate Certificate in Autism, Distinction, Sheffield Hallam University, 2025. BA Honours, English and Theatre Studies, University of North London, 2003.
- Qualifications and training
- Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce, Pearson Edexcel, 2014. Level 3 Forest School Programme Leadership, 2016. PRINCE2 Foundation, 2011. Training the Trainers for Total Respect, Children's Rights Officers and Advocates, 2007. Designated Safeguarding Lead training for children at Level 3, Online Safety and Harms, and the Home Office Prevent awareness, Prevent referrals, and Channel or Prevent Multi-Agency Panel courses, October 2026. Registered LAMDA Head of Centre.
- 31 years on the front line
- Residential care, children's rights and advocacy, youth offending, early years, SEND and neurodivergence, since 1995. Former early years SENCO. Ran a keyworker setting through the pandemic with around thirty staff and up to seventy two children a day.
- A national youth consultation
- Youth Intelligence, the youth consultation on gun and knife crime I originated at NCH (now Action for Children) in 2007, which was then widened UK wide.
- Speaking and media
- Westminster Briefing, 2016. Royal College of General Practitioners and Addiction Professionals conference, 2023. Commissioned webinars and articles for Famly, 2022. Key contributor to a Channel 4 online documentary, 2017. Filmed by PACEY as a showcase setting.
- Service
- Trustee, Children's Rights Officers and Advocates, 2006 to 2007. Founding trustee, Each One Teach One Trust, 2012 to 2013.
- Founder
- Founder of a national autism support group, which grew to over 350 members. Founder and director of Neuroverse Community CIC, a finalist for the Mighty Roots Award at The National Arts and Cultural Education Awards 2026. Head of my own registered LAMDA examinations centre, set up in 2026 for disabled and neurodivergent candidates.
- Checked and insured
- Enhanced DBS check with the children's barred list, August 2026. Professional indemnity insurance (£2,000,000) and public and products liability insurance (£5,000,000) with Hiscox. Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, ZB907948. Every line here has a certificate, a letter or a report behind it.
Latest writing
from isolation to innovation
My Substack is where I write about the things I notice: the families who are not at the school gate, the children the system stops seeing, and the spaces I have spent thirty one years creating and curating for us all. You are on The Freedom Approach site. Each new piece lands here as soon as it is published.