About us
Sadie Gillett is a neuroaffirmative education expert and Karen Milton is an NHS Paediatric Occupational Therapist. Together, we saw a need to support families whose children experience the sensory world and their emotions in different ways.
Our story
Since 2010, Karen Milton and Sadie Gillett have supported autistic children and their families across Brighton and Hove.
Sadie (a neuroaffirmative education expert) and Karen (an occupational therapist) focused on sensory processing and saw firsthand how difficult it was for many adults to understand what some children were feeling or experiencing.
Together, they created a simple system to help both adults and children to recognise and communicate their emotional and sensory experiences. This framework also guided parents/carers and teachers in understanding what helped a child feel safe, regulated, and supported. As schools and families embraced the approach, its impact became clear: children felt more empowered, and adults more connected.
With growing interest from researchers and professionals, Sadie and Karen expanded their work online, making their expertise accessible to more families. And so, My Ace Space was born—a welcoming starting point for parents/carers seeking to better understand and support their child’s unique needs.
Credentials
Sadie Gillett is a trained specialist teacher and neuroaffirmative education expert, working with schools and families to help them support autistic children in the best possible way. Sadie’s recent projects include: developing a strengths based mentoring programme for neurodivergent children; assessing neurodivergent children's educational needs; and consultations with schools to develop more neuroaffirming practice.
Karen Milton is a Children’s Occupational Therapist with a specialist interest in developmental trauma and advanced training in Sensory Attachment Integration (SAI).
Karen has worked for over twenty years as an OT with a range of children and their families (specialising in those with social communication, trauma and sensory processing needs). This has often been part of a multidisciplinary team involved with assessments, interventions and training with a wide range of families, children and teaching staff within many settings including homes, clinics, mainstream and special schools.
Together we have developed My Ace Space. Through spending time and learning from the children, families and schools we have worked with we have continued to evolve the ethos and approach. Its success is a multi-professional approach and in listening and responding to those using the system within their lives.
Proud to work with the autisitic community
This course was filmed and animated by the team at Autek, a company which creates a safe working environment for autistic people or people with disabilities or anxiety.
In our child-led app, our animation was voiced by an autistic young person who was one of the first people to use My Ace Space.
