I consider myself lucky to be where I am in regards to acceptance of J. I took several stops off at self pity, denial, regret, anger, and wanting to give up. It has taken years to be where I finally stand, and years to be able to say that I fully accept J for what he is, who he is, and the future he has. Along my way I have met many parents who have stopped off at the same place as I was at, or were a few stops behind or in front. Some parents were at the end and were happy and accepting. I looked at them and couldn't see myself being in that place. I visualise this journey through emotions ..read more

Over the years, J has had numerous 'magnetic drawing boards' which are a progression on from the 80's sketch boards called Etch A Sketch. Do you remember these? You could only control the movement by dials, so drawings were harder to do, and frustrating if you went wrong. Etch A Sketch Around 12 years ago I found a really good brand of new style magnetic drawing boards, and have stuck to them ever since. Every year he receives a new one as a present at Christmas, and he still loves to use them to communicate with me. He only ever really asks for food to eat, or food he wants me to order in th ..read more

Going back to the very start of my introduction to autism, when I was handed the leaflet from the very first paediatrician we saw, it all seemed unreal and didn't make any sense. My child, my first born, this little boy with his blonde hair and blue eyes, who never tried to speak, who everyone had said was just a bit behind, suddenly had this disability which was hard to comprehend, and made me feel lost in a country where I didn't speak the language or understand the customs. The leaflet was scant with information and it never really dawned on me the actual reality of autism. As mentioned b ..read more

It has been a very long time since I updated about my youngest son, W, who has Nystagmus. If you want to read the previous posts I have written about him and his eye condition, you can click them here - My Third Child Nystagmus And The New Baby Nystagmus - An Update On My (Now) Toddler! Nystagmus Update - The Baby Is Now Three! My little boy is now 9 years old! Where does the time go?! He is simply the most beautiful and kindest person I know. He still wears glasses, and the prescription strength has increased over time, but has been stable for around two years. The 'wobbly' eyes are still p ..read more

A funny little thing happened recently with J, a parcel delivery for my neighbours, and the 'help' he thought he was being to me. I have a usual routine of removing the name and address labels from every parcel I receive for us, as soon as I've removed the contents from the box, so that it can be squashed and put into the recycling.  One day recently, I took in two boxes for my neighbours, and put them in the kitchen to store until they collected them. I totally forgot about them, until I saw my neighbour's car in their drive. I went to retrieve them from the kitchen, and found two empty box ..read more

School has officially ended for the summer break for J, and he brought home a piece of art work he had created there. I've posted his creations before, many which were drawn on a 'magnetic drawer', with Tomy's Megasketcher being his preferred one for many years.  I buy a new one of these every year for him, as he wears them out, and they get quite bumpy and uneven. He can sit for an hour at times, just drawing away. I used to try and photograph these drawings, to capture his thoughts and feelings, and you can find some of them here, here, and here, and you can also search 'drawings' or 'mag ..read more

Last week I read about a company in America that only employs people who are on the spectrum. Auticon (formerly Mindspark), is the idea of Gray Benoist, and is only one of a handful of companies that does this. Gray Benoist from Auticon From the get go the Auticon interview process takes into consideration the difficulty around eye contact, and the need to look away a lot. There is also the  pressure and stress to talk about yourself and 'sell' yourself, which can be very overwhelming for even the most experienced interviewee, and this again is understood and accepted.  Another action Autico ..read more

Courtesy of The Special Needs Forum, Facebook Most parents, especially those with babies, know that feeling of incredible tiredness, and the need to have a quick lie down for a few weeks, but for those of us with a child with a special needs, that tiredness never seems to abate. The 'baby' phase continues on, sometimes relentlessly, making days and nights meld into one, long, never ending struggle to stay upright, or at the very least, awake. If you're reading this, and can relate, keep going, keep fighting, and stay strong. Try and remember to give yourself credit for all you do, even if n ..read more

I have read today about a 10 year old boy, who has ASD, ADHD, and ODD, who attends a mainstream primary school, and who has been subjected to a form of bullying by the very staff who should know better. There should be no excuse for any mainstream school (or any school for that matter) to promote what they did as a way that will help children who have a special need, and it seems incredulous that these staff members actually thought this was a good idea! So, what did this school decide was a great idea to implement? They requested this child's class mates to say aloud what they dislike about ..read more

Over the past month I have been busy, and have helped co-found and design a new Facebook group for special needs and disabilities.  Within 4 weeks we have built the membership to over 600, and are looking to increase this further, as the feedback has been so positive.  We have members from around the World. It is a private group (so no one outside of the group can see what is posted), and is very highly moderated - zero tolerance of abuse, hate, cattiness etc, and all requests to join are looked at - we are careful about fake accounts and people looking to cause drama or hurt.  There are a ..read more