Autism - 6 years on.

Communication has been one of our hardest issues. PECS..I guess a lot of people swear by PECS and Makaton, those are the common tools used in our Special Needs Schools. For us, neither were effective, as much as I complained and whinged about them not working for Mikey, I still went on the courses, made the cards and boards and for seven years waited for any kind of result. Much to everyones surprise (Mikey has a way of surprising a person, or unsuspecting spider!) Mikey has picked up on British Sign Language, he uses the few signs he knows appropriately and it has given him a form of communicating thereby relieving a lot of his frustrations. It was Mikeys carer Michele who introduced this vocabulary to Mikey and I. Again, she managed to do what seven years in a special needs school could not. I wish I could go back in time to Mikeys younger years, drop the PECS and Makaton on focus a lot on sign language. My advice to anyone who is going through the communication mine field with their child..try a sign language teacher, cant hurt to try.

And Summer Ends

Last day of the summer holidays. It is raining. Mikey is sitting outside, by his paddling pool, in the rain. He has had possibly the best summer holiday yet. It has been water, water and more water. He has, as is usual for school holidays, been hyper. But, this year was not as disastrous as previous years, probably due to his wonderful carers taking him away for part of the summer holidays. Also my little boy is growing up and with that a calmness he has never had before seems to be setting in. Mikey is understanding a lot more and has become my little helper around the house. Sleep will never be a strong point in our home, and so what, I'll sleep when I'm dead. Now, with a SafeSpace I can sleep even if he doesn't. Life, for a change is going ok. Let it rain now, everything is ok. Winter is coming and I know what to expect from winter.