Thursday 27 March 2014

Bring Josh Home....

I don't normally post anything about other families living with autism, I solely blog about my own and DS's but reading this story I just had to make a exception.

Josh is 13 year old with severe autism, he has to fight against the urge to self-injure himself. Quite often the injuries are potentially life threatening.

Josh was transferred to a assessment and treatment unit in Birmingham for a period of 6 months (his family live 260 miles away in Cornwall) nearly two years later Josh is still in the unit.

Josh's family are fighting to get the right care and support for him nearer to home but as us parents of autism know all too well, fighting the system and fighting for services for our children is a very hard and drawn out slog!

Dad Phill has set up a petition for support and services to be put in place not only for Josh but for other children too and so they bring him home.

Please read his story and watch the video of the gorgeous Josh



https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/kernow-ccg-please-bring-my-son-back-home-bringjoshhome-3?recruiter=87154092&utm_campaign=mailto_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

This story is heartbreaking, I cried my eyes out when I read it as this could be anyone of us and any one of our special children.

No child should *unnecessarily be away from home and their family and no child should be without a hug and cuddle when they need it.

Please sign this petition and together lets help this family get their beautiful boy back.

*(please note that I am in no way saying that children/adults with ASD should be not live away from home, I'm am saying unnecessarily as I acknowledge there are plenty of reasons why children/young adults are unable to live with their family and for a variety of practical, health and safety reasons. The point I am making that in this particular case, it is unneccessarily, I am not generalising  all autism scenarios - just to be clear)

Saturday 15 March 2014

Can we fix it?.....Er no love, not a chance....

"They don't make them like they use to" is a phrase I often hear from some of my (older!) family members.

Maybe they have a point!

I have literally lost count of things/stuff/furniture that DS has broken over the years.
When I say broken, I mean several things here such as yes broken during horrific meltdowns so by stuff being thrashed about against walls, floors, my head.....

Some stuff has been broken when he has just got a bit frustrated because a toy hasn't done something he expected it to do or it hasn't played a tune he likes quick enough!
Some stuff has broken because DS was happily playing, maybe a little too rough....or maybe its broken because its not a toy and DS was using it in a way that it shouldn't be supposed to be used such as crawling along a shelf!!

As you can imagine at nearly 7 years old his weight was a bit much for this poor shelf with DS ending up in the sink! (Please note the red splatters in the pic is not blood!!)

Lesson learnt here: Remove all shelving from house to avoid future climbing and crawling expeditions!

This one happened today!...

Just a innocent game of hide and seek resulting in this wardrobe being trashed! I wasn't actually in the room when this happened as I was the one 'seeking' DS so can't say for sure how the door came to be in three pieces and lying on the floor with DS sitting inside.....(but DS assures me with a look of pure innocence that it did just literally fall off!)

Lesson learnt here: Wardrobes are rubbish places to hide if the doors are going to 'fall off' resulting in the 'hiding' person being exposed and losing the game! Wardbrobe manufacturers needs to take these games into consideration when designing and building their furniture.....;)

And lastly, flooding the bathroom seems to be our daily fun...


Bath water (and the bubbles) are thrown out of the bath onto the floor with the water seeping through the ceiling to the floor below! DS seems to get some fantastic (but very un-fantastic for me and poor overworked mop!) sensory feedback from this.
This is a hard one as I can't seem to get round this one. As its sensory related and with DS being a very sensory boy its certainly a toughy!

Lesson learnt here: Haven't a clue....erm.....move into a bungalow....?

Who else has had to 'autism proof' their home? As DS is getting older and taller I'm finding that I am having to up the 'proofing' around the place.....I can see.in another five years, we will be living in just a shell of a house!............. ;)

Have a good weekend x