Get Your Skates On

 Just because my son has Aspergers Syndrome and special educational needs, it doesn’t mean he can’t do all the things your child can do! OK, a handful of those “Things” are that bit more difficult, but he gets there all the same!

 Sometimes, I often find myself saying the above to Little man, a child who has lost confidence, through no fault of his own! This is a child who needs that push, a gentle reminder that everything is worth a try. 

 It’s not just the fact that Little man missed out on many trips and activities while attending mainstream school (though this has had a considerable impact) it’s also little man’s social and physical abilities that also play a part. 

 So, when I won tickets for a family trip to the Stratford City, Westfields outdoor ice rink, I knew Little man would struggle if but a little. 

 The great thing was that I actually bagged two lots of family tickets…well, 3 lots actually, all on different blogs that I read! I was delighted to discover I had won the first lot, then I was informed by yet another blogger, id won her competition too. This set I gave up for another lovely blogger and her family who had also entered, but then to discover from yet another blogger that I won a third time was absolutely great if not a little strange. With this revaluation, I decided to invite the neighbours along too.

 Both my older children, Little man and his sister Alice-Sara, are gone friends with the children next door (in all honesty one of the children is Little man’s one and only true friend) so, I hoped that this would make the whole experience of getting out on the ice, a little less daunting for the Little guy, and it did… eventually!

 Don’t get me wrong, there was no meltdowns, not one in fact (I know… shocking) it was more little man’s OT needs that posed a challenge! My son is what some would describe as a little clumsy, which is basically down to his gross motor skills! Yes, he can ride a bike, amazingly well in fact, but he often has a little trouble with his spatial awareness (knowing where his body is in space) his balance, can sometimes be a little off at times too. This impacted with the crowded ice rink would undoubtably pose a challenge, this I already knew.

 Yet, the fact he had his friends there and the sheer determination within him, saw him past the challenges that presented him, and as a result, I ended up a very proud mummy!

Above: All friends together on the Ice

 The staff at Westfields couldn’t have been more helpful, I didn’t notify them that a child with Special needs would be joining us (a group of 8 consisting of 2 adults and six children) but all the same I felt the staff went out of their way to help. There was one point when the little man started freaking out that his skates were not tight enough (he has this thing where shoes need doing up dead tightly, he states it’s so his feet have control of his shoes and not the other way around) Yes, it’s another OT thing)! The staff on the ice were amazing, rushing out to check he was OK and bending down on all fours to tighten his skates. 

 When we first stepped on to the ice, I noted how my daughter and her friends went whizzing of into the middle of the rink, as grateful as I am to have such a confident young daughter, I did feel some sadness for my Little man as he clung to the edge as if his whole life depended on it. He looked at me with fear in his eyes as he stated he just couldn’t do it! I continuously reassured him and bit by bit he came slowly away from the edge.

My daughter & friend first one of the first on the ice

Hanging on for dear lifeThinking about it!Off he goes

 I found my biggest confidence booster for the little guy was, once the rink filled with more and more people I happily pointed out that he wasn’t the only one clung to the edge of the rink (Seriously, it was mostly the full-grown men, hanging on for dear life). Little man, is like lots of children of his age, where he feel incredibly stupid if he struggles to do something that others are finding a breeze, therefore seeing all those grown ups looking like they were hanging from a cliff, seemed to stop him from giving up and making his way back in to redeem his comfortable trainers. (Yes, he tried suggest it once or twice.)

 We were on the ice around 45 minutes and despite his fear, he made it to the middle of the rink! To watch him skating with his friends and smiling having fun, has been the highlight to my year so far… all ten days of it!

Standing proudly with his friend at the centre of the rink

 So… what about me, did I fall on my arse? Nope! Though I almost did once or twice, I just about managed to stay on my feet. 

 I was convinced the skating finished at 6pm, though I was wrong, the last session actually started at 6 pm, meaning the skating didn’t end till 7 pm. With this I gave in defeat and left the Little man and Alice Sara with their friends and their mother (my lovely neighbour) while I headed off to collect my comfortable flat shoes and off it for a sneaky fag 🙂

 Little man was having a blast and now didn’t want to leave. I decided to sit out and just watch for the last hour (my excuse was that I was now a photographer, or at least trying to be)! Though I really shouldn’t admit this, sitting on the sidelines gave me a good opportunity to view some classic skating fails! Wow… Seriously, though I see a couple of women hit the deck, and of course a good number of children (my own included) I have never seen so many men fall over in one place in my whole entire life.And Oops a daisy

 How can you not laugh, there were some classics. Plenty of men, one or two rather dishy I must add, skating around on their butts rather than their skates! Did I feel guilty for laughing so much that my sides were sores? No… not really, they all seemed to see the funny of things, eventually!

 All in all… we had a brilliant time which was all down to them fabulous blogs that ran the competitions, (thank you Essex mum , Madhouse reviews & Emma and three) as well as those who took care of our needs at the skating rink.Alice & FriendOne of the Little man’s friends from next door

 Essex mummy (one of the bloggers I won tickets from) has asked me if I fancy doing a guest post reviewing our experience, we had such a fabulous time it would be rude to decline (so, do keep an eye out for that). 

 For those interested, the rink is now closed but will return again next year for the festive season. We went on the last day before it packed up for the year and considering I thought that I had Christmas well and truly out my system, the festive christmas tunes and chilly ice made it feel like Christmas Eve again. I think January is a brilliant time to go, and I would highly recommend the Stratford City Westfields Outdoor Ice rink.

 Oh… and Little man? He now wants roller-blades! 

Related articles

• UK Britain’s best outdoor ice rinks (leggotunglei808.wordpress.com)
• Samsung challenges mobile trade to a skate-off (mobile-ent.biz)
• Penguins get to try out London ice rink — cutely (newslite.tv)
• Somerset House Ice Rink (brewstersloft.wordpress.com)
• Sunday Supplement: Christmas Double (normsonline.wordpress.com)

Casdon toy reviews and competition

8

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Woo-hoo… were now in single figures & to celebrate I have two fantastic Casdon products to add to the Little Helpers Wish List, as-well as two Casdon Self Service Checkout’s to give to two very lucky ‘A boy with Asperger’s readers’!

 First up we have the ‘Little Helpers Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum‘

Housework… Yes, I’m training them young, especially the Littlest tot, Harley! At the grand old age of 2 this little dude really is a dab hand with the vacuum cleaner as you can see from this super sweet image below.

Seriously, I’m not punishing my tribe with child labour, “What do you take me for?” 😉 This perfectly formed Little Dyson happens to be nothing other than a perfectly formed toy! Please, don’t pretend like you already knew, you really did think the two-year old was doing the chores, didn’t you!

 Casdon are the guys responsible for this fantastic lifelike gadget known as the Dyson ball upright which forms part of it’s Little Helper range of toys. It’s so brilliant that it really does actually have some degree of working suction and cyclone action for understanding cause and effect as-well as providing much amazement from mum!

 This little toy Dyson ball upright is a great addition to any little tots toy box with it’s bright colours providing plenty of visual stimulation. Not only does it help develop your child’s all important gross motor skills with its great manoeuvrability but it also helps your child to explore the world of make-believe while training them up for the real deal (well, one day)!

You can’t get much closer to a real Dyson ball if you tried, this groovy little replica is so realistic you’ll have to look twice.

 Honestly would you believe it, this awesome toy has already created some fantastic parent/child interaction, it’s cute but funny watching my little fella grab ahold of his vacuum and walking beside me as I engage myself in the real task of housework.

This is the perfect size for the little guy and he can work the on and of function with ease, what with it’s nice fat chunky red button located right below the handle. Once started the Little balls in the cylinder fly about madly and once you get going with the chore of vacuuming you can really hear it becoming more & more powerful making it sound like a real life vacuum.

However, one word of advice… Do reframe from vacuuming your pets, cats especially!

It’s clear to see the 2 year loved it (however, note this is recommended for the slightly older tot of 3-8). Me… I like to train them that little bit earlier and as you can see, Little Harley will make a fine husband one day (though I don’t really want to think about such a prospect)!

 Parental Perspective

 What can I say? This looks great, it’s made well, in my opinion its good value for money and it trains your little people for the days of reversed roles, you know, the ones where you sit on your back-sides watching the box and they do some housework.

 Note this is a Battery operated product which requires type C batteries.

5 stars 

 This funky Little gadget for funky little people can be picked up from around £19.99

Prices do vary according to retailers… Here’s one or two…

Tesco direct & Amazon,

 For those of you that didn’t know already, this mum is happily playing the part of Mrs Santa, giving you my lovely followers the chance to win one of two ‘Casdon’s Little Helpers Dyson Ball uprights’

 The Competition is currently already running and will close on December the 22nd 2011

Click Here to be taken directly to the giveaway

for my next competition just continue on…

Next up it’s the Casdon Self Service Checkout

Harley went from cleaner to shop worker in a minute when I presented him with the Casdon Self Service Checkout, however being just two he didn’t really do much role play here, rather just made a mess of his freshly vacuumed living room. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter because as soon as my daughter dropped her school bag at the door, this little self checkout somehow made it’s way into her bedroom.

 As many may know, Little man (my eldest with Aspergers Syndrome) was never good at make-believe, he just wasn’t interested. Then Little sister came along and required a friend to play with, so… over time she taught him games such as school’s and yep, you guessed it, “Shops” even though his not very imaginative when engaging in such activities (tends to play the same way every time) he still enjoys it, and the fact that this was a “Self Service Checkout” made his day, given he loves the real deal at our local supermarket! Once home, Little man joined his sister and they went missing for some time. In this respect it’s my opinion this one isn’t  just loved by little monsters, as my daughter is 8 and will very soon become 9 and Little man is 11 though his just catching up on all that play he missed out on! 🙂

 The Casdon Self Service Checkout has some pretty neat features!

Spoken instructions for understanding and cause of effect; realistic features with lights and sounds for visual and aural stimulation plus pretend play food and money (great for the development of counting skills, as well-as social & life skills).

 Prenatal Perspective

 It’s a good toy with lots of accessories supplied therefore providing lots of playability. I’ll be honest, I was surprised, yet overjoyed at how it appealed to the older two children. The fact that it helped to develop some great interaction between the two was fabulous given these days you are more than  likely to find them fighting (and I mean full on punch ups)! I can most definitely see this one appealing to the slightly older child 3-4 which is what it actually recommends, though Harley is only 2 years old, he does still continue to gain lots of enjoyment from this toy, Ok… he doesn’t actually play shop keeper (which at 2 I wouldn’t expect) but his enjoying himself all the same! The two older children loved the Casdon Self Service Checkout and have tried their hardest to claim it as their own. Therefore it’s fair to say that it was a definite hit with them (they gave it a full 5 stars) However as a parent I’m going to give it a 3 and a half stars as I think it should be a tad lower in price though I still would recommend this, as it’s a great toy providing hours of fun .

 The Casdon Self Service Checkout is priced at around £19.99 though prices may vary from retailer to retailer

Amazon currently have it in-stock and are selling it at £19.03

Big Countdown to Christmas Competition 

 win one of two 

Casdon Self Service Checkouts

That’s right I have two of these babies to give away! So do you want to win one for your little shopper? Here’s how!

You must follow the complusory actions, those who don’t will not go into the final draw.

Complusory Actions

Comment & share your thoughts on another review out of the options below

Mookie Street Cruz

KidCam

Olly the Little white Van

Jack & Holly’s Cosmic Stories

Come back here and leave a comment telling me which review you commented on!

You must leave a contact either twitter or email please

Additional Enteries

For every additional entry you must leave an additional comment again leaving a contact. You can enter as many additional entries as you please.

Subscribe to this blog (either by email, networkblogs, google rss, or wordpress follow {for wordpress users only} as far as I’m aware). Then leave a comment letting me know how you subscribed.

Tweet: I want to win a Casdon self-service checkout with @clairelouise82 adding the ULR to this post! Please then leave a comment telling me you did it and your twitter name.

Use the stumble or Digg buttons located in this post to share the competition, remember to let me know you did it in a comment leaving an email or twitter contact.

 Competition will close on the 30th December

T&C

You must follow all the required steps to be entered, your post may be deleted if you don’t. Competition is open to the UK only and will close at mid-night on the 30th December 2011, with winners being announced shortly after. There is no cash alternative for this prize and winners name will be published on this blog. Winner has 72hrs to respond to the winning notification.

Related articles

• Win a Toy Dyson Ball in Our Big Christmas Countdown (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)

Giant Jenga

Image via Wikipedia

Little man has a bit of a thing for the game Jenga, it all started when he first discovered it at his new special school for children with autism and aspergers.

That’s why I jumped at the chance to review the ‘Giant Jenga Game’ from Garden games. Ok, it’s not exactly summer outside but Giant Jenga can be played both indoors and outdoors.

The Giant Jenga that goes by the name of ‘Mega Hi Tower In A Bag’ consists of 58 mega blocks measuring 34x 70x 207mm and comes in its own waterproof carry bag.

Little man was extremely excited to be sent the Giant Jenga and within five minutes of it arriving it was already out of the bag and well on it’s way to becoming a mega high tower right there in the middle of our living room.

Jenga is a great game for children on the autism spectrum as it helps them to “think outside the box” problem solve, helps aid the development of both fine and gross motor skills, as-well as teaching the child patience and how to deal with competition (a vital life skill for any child).

The children had great fun with this game! It was actually quite nice to see my two eldest playing nicely together, as little man tends to push his sister away preferring to play alone (obviously, playing Jenga alone isn’t much fun). Even the youngest member of the family, 23 month old Harley observed his siblings in play mode before going in for the kill.

I do recommend that you stay close by if younger children are playing, this falling tower will hurt! Another recommendation would be to ensure all children are wearing appropriate footwear, as a tumbling tower will no doubt hurt little toes.

A massive advantage to playing the extra-large vision of this much-loved game was the fact it was much less fiddly  for the little man! Yes, you do still need to take extra care not to remove the wrong piece of Jenga and make your tower tumble, but it’s much easier to remove the pieces if the child has poor fine motor skills like Little man. The Giant pieces are defiantly a bonus in this respect.

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All in all, Giant Jenga provide us with a lot of family fun, though it will be that much better come the summer, played in the garden with a BQQ going.

Giant Jenga could also prove a good game for the adults, as I can see myself pulling this one out come Christmas Day when a few of the family join us. It will provide lots of laughs especially after a few glasses of bubbly, that’s for sure.

At £49.99 I did consider it a tad pricey, though if I’m honest this is a well made game, so its bound to last for years to come.
An awesome 4 stars from us.

****

Click Here to order yours

It’s all fun and games with Ka’lide

Another day, another Santa’s little helpers and blog-match mission.

The guys at blog-match have matched us to the guys at imagination games, who sent us the game Ka’lide.

AIM OF THE GAME:

Score points by flicking, bumping and sliding your magnetic pucks onto you’re scoring side of the game mat!

WHAT YOU GET!

One large mat

Magnetic pucks

Note: You will additionally require a pen and paper (not included) to record the scores.

SET UP AND ORDER OF PLAY:

Set up in a room that has lots of space being careful to remove any breakable items away from the playing area.

Establish who’s first by engaging in a “Flick Off”

Closet to 200 point circle wins the “flick off” and therefore goes first.

MAIN GAME:

Each player sits at either end of the playing mat facing one another. Both ends of the mat are colour coded red or yellow. Each player has a total of six pucks each and take it in turns to carefully flick pucks across the mat aiming for the points circles (highest being 200)

IMPORTANT RULES:

If a player overshoots it becomes a dead puck and must be left where they have fallen to the end of the round.

A player can knock or magnetically push another puck into the scoring zone.

For these reasons scores should only be recorded at the end of each round.

Three rounds make up one game of Ka’lide.

WHO PLAYED?

Here comes a heart attack moment, Little man and his sister, my daughter Alice, actually played this game together. They just about managed it without actually killing one another.

VERDICT:

**** We award 4 stars to the imagination game Ka’lide

LAST THOUGHTS:

Ka’lide is very entertaining and is worth adding to your Christmas list.

The game is good at helping aid the development of motor co-ordination as-well as fine motor skills, concentration and hand-eye co-ordination.

The children engaged in a little bickering, but hay what’s new?

As mentioned before Little man tends to be overly controlling a symptom of his Asperger’s syndrome. When his sister scored he found it quite hard to take, with the lack of control over the game and the fact his a sore losers did prove difficult some of the time (though I guess his sisters slight smirk doesn’t help either)!

Over all a fabulous game.

Give it a go and have some fun.

Note: If more than two players are desired this can be done via a knock out game or a team game, full instructions for this are given in the instruction booklet provided with your game.: 

Imagination games: Ka’lide at Amazon

Age 8+ £19.99 RRP 

Related articles

• Geek Kids : Ka’lide Magnetic Action Game (thinkgeek.com)

The Silly Soft

 I was quite excited when I was contacted by the guys at Gander Kids and asked to test a Silly soft. I had never heard of anything quite like it. However I was up for discovering what it was all about.

 The Silly Soft, made by P’kolino is a real smart toy, not only is it designed in three pieces that enables your child to puzzle together a big brightly coloured friend, it’s also multifunctional! 

 The ‘Silly soft’ can become a cosy toddler chair, table, foot-rest and more, the possibilities are endless.

 The Silly soft is aimed at children age 1-3 years. It comes in a range of  funky designs and in five different colours (orange, red, green, blue and purple).

 We were sent the orange Silly soft via speedy next day delivery.

 The Silly soft was well boxed, but easy to unpack, no horrid plastic twisty things to get through! (God I hate them things, a mothers worse nightmare)!

 It was much smaller than I first expected! However this was only because I had the image of a huge chair stuck in my head, I needed to remember this was aimed at toddlers, so, actually it was the perfect size!

 Harley was having a nap and when he woke he got mega excited when I announced, ‘mummy had a surprise downstairs’ bless him!

The outer packaging has a clear plastic window to allow you to view the toy in the box, Little H started clapping and then jumping around shouting, “Rab-bit, rab-bit” mimicking the sound of a frog. 

 Despite the colour Harley recognised that it was indeed designed to resemble a frog and he was now pretty keen to get it out of its box.

I took the three parts out the box, they were very spongy maybe made of some kind of foam that was covered in a fleece like material making them super soft, most tactile and light. Harley was able to pick each piece up with ease. He instantly got to work, puzzling where the pieces went to create his froggy friend, at just 21 months he did this with ease which left me rather impressed.

He had a huge amount of fun, throwing the pieces around the room then diving on them.

He sat on it and indulged in a little Cbeebies, jumped on it, throw it, danced on it, played on it, and finally slept on it! 

It would seem that Little H  rather likes his P’kolino Silly soft, don’t you think?

This is a toy/come seating area that’s extremely child friendly, it’s soft, comfortable, funky, bright and fun! Basically it’s all the things a toddler wants from a toy.

Oh, and don’t worry about Silly soft becoming a “Dirty Silly Soft” the covers are removable for washing ( please do check the labels care instructions).

I cannot give this lower than a 5 star *****  It put a huge smile on my toddlers face, is great for the development of gross motor skills, plus it’s different and we, at A boy with Asperger’s love different)

 The P’kolino retails at £39.99 and is available at Gander kids

Limited Edition Lime Green Maxi Micro Scooter

Little man had one hell of a surprise ready and waiting to greet him  when he returned home from his cousins at the end of last week. A stunning Limited edition lime green maxi micro scooter for him to review.

Little man isn’t really the kind of child that wants all the latest  stuff though his pretty good at asking for stuff in general! However, this largely consists of anything from train sets, bus models, xbox games, to the more unusual request, such as working shop tills, torches, fly catchers, pens or even padlocks. So I was full of delight when he told me he had seen a pretty sick scooter (his words, certainly not mine).

How overjoyed was I when the lovely Hayley (Mini micro PR) sent me an  email asking me what micro scooter we would be interested in reviewing as part of our Santa’s little helpers’ I knew it would plant a massive smile on his chops, and boy I wasn’t wrong. What makes Maxi micro scooters stand out from the crowd.

The design

A seriously stunning piece of equipment, it’s almost neon green colour contrasting with jet black, gives the design a real funky edge.

It has an extending T-bar reaching a maximum height of 93 cms and its lime green base is designed to be low to the ground (yet remains very robust) It has tough PU wheels and lime green handle grips for maximum comfort.

The scooter has a three wheeled design aiding the child’s stability while riding.

A follow on from the Micro mini the Maxi micro is designed for children aged between 6-12 years, taking the maximum weight of up-to 50-kg.

The Maxi itself weighs in at just 2.5 kg and its removable T-bar allows the scooter to be stored away or dismantled for travelling. This was an important feature for us, what with the delivery of the scooter the day before we went away there was absolutely no way he was leaving it behind.

Little man puts it to the test.

Little man loved it and has had fun scooting about since it arrived. His not once had an accident (a rare occurrence for him) and the next door neighbour (his little friend, thinks it’s awesome too). It’s currently his bestest thing in the world after his transport collection that is! When asking him what he rated it out of 10, he answered, “100” I guess that pretty much sums it up, he loves it!

 Parental prospective.

When it first arrived I instantly loved the colour and design, but couldn’t see why it was different from any other scooter! Well, I must be showing my 29 years as Little man firmly put me in my place. It was only when seeing what the Maxi micro scooter could do, did I really,”Get it!” This really isn’t any scooter, it’s so much more! 
The Control your child gains over the steering is brilliant. I just loved the fact it had three wheels. Little man is under an OT as some areas of his gross motor skills are below other children of the same age (a direct result of the Aspergers syndrome). He quite obviously had much more stability riding the Maxi micro as opposed to any other scooter his tried.  Oh and this scooter is somewhat of a,”Mean Machine” as it wasn’t slow either! Don’t panic though, it’s easy for your child to control their speed which is dependent on how much leg power they initially put into it and the type of surface being used (be careful with hills). The scooters braking mechanism is also really good making it a pretty safe scooter.

All Maxi and Micro scooters have an outstanding safety record, they are really well built and designed by micro mobility systems, (a well respected Swiss company).

As a parent I couldn’t give it any less than the full whack when it comes to ranking it. Yes, it will set you back a bit currently priced at ￡99.95 but this is a scooter designed to last, offers so much more than your standard scooter, plus it has an outstanding safety record (which you just can’t put a price on)! 

Check Maxi & Micro scooters out for yourself by clicking HERE.

Toys that are simply WOW

Our mission to create a Christmas list of must haves for pre-schools, young boys and girls and not forgetting those on the spectrum is coming together a treat.

 Harley recently reviewed some WOW toys and despite the review being carried out by Harley as opposed to little man, the toys are in my opinion fantastic for children on the autism spectrum.

WOW toys are designed for children aged between 18 moths to 5 years old. The guys at WOW know a lot  about toys, all are designed and made from scratch each going through a series of strict safety checks before finally being delivered to the shops where us parents all over the world buy them for our little ones to open on Christmas and birthdays. What’s great about WOW toys are the developmental benefits each carefully designed toy has to offer. These toys are great for pre-schoolers and especially those children with autism spectrum conditions because not only do they help feed a child’s imagination but help develop basic motor skills to advanced social interactive role play. There are many developmental benefits when giving your child a WOW toy. The early development of Gross motor skills, social interaction with adults and siblings, advanced sensory stimulation and improvements in fine motor skills, discovery and learning and that of imaginative role play. The toy and your child grow together making WOW the perfect name and seriously great value for money.

Harley’s face lit up when I gave him Robins Medical Rescue (from the emergency range) and George’s Dragon Tale, (from the fantasy range) to play with.

Lets start with Robins Medical Rescue! A speedy ambulance complete with, Paramedic Nina, Mother Pearl, Sandy (boy figure), one removable stretcher and one removable wheelchair. This toy comes with ten features, two being WOW magic features (wow button to release hatch allowing the wheelchair to roll down the ramp and an xray machine that reveals a cool image of Sandy’s broken leg). Other features include a sliding door with clicking sound effects, realistic engine sound and friction powered motor. All this without batteries! That’s right all WOW toys are designed to be fun without the use of batteries much to a parents delight.

This is the first toy I have known to hold my toddlers attention for a seriously long period of time. He was completely taken by it and truly loved it! We had to take it away in- order for him to eat his dinner (not without him demonstrating his tantrum skills which he now has to a perfection)!

The toys are chunky and so are the additional pieces that make up each set. Harley was able to comfortably hold the little people, fitting them into the wheelchair and drivers seat. Harley did have a bit of a thing for popping Sandy in and out of the stretcher bless him! Once I had shown him the little WOW magic features he was able to continue using them without any issues at all. He loved the clicking sound of the sliding door and was amazed at how the ambulance continued to move along the floor without him touching it (friction power)

Harley liked this toy so much he started to put some of his other toys in robin the ambulance taking them for a high speed ride around our dinning room.

Without a doubt this is 10/10 from Harley.

George’s Dragon Tale

A very cute toy consisting of a push along chariot, one removable boulder, George the knight and one removable dragon. Features include realistic sound effects, removable pieces and a working catapult much to Harley’s delight.

Harley had fun with this one, yet I gave it to him with Robins medical rescue making it harder for me to assess his likes and dislikes. He seemed to take George for a ride in robin more then the chariot, but that’s the great thing about this toys, all pieces are made in the same way so you can! Despite this it was clear to see that he found the catapult an interesting feature as he launched the boulder under the sofa on a number of occasions. This was followed by his giggling and jumping up and down. He enjoyed the fact that all pieces were removable and seemed to have fun with this one, though his love for Robin would return quickly taking over ten-fold. 7/10 (Though this may have got more if Robin wasn’t so distracting)

Parental views

I can clearly see why these toys are appealing to children and although they are marketed at 18 months to 5 years, Little man was found to be playing with Robin a number of times as Harley slept (what with his obsession with transport and opening and closing doors it made perfect sense). surprisingly Little sister was found playing with both and openly stated that these toys should be for 8 year olds too. I think Harley has found his new best toy in Robin’s Medical rescue which gets a 10/10 from mum for it’s developmental benefits and the length off time it held a 20 month olds attention. George’s Dragon Tale was also a great toy with fantastic developmental benefits, that will be a great addition to a child’s collection 8/10

 Visit the WOW facebook page for lots of fun competitions and info on WOW toys.

To find a stockist please click HERE to visit the WOW official website where you can also see some other amazing WOW toys on offer!

Thank you WoodenToyShop Love Little Man

  It’s been a great first month, which is all down to the WoodenToyShop!

 For those who read the blog on a regular basis, will know that my daughter was featured as our first little helper in the blogs new feature, ‘ Santa’s Little Helpers’ that showcases some of the best and hottest toys form July to December! These little elf’s otherwise known as my three children will fully put all toys and gadgets to the test then give you their honest opinion and overall rating in-order to create the best Christmas wish list to be found online! Giving us her thoughts & inspirational craft ideas when reviewing the Melissa and Doug friendship stamp set from the WoodenToyShop, I found myself very proud of her professional approach when it came to being a toy reviewer (given that she’s only eight, over-excitement was kept to a minimum)

This week our Little helper is the one and only Little Man himself, sharing his thoughts on the… WAIT FOR IT…. DRUM ROLL PLEASE… “Children’s Large Wooden Cricket Set” from the fabulous online toy retailer, ‘WoodenToyShop’ I must state that  I did find this an odd choice what with the  fact he would have done almost anything to avoid a game of Cricket in the past! 

When the WoodenToyShop kindly invited us to pick something from the online catalogue I didn’t dream Little man would request they send him out a cricket set! It took him just seconds to score the content on the site before finally shouting, “Yes, this one please mum” I remember thinking, “What on earth…”For one I was stunned that he had spent so little time choosing! This is normally something that takes him some hours… admittedly he does get this from his mother, which only highlights my confusion that little bit more! The choice of a cricket set baffled me and for this reason I admit I didn’t email my choices right away giving it a few extra days convinced he would change his mind… If anything I would have bet money on it that this was going to happen sometime in the next few hours! However… realising that in-fact my son who has Aspergers syndrome, was in fact looking forward to the arrival of his new “Cricket Set” I got ordering, FAST… while secretly praying for a fast delivery given my delay he was already getting impatient. 

As his mother I then made the decision to embrace my sons optimistic attitude and over all willingness to try his hand at something new!

You may now ask yourselves, “What the hell has this got to do with the review of a cricket set?” when you go on to read the next part of this post, I promise, Its relevant, so stick with it! 

Some few months back I took the Little Man for an Occupational therapy assessment in London’s Harley street, where he was asked to perform a number of task requiring a demonstration of his ball skills. This would show the assessor how good he was at using his upper body “upper co-ordination” The Assessor would set a number of challenges to establish what difficulties if any, he has with both fine and gross motor skills and that of his sensory processing! Little man went ballistic, “I’m not doing this, its stupid!” he unpleasantly stated. I sat patiently as the assessor gave it her all trying to convince him to participate in the activities asked. I made a suggestion to which I so rudely received a one finger gesture before he slang me out the door. My son hated to be asked to do something if he knew it was something he struggled with. He would fall to pieces and panic. I could hear him so stubbornly  refusing, shouting, “You think because I have Aspergers I can’t do it! I hate all off you” Two hours passed before we finally left Harley street and headed home.

 All three toys arrived together I watched my daughter grab hers and disappear while I opened baby Harley’s (coming soon) However, Little man continued to watch the TV, he seemed to have lost interest… I feared this would happen! Two days later I came down and there it was hanging out it’s box, just as it was the day it arrived! Yes, I understood better then anyone that Little man could be an impulsive buyer, but he had continued to remain positive up in till the day the toys arrived.

Day 4… and the cricket set is still sat lonely and untouched in its box! Day 5 and movement was looking slim as I discovered it still sat there in its box getting dusty. With this I decided to leave it be for one more day, at a push two, then I would return the product, that or ask a family member or child’s friend to do the review, either way it seemed that little man wasn’t even going to look at the thing let alone review it. 

Day 6… I went into the hall to package up the cricket set and drop it at the post office before early closing in-order to send it back to it’s rightful owner but….

 “It was gone!”

 Following the faint sound of thumping I ended up in the garden where I stood, jaw on the floor and feet rooted to the ground… I saw my Little man stood there in his pyjamas swinging his bat back and forth, forcefully hitting the little red ball against the brick wall that was just about holding up this old house. He occasionally ran side to side as not to allow the ball out of his sight, trying hard not to miss. My little man couldn’t see me stood there tears in my eyes. The cricket set from the WoodenToyShop turned out to be so much more then a review of a toy, but it provided me with an insight and valuable lesson, “Have more faith in what your child can do!” I’ve always believed in him but from what I saw at the OT assessment and throughout the past I stupidly drew to the conclusion that he wouldn’t be that good a cricketer just as his mother isn’t! Shame on me!!

He was out there some hours, spending time on both his transport fascination and practising his ball skills. I kept going to the kitchen window to grab a peek and felt my heart leap with pride with every single trump of the ball against the rattling wall. He had a smile so huge, I melted… Deciding not to trigger any challenges I decided not to snap a picture in fear of being caught and didn’t even ask him to give any feed back on his new toy in fear of being told to sod off so I waited patiently just as I did at that OT assessment at Harley street. 

Day 8, I found this next to my bed…

“Dear Mangers of the woodentoyshop, thank you for sending me your cricket set. I really like it, its solid which is a good thing as I loath toys made of plastic, maybe that’s why mum thinks your a great toy shop. I didn’t like the colour of the ball and think you should make black ones. but that’s just an opinion rather than criticism. The ball did bounce off the way displaying amazing speed, I’m quite good and only missed a few times! My mum thinks I can’t do it because she has never seen me do it, she tells me I can do a lot of things and is always proud of me and my sister and brother but I’ve been practising for a long time with my school tutor who I miss because I now go to school, “The best school” The lady in London who mum took me to see, asked me to do this almost ruining my mum’s surprise! I even kicked her out the room, it was crazy! 

My score 1 Only joking 3… Joking again! 10 is my final answer, thank you WoodenToyShop Love XXXXXX XXXXX aka Little man.”

Shocked I grabbed my phone to call the OT but remembered it was the weekend which meant it wouldn’t be open! I checked my emails for her report  but was quite sure it wouldn’t be there as yet, it was to soon maybe! How could I possibly wait till Monday to make contact? Then right at the bottom of my inbox  I discovered an unopened email with an attachment, realising it was sat there unopened in my inbox… just like the cricket set and for almost the same length of time. 

I downloaded and opened it, It was the longest report I had ever read. My son had areas of difficulty in all seven of his senses, bilateral co-ordination, running speed and agility, fine motor precision, fine motor integration amongst others… I read that he had very low muscle tone, and was struggling to cope with his sensory processing mainly due to his extremely sensitive senses. This was of course a lot to take in as his mother I knew that this report was going to shock me and upset me a little… But then I noticed what I had first come looking for..

 “UPPER-LIMB CO-ORDINATION… This test comprised of eye-hand Co-ordination activities such as throwing and catching a tossed ball, dribbling a ball and throwing a ball at a target. XXXXXX displayed excellent ball skills and managed appropriately with throwing and catching a small ball using two hands and with one hand, and also managed well with dribbling a ball while alternating hands.”

This was said to be his strength, I was blown away! Yes, he will need a programme that is devised by his OT and implemented throughout his school day by teaching staff as well as six individual OT sessions a term from a professional OT each lasting 45 minutes each, Yet just this one thing above was all it took to prove that my little man had the ability to make me eat my own hat. 

For me it was fate, God delivered us this cricket set for my Little guy to display his skill while delivering my surprise (No, I’m not a big god person, but you have to admit this was as if he was being rewarded for all his hard work) If I could give this product a rating of 100 I would… The maximum ten is what it will have to be then. Perfect for any child who loves ball games, or just wants to improve and practice in the back garden. It’s simple design with just a small logo/image, but mostly plain… that for us was perfect, extreme colours or patterns would have sent Little man into a sensory overload. For all those artist, paint it, go crazy with a spray can, my daughter would! Of course the set allows you to Play alone or with others, it has four stumps allowing some good old-fashioned rounders. Little Man can build up his confidence and hopefully as his social skills improve he will start to challenge others. With the ability to build social skills, improve eye-hand co-ordination and healthy exercise… For under a tenner its got to be a winner.   The large wooden cricket set has an astonishing price tag of just £6.95 10/10

The woodentoyshop.co.uk is still right up there in my opinion and remains a 10/10 top marks for a site that is fairly priced, offers a discount day via a code from facebook page or twitter (Fridays) Best of all… A discount for nurseries and schools accompanied with the chance of winning all the returned but undamaged stock that can no longer be sold due to the fact its been opened (completely safe and usable condition, draw is done on a monthly basis)

 Be sure to return for the Competition to bag your child an awesome gift from the WoodenToyShop, while supporting my first ever give away!

Visit the WoodenToyShop blog for product reviews, new lines, guest post and more.

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Blink and I’ll sleep for a week!

Life right now is nothing short of manic. There’s simply no other word to describe it!

April has been one incredibly overwhelming month and we are just past the half-way mark.

I feel I’ve been put through my paces and had every emotion in my body put to the test. Some days I’ve been in fighting mode, others I’ve been so exhausted I’ve just wanted to crawl into my bed, hide away from the world while indulging in some longed for sleep. 

With each passing day I’m one step closer to hearing my little man’s fate, and no matter how much I try to prepare myself, I somehow feel that we’re hanging from a cliff top ready to drop!

Little man currently has no school placement for the whole of our borough and those that boarder us have taken one look at my sons papers & decided that they don’t have a placement available or lack the resources needed in-order to meet his level of need. 

Each day his left without a school is one day closer to him never going back! This shameful situation has ultimately made him regress, causing his social skills to decrease, and his dislike towards school to heighten. My ten year old son is now so anxious at the prospect that he will one day be expected to step foot in side a school along side other children that he will now require a tremendous amount of support when that day comes!

Whoever said that children on the higher end of the autism spectrum, have less complex needs were delusional! 

Just because my son has a reasonably good vocabulary and met most of his milestones doesn’t make his needs any less complex. However I don’t need to go into that, I don’t have to try and prove such a fact anymore, the system finally took note, it just did so a little later then needed!

This past year or so, my family has been left dangling from a string, I often ask god when that string will break.  April has come around so quickly, this time last year we were at the beginning of the tribunal process. However this wasn’t a special educational needs appeal but sadly a disability discrimination case! At that time and for a significant time thereafter, Little man endured so much. Fixed term exclusions that subsequently occurred one after another, removal from nearly every school activity, including educational outings, school plays, Christmas assemblies , etc. He has been illegally excluded and subjected to long spurts of isolation (received 1-to-1 teaching, just him and a teaching assistant in what was known as the den), he would only attend from nine till twelfth, and was made to play in the infant playground with children of a much younger age. My little man was classified as a potential health and safety risk that was a threat to children and staff! Can you imagine how that impacted on a little boys self-esteem! In December 2010 I eventually made one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my son, ‘ to remove him from the educational setting that was impacting hugely on his mental well-being!’  As a parent I could not stand by while he was subjected to such treatment. 

During the beginning of October 2010 at the height of the discrimination the local education authority (LEA) finally agreed to undertake a statutory assessment of Little Man’s Special educational needs that he so desperately needed! In all honesty this couldn’t have come at a more convenient time! I was quickly running out of ideas and needed my child in an educational setting with staff equipped to meet his needs. 

Believe me, I was under no illusions that this was now plain sailing… some may say I’m somewhat a pessimist but as I’ve stated once maybe twice before that I prefer the term ‘REALIST!’ And as expected the LEA didn’t wanna play fair!

In January 2011 I received the proposed statement of special educational needs but instead of providing a statement that held the potentiality to see him progress, I instead received a proposed statement that provided nothing more then, ‘GOOD OLD COMMON SENSE!’ This statement was made final in March and delivered with a covering letter explaining that the statement had only been finalised to meet time-scales and would be amended to include my suggested amendments…. YES, I’M STILL WAITING!

In February 2011 just a few days before the disability discrimination hearing we eventually came to a settlement that saw his ‘old’ primary school review its policies, train staff in disability discrimination and a formal apology was given to myself and of course little man. 

Little man is currently being educated in a library on a 1-to-1 part-time basis by a tutor his now overly attached to.

Why? Because no ‘special school‘ will offer him a place.

On the 3rd of June our appeal against parts 2, 3 and 4 of little man’s statement will be heard by the SEN first tier tribunal. I will need to prove that the one school I’ve found that can possibly meet his needs, an ‘independent special school’ should be named in part 4 of his statement. I will also need to prove that part 2 does not list all his difficulties and that part three needs amending as to provide the right provision needed for him to succeed, such as… 1-to-1 support from a learning support assistant or at least a teaching assistant, as-well as occupational (OT) and speech and language (SALT) therapy.

 

I’m thankful for the fact that I’m a trained tribunal support adviser and volunteer caseworker for the NAS. This has obviously given me a greater understanding of the SEN law and tribunal process, nevertheless emotionally it’s no easier! I’m still a parent who has had to watch her child regress. Of course I feel a certain amount of anger towards this horrid system that has allowed such a situation as ours to reach this point (let’s not forget that I’m a mother who has been taken to court twice over her child’s school attendance, no one wanting to investigate the underlying issue nor listen when I pleaded for someone/anyone to help! I guess to some prosecution was the more appealing option) However it’s this past resentment that keeps me fighting and empowers me to help others who are walking the path I’ve walked!

So here we are now in April 2011 and as mentioned it’s been incredibility pressing. I’ve had a Birthday that saw me turn twenty-nine, I’ve been busy with my volunteering duties and contracted Pneumonia which I’m only just beginning to get over! I’ve been preparing Little Man’s appeal while also going a tad insane as a result of the Easter holidays & if this wasn’t enough… MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE IT BLEW UP!

Despite all the above there is something else that has happened these past few weeks in-which I consider to be far more significant then anything I’ve already addressed! Its something that happened within me, a realisation if you like! I’ve had my eyes opened and although I knew Little man hand significant complex needs that admittedly have been made somewhat worse due to his lack of a suitable education, I’ve got to see his difficulties and what scale these are impacting on many areas of his life. The proof that without early intervention, an understanding environment and the right support, the effect on the child with Aspergers can be detrimental. 

On the 4th and 15th of April Little man underwent two independent assessment. One was carried out at our home by a fantastic independent psychologist (EP) who had her work cut out for her, commenting right from the start that Little man was a hard child to assess! The second assessment was carried out in central London just off Harley St, but this time by an independent speech and Language therapist (SALT) who again was a pleasure to met. Both assessments were carried out for the purpose of the tribunal. I needed independent assessments in order to gain reports detailing Little mans current difficulties and suggested provision to be added to part 2 and three of his statement.

On the 4th of April I sat and watched him struggle to cope with the assessment process that was carried out by the EP, his concentration was noticeably low and he found it near on impossible to focus on anything he was given! His anxiety levels were scoring. The Ep worked so hard with him and after four long hours she managed to gather enough information to write her report. 

On Friday we hit Central London for Little mans SALT assessment but even in a different setting from the home Little man found it hard to participate. With much persistence and an offer of a chocolate egg from the therapist we eventually got some off the testing done. I had of course realised that an SALT programme would be needed, but sat there listening to him try to make sentences with the inclusion of a word given by the therapist while looking at a picture in a book. It proved that despite his vocalness, his ability to put what he sees into words is somewhat a struggle for him. His literal understanding was also very apparent on the day!

Both therapists mentioned the possibility of an underlying condition which of course was ADHD and the EP is also pretty sure his dyslexic ( however she was in agreement that his mathematical skills are great) It was also recommended by both that little man undergoes an independent occupational therapy assessment (OT) due to concerns with both his fine and gross motor skills. I’ve also stated with certain task Little Man is like an elephant playing football.

After the SALT assessment we spent the day indulging in Little mans special interest (transport) Visiting London land marks by train, tube and bus. We visited Greenwich market where Little man met a magician which bowled him over before spotting a vintage model bus which after a little begging I reluctantly brought him. We hung out at the O2, visited Canary Wholf (that he didn’t enjoy and got the message across by bending his body into a ball and screaming that the tallest building in London was falling on-top off him! Well, that’s a post for another day) We also took the clipper (fast river boat) along the River Thames. He had such a blast and he smiled almost the entire day, with not one meltdown in sight!

 As I sat on the Dock-lands light rail (Yes we commuted on many types of transport that day!) I watched him shuffle awkwardly when another child sat by. He was obvious to the battle that lie head and maybe it was better that way!   

picture of  Little Man and Mr Magic

My little man, is just that little! His a ten year old boy and it’s not to late to give him what he needs! I hope that the professionals within the LEA and those employed by such a service read this and realise the effects their decisions, treatment and all to often delays have on the child and their family as a whole. Yes it’s your job, but this is mine, “to see that my child gets what he needs, is given the same opportunities as his peers and gets the adequate education he and so many others like him are entitled to” 

“Yep, you may not like it ‘LEA’ but this mothers on a mission!!”

MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS NOMINATED THE BLOG FOR A MAD 2011 BLOG AWARD. THE BLOG HAS BEEN NOMINATED IN NOT ONE BUT FOUR CATEGORIES!

SO SENDING YOU ALL A MASSIVE VIRTUAL HUG FROM MYSELF AND THE LITTLE MAN TO SAY THANK YOU, YOUR TRUELY THE MOST WONDERFUL READERS!

If you enjoy reading the blog, ‘A boy with Asperger’s’ then how about nominating us for a Mad 2011 blog award. I’m nominated in the categories most inspiring blog, best blog writer, best family blog and blogger of the year. Please visit the Mads and help me and the little man grab ourselves a fantastic award. I’m secretly  hoping to reach the final in the most inspiring category 🙂 To help me get that little bit closer click the image below. Stage 1 requires you to nominate a blogger of the year (Full ULR required… aspergersinfo.wordpress.com if you fancy  nominating me for that) Then stage two list all 15 categories, just scroll down to ‘Most inspiring blog” and enter the full url ‘aspergersinfo.wordpress.com’ Feel free to nominate the blog in as many categories you see fit… ‘I’m cheeky but keen!’

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