The Year That Was… 2012

The year of 2012 will soon be over, we will wave it farewell as we enter a new chapter.

Is it because I’m getting older or do the years really fly by so quickly? It seems not so long ago I was sat here writing a post summing up 2011 yet here we are again fast approaching the year 2013… I can hardly keep up!

So, how was 2012 for us? Well, amazingly it was pretty drama free (just the way we like it)! With little man now really settled at his new school things have been… Well… “Normal” I mean I no longer get daily phone calls from head teachers demanding I collect little man! I’m actually able to go shopping without that niggling fear that my mobiles about to ring as soon as I start loading the supermarket trolley.

We have had some wonderful highlights to this year one being our second Mad blog awards win where the blog was crown most inspiring for the second consecutive year in a row. It was a truly wonderful surprise and one we didn’t expect. Lets just say I woke up with a somewhat sore head the following morning.

I was also a runner up for most inspirational blog in the BIBs (brilliance in blogging wards) run by Britmums.

At the beginning of the year I got to attend Little mans first ever sports day. Ok, his 12 years old so that may seem strange for some. But those who like me have a child on the autism spectrum will likely have experienced the same… Their child being excluded from everyday activities as they are branded something of a health and safety risk.

Little mans attendance at his new special school has brought with it a lot of “firsts” this year, including his most recent Christmas performance that almost had me in floods of happy tears. I also attended the school Christmas lunch which is such a big deal when you have got to the stage of thinking “You’re child will never be given such opportunities” such negative thoughts are all based purely on the bad experiences of the past.

Other wonderful things that have happened this year include, being chosen as Toy R Us Toyologist. Alice and little man were blue group reviewers and lots of fun was had reviewing all the great toys in the run up to Christmas. Little man discovered his love of making review videos and mini tutorials, his confidence grew and as a result his only gone and started his very own youtube channel.

We were also invited to be LEGO Family bloggers this year and as you can guess, that news had the little man excited beyond belief.

Another really big surprise was being chosen to be one of Butlins Ambassadors. Next year we will be visiting Bognor Regis resort and I’ll be able to share with readers our experiences including how the park caters for children with additional needs and sen. We start our holiday on the 1st April and I for one really can’t wait.

October see me as one of ten bloggers and writers who were chosen as finalist in the Savoo smartest shopper competition. I was in with the chance of winning a prize of £10,000 plus the chance to write my own money saving blog. No I didn’t win! But looking back I do realise what a wonderful achievement it was to be in the final amongst the red hot competition.

This year seemed to be the year for competitions. What with Alice being a runner up in the Ice Age Jr reviewer competition winning a fab trip to Bristol, Little man bagging himself an iPad Mini on an online raffle that was organised by his school reward system Vivo, and that of Alice finding out on Christmas Eve that she had won £750! This was for her amazing entry into the post card from Santa competition run by Travel Supermarket (the entry & video can be seen on my sister blog mummy of many talents).

Above… A beautiful trip to bristol

On the whole the year has been a kind one. Sadly we do still have the worrying situation involving my sister and the SS (see the blog post peek a boo) following us into this coming new year. As a family we are continuing to support her the best we can while fighting the system that is destroying her.

So… What will next year bring? New opportunities, more school plays and sports days. I don’t hope its a good one I’ll be sure to make it a great one.

An emotional but wonderful sports day

School sports day… We all know them well, or do we?

Little man has never really experienced the real joy of a school sports day. His never truly known how fun these can be! His perception of sports day is one that involves sitting in the sidelines or being told he needs to try harder. Well… That was up in till now.

Little man has experienced many positives since joining his new independent special school, ones I’d never thought he would encounter when things looked so gloomy. These include the joy of school trips and above all involvement!

Yesterday was sports day, an exciting day for all children attending the school. Parents were invited to bring a picnic and join the children for an event which would be a first for many! I feel the parent of your “typical” child may take such a thing as sports day for granted. I don’t mean this in a bad way, why would I? It’s just that many parents of children with SEN long for their children to experience how fun such events and activities can actually be.

Myself and two friends took our picnic and went and joined the school on what seemed to be the first sunny day in ages. God was on our side!

Admittedly I was a little late, not great when your child has Aspergers Syndrome. He was a little anxious and seemed a little upset on my arrival. I had explained to little man that I would be arriving at 11 am as opposed to 10.30 am, I had obviously not made myself as clear as maybe I should have.

Despite the bad start things settled down quickly and we laid down our picnic blanket and watched the games commence. There are only around 16 children in the whole of the school which meant all got the support needed to ensure the day went without a hitch. The staff at my sons school are amazing, each one has a complete understanding of each child’s needs and all worked hard to ensure pupils and parents enjoyed the day.

Luckily I was wearing oversized shades so I couldn’t be seen welling up when little man won the 450m race. It wasn’t the winning it was the participation and the smile on his face that did it! He could have came last and I still would have been as proud. Staff ran with children who struggled to make it to the finishing line, us parents along with staff members supplied plenty of verbal encouragement cheering each child who approached the finish line. The atmosphere was absolutely brilliant.

On the morning of the sports day little man seemed to be a little anxious about the whole experience, after all it’s always been a negative experience for him when in mainstream school. The picture below shows how much little man enjoyed the day, you can only imagine how it makes me feel as his mother to see him this comfortable.

I went along convinced that this mum was not participating in any parent centred activities but once there how could I possibly refuse. Saying that I didn’t run in the egg and spoon race… I know what a chicken!

I made a beautiful picnic and it was lovely to sit in the sunshine and eat calmly beside little man (a rare event in our house). I then kicked back and watched little man enjoy the rest of his day.

Little man gets ready for a tug of war (yes his team win).

Gearing up for the long jump.

The sports day was organised to last the entire day and at the end a great awards presentation was organised. There made sure that every child received awards just for participating, making each child smile and feel truly appreciated. One little boy even received a cup for trying so hard which I must admit, really made me tearful (the smile on his face was magical).

As for my little man… Well he received 3 awards… Oh and even I got one.

Seriously.. Proud doesn’t seem to cut it!

Award presentation.

Little man and his awards.

Massive thank you to everyone at Baston House School for making sports day a magical one.

Never fulfilling the criteria

Some of you may have read my post “Help me to reveal the bigger picture this world autism day” which I posted no longer than a few days back. I wrote the post in an attempt to gather others by my side, in-order to help me pull of a great idea for this World Autism Awareness day (April 2nd 2012)

For those that didn’t read the post, please do, you can find it HERE.

A very quick summary… Basically I’m trying to encourage people to wear something that contains the colours of the awareness puzzle or ribbon. Maybe one of the two symbols on a tee-shirt, face paints, a home-made funky eye mask, etc… it’s totally up to you just be creative! Next write the words”Doing it for World Autism 2012″on a large piece of card and hold it up. Lastly, regardless of where in the world you are, snap a picture.

This is aimed at all, especially those who don’t have a child, partner, relative on the autism spectrum, as well as those that do! Bloggers, especially mummy & daddy bloggers, health bloggers, autism activist etc, can then upload pic onto their site/blog with small description stating that they are doing it to raise awareness for autism. I’ll add a link to my blog and everyone can submit links to linky.

Would love you to also tweet pics and messages using hash tag #worldautism2012 on Twitter

Those that love to network on Facebook, can upload to there profiles or pages tagging the page A boy with Aspergers, which is the fan page connected to my blog and has become a support haven for almost 5,000 members, who are looked after by myself and a great group of admins who have stuck with it throughout.

I’m hoping to get enough images of people around the world dressed proudly in their autism bright’s with a board in their hands. Why… Because I’ll make this into an awesome awareness collage!

For the full details please check the link, as given above!

Now, that’s done, I wanted to touch on yet another issue That I raised within that very same post a few days back!

Those who read, will know that I gave some examples to demonstrate how the word mild, when used with High functioning autism and Aspergers Syndrome, can all to often be seen in the wrong light, resulting in likely misconceptions, causing many distressing situations for those on the higher end of the autism spectrum. This is mainly due to the term mild being widely used to describe the intellectual side of asperger’s and HF autism which then leads people to dismiss every trait to be that of mild! I tried to demonstrate how this is rarely the case when it comes to the social aspect of HF autism and Aspergers.

Now, I did go off to bed late last night, questioning whether I made my point clear enough, explained it as well as I could have! Some fans on Facebook stated I hit the nail on the head where others couldn’t get passed the need to compare Aspergers to what some describe as classic autistic (lower functioning) I did point out that those with autism often get stuck in their own world where’s those with Aspergers often (well, at some point) realise they are different! they want to socialise and just cannot do so, this can cause great depression within the child.

Now to cut to the chase and reframe from writing that whole essay of a post all over again,I’m here today because I came across a news story that highlights the importance of the issues I raised last time… When I asked you.. “would u use the world “mild” to describe…”

Now I ask you the same with another example, one that was reported within the news. I ask does the article you are about to read represent the word “Mild”?

A 11-year-old boy diagnosed as having Aspergers Syndrome was reported to have run away from home because he was struggling to cope with his autism!

The report told how a massive police search was put in place when the child known as Ben, went missing from his bed sometime during the night. He was found to be missing at 7am in the morning when his parents went to wake him for school!

Ben had left a handwritten note which stated that he did not wish to be found!

His father reports how his son Ben who is diagnosed as having Aspergers syndrome, suffers from anxiety and was particularly anxious due to the Sports day taking place at the school which he attends.

Ben’s parents state that “Ben running away is part of an inability to cope with certain social
situations and pressures, which is part of his condition.”

However it was noted that Ben had never ran away before, making this extremely worrying for his parents and everybody else involved.

A huge search was underway when Ben was thankfully spotted by officers who were searching above by helicopter in Elloughton Dales just after 10am.

It is said that Ben told his parents that he had planned to return home later that day.

Ben himself, is a child who has tried to raise awareness for his condition! It has been reported that Ben previously worked raising awareness for autism as part of the Lifestyle Project, organised by Humberside Police.

As I continued on Reading the article, I sadly discovered something that although unfair and anger provoking, it came as no surprise to me whatsoever!

Ben’s father told reporters, that his son is currently under the care of a paediatric consultant, but has only now, since the incident, been offered more help!!

An all to often situation, parents asking for help before the child in question gets into a worrying or dangerous situation, only any previous request are outrightly declined, with the explanation always the same… Your child nor family fit our “criteria” therefore you’re not eligible for support!

Yes, it was reported that Ben’s parents expressed concerns for their child many times, they were noted to be constantly asking for support for Ben, they fought for Ben, though in the end, it took a situation that could have ended so much worse, for that criteria to finally be
met! severe

After Ben’s return his family contacted their local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, known to most as (CAMHS) to demand support for Ben, which was thankfully agreed.

The parents wanted to thank the public, family and friends for support. There was also words of thanks for the guys in blue for their fast and efficient response that lead to Ben’s safe return home.

It was reported within the article that CAMHS had made the following statement.

“A spokeswoman for Humber NHS Foundation Trust said: “All referrals to our CAMHS team come either through a professional, such as a school nurse, who has concerns about a young person’s mental or emotional health and would contact one of our primary mental health workers, or through the family’s GP”

Finishing by saying

“All referrals are considered by the multi-disciplinary team to decide on the appropriate care route for the young person.”

This is just one more example of why we need to be heard, Ben like many others, my own child included, deserve a happy childhood, after all this is what every child should have!

Those older Adults on the spectrum, also deserve good decent services, support, recognition and acceptance.

Please wear your colour and hold up your board this World Autism
Awareness day 2012 due to kick off on the 2nd of April.

Also I’d love you to right-click and save the art work, save and display. If so, thank you that is very kind of you all.

You can read the full article from which I sourced this information by clicking HERE and see

Related articles

• Help Me Reveal The Bigger Picture This World Autism Day (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• Weekly Whirl – World Autism Awareness Day is 1 Month Away! (autismspeaks.org)
• Teaching Aspergers Children Self-Care Skills (eoghann.com)