Celebrating our trip to the beach with a coral reef motor skills and learning craft

Although the beach can be a challenge for us - it can also be great.  Quieter beaches are better and these can often be rocky.  This year we had a summer staycation and spent some of the summer up at my parents place on the North Coast of Scotland, stomping around the coastline, finding creatures in the rock pools and spotting creatures out at sea.   We weren't sure if we would make it there this year but managed to see them for a week as the lockdown rules relaxed.   

Come and get your love

"Alexa, play 'Come and get your love' by Redbone."

It's maybe one of my favourite things to say.  It's one of the key tracks in The Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  Anything Marvel in our house is a big hit - Anthony's favourite movie of all time is Endgame, closely followed by Infinity War.

Talking about additional needs kids

We've been using a lot of Makaton at home over the lockdown. Makaton is a simple and unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate. We've been using it since before our first son was diagnosed with autism.

Why Minecraft is suddenly better than Fortnite

Warning: This isn't a gaming post ;-) Despite its appearances, its title and indeed my continuous rant that games and tech benefit my kids - this one isn’t about that. It’s about an 11-year-old autistic boy who has suddenly realised he might like a friend.

Our summer wind-down routines in the run up to school

The school summer holidays is always the longest break in routine for our kids. Whilst our kids with autism struggle with these changes, many kids find the transition into and out of school holidays challenging. We've found that there are things that can help.

When I realised my son might be different #autismawareness

Anthony was a May baby. The timing worked really well. It wasn’t too hot for the last few months of pregnancy and by the time Anthony was a few months old it was beautiful sunshine and walks in the park. Every now and again we went with the antenatal class mums and their kids.

Fun craft to help kids with dressing

The weather is getting a little warmer.  There's slightly less frost in the mornings and some days it's getting into the teens! So, it's time to think about what we are putting on.

Helping my autistic children communicate over Christmas

Christmas brings with it a change of routine, sensory explosions and a whole host of other things that can be overwhelming for any kids but particularly those with autism.  Perhaps more than other times, it's really important that I'm able to understand my kids, so I need to make it easy for them to communicate.

14 weeks till Christmas: The challenges of my ADHD son using his learned knowledge

Anthony is great at his times tables. He learned them by rote. A very popular learning method for many. Sometimes it takes a moment as he rattles through them in his head, but he always gets them right.  So if he knows it's 14 weeks until Christmas, why can't he tell me how many days it is?

Keeping our autistic kids safe outside in the sun

Many kids with autism have challenges with their sensory system. Their brains are wired a bit differently and this means they interpret the world around them differently too. This can sometimes make it a bit more complicated when keeping them safe outside in the sun. But we've learned a few things as they've been growing that help us.

Paper plate rock pool holiday activity

Although the beach can be a challenge for us - it can also be great.  Quieter beaches are better and these can often be rocky.  So we use what we have and have spent many summers up at my parents place on the North Coast of Scotland, stomping around the rocks finding creatures in the shallow waters.   All the kids have fun and to either prepare or to revisit this, we had fun making our own 'rock pool' with this fun motor skills learning craft activity.

Can you guess the correct meaning of these words? A vocab lesson from my moony son

Anthony makes great observations. His latest one made me smile. He looked up at the afternoon sky and said "I can see the moon - in the day! It is very bright, yes, it's very moony this afternoon."

The intuition of additional needs siblings

Sometimes I'm amazed by my kids.  Anthony's acceptance of himself as a child who is autistic and has a diagnosis of ADHD; David's ability to find happiness in the smallest of moments.  Then there is the times I'm brought to tears by an interaction I never thought possible; the first time my two boys actually communicated and spoke to one another.  It was just a word.  It was brilliant.   Most of the time I'm very aware that I need to be around for these things to happen.  How could Anthony and David cope without me?  Of course, I should know better.

The first time one son spoke to the other

David had his birthday recently.  He turned seven years old.  But unlike most other seven year olds he didn't say 'thank you' for his gifts or talk endlessly to his Nana & Papa on the phone about his big day. That's because David is autistic and what we describe as pre-verbal.  Basically put, David doesn't really talk.

When medication costs

No one wants to have to medicate their child. No one wants to medicate their child if they could do something else.  And certainly no one wants to use medication on their child that doesn't work well especially if it's because it's cheap.

Moving up in education for my autistic kids

We are in the midst of school visits.  Anthony will soon be leaving primary school and heading to secondary school.  Through school, as a child with autism and ADHD, Anthony has had some support to help him.

WonderfulWednesday: WorldToiletDay

Every week the wonderful people at The Makaton Charity share a sign of the week through their #wetalkmakaton initiative. I think it's often a great way of raising awareness of much more than just communication needs.

My boy was afraid of his own mummy costume

It seems we've had several occasions for dressing up recently.  School theme days, assemblies and the odd party has meant pulling out the sewing kit or creating paper mâché masks.  On this occasion Anthony dressed as an Egyptian Mummy.  But not after some commotion that reminds me he's still a vulnerable young lad.

Autumn fruits motor-skills home made stencil painting activity

It's not yet properly cold and wet and if you look around you'll be able to spot some of the last fruits of the year.  Jane says it's a beautiful time of the year with all the autumn colours too.  Fruit picking is a great motor skill in itself.  But if there aren't many to pick where you are or you just want to have some fun at home then this easy to make stamp painting activity is good for motor skills and learning about fruit at this time of the year.

Piratey phonics fun in the park

I can't really believe Jane is starting school. But there is no doubt she is ready for it. Perhaps having two older brothers has encouraged her but there is no doubt she is a girl that enjoys learning. When Jane and I were walking around a park this week, we played our stick letter game.  It all came about when one day she found an 'rrrrrrr stick letter'.  And then had fun looking for letters and sounds as an impromtu activity that you can try too.