Fortnite guilt

Anthony is a nearly ten year old boy with autism who has never told a lie, ever. The 'best' he's done is go silent when asked something he doesn't want to admit to. So, obviously, this doesn't mean he has never done anything wrong. And it doesn't mean that he's never felt guilty either.  The latest guilt came games.  Well just one really, a game of Fortnite.

I love my son's laugh

A laugh, a 'spontaneous sound and movement of the face and body that are an instinctive expression of lively amusement'.  Surely a good thing.  If you've got kids, do you remember the gorgeous feeling you had when your baby laughed?  Who remembers a time when they laughed so hard it hurt?  What if laughing out loud hurt you in a much worse way?

What our dog did for our family

It's coming up to my birthday next week. I'll be one year short of 40 years old in a few days. It's fair to say I've not looked forward to my birthday for the last few years. It's nothing to do with being nearly four decades old though. A few years ago, on my birthday, our dog suddenly became sick. I took him to the vet that night, and a few days later, he died.

A birthday party with autistic siblings

It's not unusual for autistic kids to miss out on the whole birthday party scene.  Even the loudest and little five year old can feel overwhelmed with the new chaos and general attack on the senses that is a kids birthday party.   But that doesn't mean they should miss out, especially when it's their siblings birthday.

Why I'm still hanging around on street corners (with my autistic son)

I spent more than a few minutes in the last few years hanging around on street corners. And all because it's one of the places our son David, who is autistic, engages with written words. 

How to prepare kids with autism to move home

We've just had new neighbours move in next door.  They are a young family and it's fair to say the move in took a long time.  We moved here just before Jane's first birthday.  In fact we were lucky to have sun on her birthday so we could have her party in the garden as the house was still in turmoil. Looking back the boys did really well with it all.   All kids can find change difficult, but with two autistic kids, what did we do to help them with this massive alteration to life as they knew it?

Cherished Charity: Happy Mail via @MyLittlePreemie

This week I'm continuing my latest blogging series called Cherished Charities. I was at a local Mayor's event when someone from another charity said, "No one has really heard of us unless they need us, it's so hard to raise funds."  So I thought I'd create a small opportunity for people to share the charities important to them here.  And I this week it's from Becca who writes at My Little Preemie. 

Helping our ADHD son focus on his homework

It may be the Easter break but that doesn't mean learning stops.  There's all the everyday learning when you go to the park and do activities at home of course.  And then there's also homework that's got to be done too.

Sometimes things are too much, or too beautiful for my autistic son

Our kids find the holidays quite difficult. Anthony in particular struggles and says "I don't know what I can do.." quite a lot. It's not for most kids who get bored, it's because he struggles to focus and make decisions. It's part of having autism and ADHD.