Living with Autism

I will be there in all my Smumpreneur glory - (Special Needs Mum-Entreprenuer) on Stand D5 in the "Communication Matters" Zone.
Entry is only £12 (cheaper if you book in advance)
There are a lot of safe, fun activities to do WITH your autistic kids - and the fun starts on the Docklands Light Railway - on the Friday at least.

If you are a member of the National Autistic Society you probably know about this already - So please share it with all your friends in the U.K and tell them to come and meet me. I'd love you to link to me in your blogs, facebooks and tweets as much as possible too. This is a really big deal for me to be showing at a major Trade Show for the first time, and I want to meet as many people as possible to spread the word about Grace App.

Hope to see you there, Love Lisa xx

Mea Culpa

Remember my Steps to being a special needs parent? - recently I had cause to return to the theme and examine the following. As usual they all look kind of the same:

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

For years now I would have been in the camp of wanting everyone else to make amends to me. Sorry but when you find out you have not one, but TWO kids with intensive behavioural needs you very quickly find out who you can count on and who will spectacularly and hurtfully let you down.


After 10 years - I have learned to let go of some of that feeling. 
Some of the people have apologised.
Some of the people have made up for it in other ways.
I guess some of them have realised what a selfish mongrel they were when they had their own childre…

At this time of year you might be lucky enough to be planning a holiday. And some of you, thanks to a negative experience in the past might be having trepidations - I have some advice that might make it easier and more enjoyable for everyone.


Firstly, don't feel you have to stay home. Because if it rains for 10 of the 14 days you have booked, you may find yourself cooped up in a holiday house with no broadband, no cable and the prospect of hanging around the local Supermarket for entertainment.

D'amusements do not work for people with high sensory needs, and they are expensive anyway. And Long walks in the Rain followed by an Irish Coffee in a local pub are for romantic weekends away. Not a family of 4 with no clothes dryer.


So take my advice and go somewhere sunny for your holidays. And fly!



1. Two Words: SELF CATER!


You will all be much happier. Where I come from, Full Board is something that you surf on at the beach, so I find it perplexing to hear anyone complaining about tak…

Remember my Steps to being a special needs parent? - recently I had cause to return to the theme and examine the following. As usual they all look kind of the same:
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 
For years now I would have been in the camp of wanting everyone else to make amends to me. Sorry but when you find out you have not one, but TWO kids with intensive behavioural needs you very quickly find out who you can count on and who will spectacularly and hurtfully let you down.

After 10 years - I have learned to let go of some of that feeling.  Some of the people have apologised.  Some of the people have made up for it in other ways.  I guess some of them have realised what a selfish mongrel they were when they had their own children and reali…

and the winner of the Mr Thorne Does Phonics iPad App review code is Cynthia. The icons were allocated in the comments on the previous post. Video uploaded live to Facebook. I did not have the attention span to install a randomizer widget - so I hope this unscientific method suffices!

Everyone else - buy the app! its brill.

xx

Many people are surprised to find that both my kids can read. Yes, they are autistic as the day is long but Liam has been reading, AND comprehending what he reads since he was 3.

One of Liam's favourite games when he was little was reciting the alphabet; As a Hanen exercise he would give me eye contact in return for me saying each letter. He also loved to request that I draw an animal for each letter and as a result I think I know every animal in the world that starts or includes the letter X!
When he began using picture exchange I had to make a card to represent the word "Zoo" as we were going there on a "lets stimulate some language" trip. As you can see my drawing of a lion in a cage was so bad that I knew he couldn't tell what it was - but the first time I showed it to him, he very clearly said "ZOO" - and I knew he could read.

I can also tell that Gracie knows the order of letters in the word "Elmo" and how to type them into a searc…

Day one and the first thing I heard was Liam asking for the vacuum cleaner - never a good start to the day as it means there is a huge mess in the kitchen.
However, knowing I could have a quick coffee before I had to tackle the mess I actually bounced down the stairs ready to face anything.


Including this ↑

 Ironically caused by this ↑ The little coffee pod I left out last night ready for my first cup. Alanis Morrisett couldn't write this.

Thankfully the lovely Sandra at Nespresso's PR packed a selection of extra pods for the mother of the Teenage Boy (In the background preparing his next mess)

But fortified by this - I was able to clean up calmly without any fuss. Important when you are facing into a long day of 2 autistic kids vs one parent.

The machine is a Krupps Pixie with 19 bars of pressure. The coffees are going to be a choice of these:


Gotta love a drink that comes with a colour chart like a box of choccies!


Today I had an Arpeggio - intense and creamy but a bit cold becaus…