Living with Autism

From The Irish Daily Mail - "You" magazine, October 29th 2011.
A few corrections: The kids were in state autism schools from 2002-2008 and I ran an after school ABA program with Saplings Tutors. In 2008 first Liam, then Grace were accepted into Saplings Rathfarnham where we started playing around with the iPhone as a communication device.
While O2 supported our development process and donated 6 iPhones, Steve was totally responsible for coding and listing the App on iTunes where it was approved on March 11th 2011.
And if you can collect 85 old mobiles you can trade them in for an iPod Touch Gen 4. (not an iPhone)
If you collect more you can even get an iPad - go here to get involved.h

I need a Dollar Dollar, a dollar euro is what I need...

This is our Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) Enda Kenny and yours truly. I had just asked him for a few billion euros....
Nah, not really. I had just been awarded the Elevate program by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland which will give me up to €35,000 of mentoring and structured business support and I thought I would grab a pic with our gracious leader.
The three main winners of the Impact awards are to share in €600,000 of grants and structured support and the Taoiseach made a point of how inspiring they are in their respective fields.
Congratulations from me to the lovely (really lovely) Sean Love of Fighting Words Creative Writing Centres. Niamh and Michelle from Women for Election  (kicking unequal representation's arse)  and  Micheal Kelly of Grow it Yourself whose speech made me want to go out and build a plastic tunnel in my backyard and start growing Bok Choi.

I also have to share with you the amazing work of Dara Hogan of…

I was terribly sad to hear of the passing of Steve Jobs; before you ask - yes, I read about it on Twitter, on my iPad as I was having my first coffee of the day.
Yup, I'm an Apple Fangirl but unlike the many others who took a bite of Apple Artistry and found they wanted more, I came to iWorld by a different route.

You see I am the mother of 2 autistic children who have both had severely delayed communication and as a result, extreme behavioural challenges in their lives.
Both eventually learned to communicate their needs using "pecs" which stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. To put it simply; when someone is not talking they often develop other techniques for getting what they want. They might start by leading you to the fridge or cupboard to get them a drink or snack, but if they can't get your attention they can try grabbing, dragging, pulling hair or biting you or themselves. Your natural reaction to quickly get what they want reinforces the negati…

Without Steve Jobs, Gracie might not be calling me Mummy. He truly changed our lives. Rest in Peace Steve, we will miss you. xx

Women Mean Business made me their 2011 "Big Idea" Award Winner for Grace App Communication.
Women Mean Business is a magazine for business women in Ireland and the event held at the Shelbourne Hotel - very nice; was attended by some real movers and shakers in industry.

My super friend, the lovely "Mrs Doyle" collected the award at 2:30 pm and gave a lovely speech on my behalf - while I queued to get off our Aer Lingus flight at T2 Dublin.

But Mr Hammie rushed me to the Shelbourne where I caught the second half of Dragon's Den Hilary's keynote to the Women who Mean Business.

I had tea afterwards with Mrs Doyle (of course, Tea Tea Tea!) and a lovely catch up. Lovely goody bags too. Will post links etc later but for now, thank you all xx

We are going home tomorrow, after 3 weeks of rest and relaxation. Grace is delighted to see the suitcases, Liam is looking forward to seeing his favourite tutors at Saplings. Me? I could live here. For another month at least..


Zoom in for a look at a rasta guy with a rasta dreadlocked dog. Seriously.

Using the front facing camera without my reading glasses. Holiday hair. Nice. 



Ever so kooky cat lady and husband. The cats all came running from everywhere when she arrived. 


Very nice husband with beer in Rustica Italian Restaurant on Carabeo - which overlooks the Balcon. Nice nephew was babysitting back at Casa Roberta.