-
Child with autism – adapting to the diagnosis
I don’t remember knowing the word autism until I was well into my teenage years. There would be the occasional documentary on the telly that featured children with remarkable artistic talents. Of course, that is not the real story about the autistic spectrum at all. My daughter is autistic and my son has autistic traits according to his special needs reports from school, We home educate my daughter as she was not well served by a school environment. Every child with autism is different just like ever child who is not on the spectrum. I am grateful to Sophie who has shared her experiences of parenting a child with autism.…
-
“Am I a carer?” – how to work out if you are
As our lives change and people around us become older, ill or disabled, we can find ourselves asking ourselves “Am I a carer?” I have worked with people who are looking after others in my career as an advice worker in the community and online helping them with issues such as welfare benefits and access to NHS funded nursing care. It is interesting that so few people are happy to define themselves as carers. It might be that we don’t like labels or that the term is unfamiliar to us. I think perhaps it is because carers are so used to looking after other people that anything that might mean they…
-
Home education guilt – a mum’s tale
Home education guilt is something that haunts me on days like today. I got up in a great mood but there was loads of housework to be done after a busy weekend. So as the children were happily doing their own thing including gaming and art, I prioritised cleaning and tidying the house. We had a leak at the weekend too so there was the mess from that to contend with too. My good mood remained and I felt I was on a roll and would do some positive home education come the afternoon. Then our landlord announced he wants to do a house inspection this weekend. I hate the…
-
Reasons I struggle with home education
I want to write about the reasons I struggle with home education because it will stop the thoughts and feelings whirring in my head so much. I am not against home education but I really struggle on almost a daily basis so I want to share the reasons why that is the case. It wasn’t my choice I am freedom-loving by nature and I did not choose home education as such. It chose me when my daughter was bullied by pupils and her Head Teacher. I was interested in home educating when I became a mother but my husband ruled it out so I went down the traditional route placing…
-
My daughter is autistic and that’s OK
My daughter is autistic and that’s OK. First and foremost she is my amazing child and I love her. This is one of those blog posts which I start not quite knowing how I will end but that’s fine too. When my daughter was born, the major thing that nobody mentioned initially that was she had super red cheeks. I doubt this had any connection to autism but I think it is interesting how often people don’t say presumably for fear of upsetting the mum. That has its advantages and its disadvantages too. My daughter was very late to walk and had real struggles with bed-wetting well into childhood. In…
