So Many Specialists - So Little Time.

Someone recently asked me where we find the time to fit in all the specialists that we see. Well, over the years there have been a lot.
Some we now see only once or twice a year, but in the early days we would have up to five appointments a week.
Add this to caring for a child with a condition you knew nothing about before, as well as the other kids, and lo and behold, Qasim became my full time job!
That's probably why it can be hard to let go a bit now. I'm all for teaching him to be independent, but when he has been totally dependent on you for seven years it can be hard to step back!

Yes I can be overprotective, yes I can make great excuses and really sound logical arguments as to why we shouldn't do X Y or Z. But at the end of the day, when you have an OI child, you are there to protect them, care for them and help them along the way.

But you are also there to teach them to do things for themselves. To show them that they can do the same things as their friends, just a little bit differently.
Because I won't be here for him forever - and sooner or later he has to take his own steps out into the big wide world alone.

I hope that he wouldn't want me tagging along with him to college, or high school, however hard and nerve wrecking it will be for us both!

It's been a long time......

It has, hasn't it!
We have had soo many things happen.
Qasim is no longer a fox, he changed schools and is now a hedgehog.
We had a fantastic sports day at his old infant school, an amazing leavers concert, a very teary last day. But we made some life long friends, met some wonderful people and learnt a lot about where not to go to junior school!

Yes, we had a major upset were the proposed junior school where we were going to showed us just how incapable they were when it came to dealing with a child who had special needs. And then showed us how aggressive they could be when we decided it was not the place to be.
It also showed us how great the level of care at his infant school was.
Well, it looks like the new school has a lot to live up to.
I hope they're up for the challenge.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

How long has it been??  Tooo long!!
Life has caught up with us yet again!
So what has been happening since September?

Well, Qasim is full time in school, and absolutely loves it.  His class is called the Foxes, and he loves being a fox - he has so many friends now, which for a child with moderate autism would have been unthinkable this time last year.
He has some brill teachers who have really helped him settle in.
The only down side to this is Qasim is going to have to leave this school, and start another one in September. The little man will be leaving infant school and going up to junior school.
If only we could take his whole class (building, teachers and all) along to junior school with him, that would be great. but we have to have a whole new environment, new teachers, new everything to get used to again :-((

We have had Wishbone Day earlier this month as well. The whole school wore Yellow in support of Wishbone Day, to raise money which was fantastic. We have some cracking photos of his teachers dressed as bananas, and Spongebobs. Someone was dressed as a Crayon, but I missed it - hopefully I can find them from somewhere.

Oh and how could I have forgotten - Qasim is a big brother again. Baby Zak was born in April, so it's all been busy busy. No wonder we haven't updated for a while.

And whats next??
SPORTS DAY - I am super excited - more than Qasim I reckon.
I can't wait to see what he does.
So keep watching, more updates on the way, we promise!

Now, if I can just find something to bribe his school with to keep him there another year..................