How being literal can bring real amusement
We ended up on the hard shoulder so I could let him look down my throat and see for himself that there was no frog down there.
Special Needs Minefield
Sometimes just coping is enough
I hadn’t considered that perhaps there was more going on with my child and that they were perhaps just holding their head above water, kicking frantically below the surface to stay above water, but giving the impression that everything was fine.
4 things Animal Crossing New Leaf is helping my son with ASD to understand
My eldest son has autism. He finds the rules of social interaction challenging, to say the least. Animal Crossing is helping us hugely with social interaction, finance, responsibility, dressing, thinking about other people and shopping.
How removing uncertainty helps us to be happier in the world of SEN
As you will have probably guessed by now, I am an avid reader. I love all types of books. General fiction, murder mystery, thriller, romance, adult romance (Yes, I know Mr Grey) and the classics. I am also a huge fan of personal development books. Brene Brown, Gretchen Rubin, Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield,…
Changing the plan, not the goal
What is normal? There is the thought that normal is just a setting on a washing machine or tumble drier, that no one has a normal life. Most of the time I subscribe to that thought. I can often be heard saying “but this is normal to us”, usually at the little things that really…
Are you gonna spend your day down in the dirt?
As I write this, it is the morning of Friday 8th March, 2015. The day after the General Election. The day we realised that we are highly likely to have a Conservative Government for the next five years. The day Esther McVey lost her seat The day Ed Timpson kept his seat The day Norman…
When Debs met Andy Burnham at Radio 5 Live
Last week, I was invited by Radio 5 Live to be part of their “Your Call” hour. This time it was to be part of a panel of “the public” interviewing Andy Burnham before the big day tomorrow. This was a much more formal set up than the last time I was on the show….
Do you ever just feel tired of it all?
Like many of us, I have children who believe that sleeping through the night is just an urban myth. Oh the joy of having to cope with a full day of paperwork or appointments when you have had a few hours split sleep. Sleep deprivation is torturous, as you know, but I think my body has…
What does Participation look like as a diagram?
As I sat scrolling through Twitter a few weeks ago, I came across a conversation that set me thinking. Kath Evans (Head of Patient Experience at NHS England) was asking if people preferred an image showing “the ladder of participation” or “the circle of involvement”. Circle, Ladder or Venn? Initially I sat and thought “definitely…
I have a dream
On St George’s Day, as we approach the next General Election, I wanted to remind us of the awe-inspiring speech by the Rev Dr Martin Luther King on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. One person with a dream can make a difference…