April the 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day and marks the beginning of Autism Awareness Week. Despite what Klout claims, I am not an expert on autism. I am not an expert at being a mum or parenting either – my children are three and one and I have so much further to go on… Read More
This isn’t a debate or a discussion. It’s not a judgement or an argument or an example that you should follow or learn by. It’s not a Jamie Oliver Campaign. It is just my experience. Experience should be shared because motherhood is difficult and confusing and is it only through sharing that it can feel… Read More
I recently returned to my profession of twelve years after my second period of maternity leave: English teaching. I am the mother of two tiny people, a girl, aged one and a boy, aged three. Parenthood is a job that requires us to give up almost all of our time and energy for the well-being… Read More
The language of disability can be difficult. Have you ever worried about how to refer to someone with one? Due to the anxiety that you might offend, have you, perhaps, avoided talking about it at all? I know I have. In recent post of mine ‘An apology to my autistic students’ , was received very well. In… Read More
In the dead, lonely hollow of midnight, my baby girl is screaming. She is feverish and blistered, baking in my arms. I pace and rock and shush…but still the screams come. She has been awake for hours, will be for hours more. At fourteen months, the nights she wakes and cries still outnumber the nights… Read More
Chances are, if you have had small children in the last ten years, you will have heard of Julia Donaldson. Her books, most famously ‘The Gruffalo’, have entertained both parents and children alike for nearly twenty years now. And for good reason. The stories are engaging, the illustrations, with several collaborators, are colourful and captivating,… Read More
It’s a small thing. So small. We had just returned from the shops and you were bundled up warm in your winter coat. I helped you take it off and off you skipped, into the living room. I continued to unpack the shopping and it was a few minutes before I followed you. And there… Read More
Our family outing this half-term was to Croome National Trust site, made up of Croome Court, the lakeside park and gardens, and the once-secret RAF Defford. We picked a beautifully bright but bitterly cold morning to visit; this made for spectacular scenery, resplendent skies and gorgeous photos – but very cold fingers and toes. The three… Read More
Half-term Revel in the sudden silence of peach-pink skies. Swim, hazy-eyed, through the vibrant globes of water-coloured evenings. Curl around the fluent curve of shoulder-blades, And drift in the warm, buzzing hollow of lavish sleep. Wine-soaked nights brim with the clinking of expectant glasses. The glowing piano spills out its sound in pools of… Read More
Frantically cleaning snotty eyes with baby wipes in the nursery car park. A dose of Calpol to reduce a slight temperature before you send them for the day. That little white lie that transforms a 36-hour vomit-free period, into 48. It’s the childcare hustle and, chances are, if you are a working parent to preschool… Read More
I am sorry. I am a good human being – a good teacher, I think. I listen, I learn, I strive to be better. I know it is a great responsibility to shape young minds, young opinions. I thought I knew what it means to teach a pupil with autism. But experience has given me something… Read More
This is an example of a fun task that you can do with slightly older children which is much easier to do than you might expect. I am by no means an expert myself, so this post should enable anyone to get started. There’s huge range and scope in the kind of thing you can… Read More