Looking back over the year of our autistic, ADHD and neurotypical family

Another year passed and what has happened. Here I remind myself of the top posts and parts of our lives with our autistic and neurotypical family from the last twelve months.  I hope it's been a good year for you, here's ours.

Spring - To my autistic son as he begins his SATS

Earlier this year Anthony took his Year 6 SATS.  We helped him prepare for them of course but this post says everything that should be good about education.  About valuing more than just grades and growing each individual to help them be their best... them.

Read about this in our post from the Spring.

Summer - How we took our pre-verbal autistic son ziplining across the Canadian Rockies

We had an absolutely amazing summer. I can't even begin to say how much it was the highlight of our year.  We went to San Francisco and Yosemite in California and the kids were amazing. But I think the highlight of the trip was how our kids coped and managed to enjoy themselves. We took our autistic and neurotypical family on some real adventures.

To many who know him, the idea of taking our eight year old autistic son zip lining, never mind zip lining across waterfalls and canyons, could seem crazy. But I know David. I knew he would absolutely love zip lining if we could get him to do it. Read about how we helped our amazing son zip line not only in the forests of Maui but across the Canadian Rockies.

Autumn - For the first time in his life, he didn't cry about going back to school

In September I wrote a post about Anthony going to back to school - or more accurately starting his new secondary school.  My son Anthony had been going to school for seven years. After each holiday he cried several times a day, several days before his first day back at school. Let's just say half of Christmas was miserable for him.

Sometimes I'd think it would pass or that we were going to be OK with it. Sometimes I'd cry with him, because he'd say something about going back that would just hit me in the chest. "I hate the way I feel at school."

Since he was eight years old, we’ve been looking at and trying to get him into another, more suitable school. In September he was going to start a new school, and from his first day, it completed changed his outlook on his life. Please read about the importance of the right type of school in this post.

Late Winter - Why we will be extra excited about the Strictly Come Dancing Final 

It's been years since I followed Strictly Come Dancing properly. I watched a few series but there's so much on TV nowadays and we honestly usually only make time to watch sports live. That was until about two month ago, and since then we've seen something special happen in our autistic and neurotypical family because of watching Strictly together and listening to the songs.

If you want one of those special heart-warming posts - this is the one.

Well that's our summary.  I hope you've enjoyed our sharing this year.  We're in the midst of some pretty tough stuff at the moment, but we're doing our best to bring you our stories and offer support.  All the best for 2020.  xxxxx