YAY! It's the summer holidays!

Jordan is thrilled that the long-awaited holidays are upon us. He has a busy schedule involving checking out his favourite YouTube clips: he particularly recommends Little Shop Of Horrors, Hey Baby by DJ Otzi, The Last Unicorn and fave Elton John songs. He's also busy collating what he has and hasn't got on video and DVD. Any suggestion from mama that a little swimming trip might be in order was met with a firm refusal as he has taken a 'no-shoes' vow for the duration.

So, determined to get him to do SOMETHING that I think is important, I have a cunning plan to photocopy the titles of some of his favourite videos and see if he can recognise the words without the pictures.

Creature Discomforts

The charity Leonard Cheshire Trust has launched a series of animations to challenge perceptions of disability. You can find more here at YouTube. Enjoy!

My people will call your people

For a young man with autism, SLD and speech problems, Jordan is sometimes quite keen to communicate with others, but only when the subject is his favourite Disney film (currently Pete's Dragon) or a subject of his choosing (currently any other film with a Pete in it, like Peter Pan or O Brother Where Art thou?) or any real life Pete (a former friendly school bus driver). I'm sure you can see a theme here.

Jordan's dad having to work today, I decide to take a quick bath. The phone rang and I assumed that it would go to answerphone as Jordan finds it fiddly to answer with one hand. Imagine my surprise when he brought it upstairs to me, chatting away with one of my husband's clients (and it wasn't about Pete - any of them!) I duly praised him and nearly got my ribs broken in an almighty hug. All very positive.

My brother rang for a chat later. Jordan beat me to the receiver, pressed the right button and said 'Hello, Uncle Ralph, what can I do for you?'

How I do love a big step forward.

DISCLAIMER: The glass of wine was left out from last night!

Sports Day

Yesterday was Jordan's school sports day.

An event hitherto marked by him lying on the grass proclaiming 'I'm cold and I'm bored and I want to go home!' Trust me, he can keep this up for HOURS. A performance usually inspired by the fact that I had dared to turn up.

However yesterday he participated in the potato and spoon race, the relay and the long jump. Jordan and his fellow students were well-supported by staff and the lovely pupils of Dulwich College. And it didn't rain! A splendid time was had by all.

he's had his hair done and now he can't do a thing with it...

As the boy was beginning to resemble the Wild Man Of Borneo, I girded my loins yesterday and informed him, in no uncertain terms, that it was time for a shave and a haircut (do feel free to shout 'two bits!' ). The consumption of chicken and pasta was not to happen until such sartorial processes had taken place. He went into an almighty sulk but grudgingly agreed. I emerged triumphant from the fray. I'd cut myself with the scissors, he'd sworn vilely at me (language not fit for channel 4) and the amount of removed hair would stuff a mattress. This took three hours! How Vidal Sassoon does it, I'll never know. He probably gets more cooperative clients.

After all that, in the afternoon, Jordan decided to shave his head because he wanted to look like Uncle Fester out of The Addams Family. Sigh.

Eye eye!

Jordan had an eye test (our first successful one in 17 years!) to investigate the possibility of hemianopia. They couldn't be absolutely conclusive because ordinarily eye drops to dilate the pupils would be the way to go. Owing to Jordan's predilection for screaming and hanging off light fittings at the drop of a hat, we decided not to go that route. It was refreshing to be treated by people who appreciated that Jordan wouldn't recognise letters, so symbols were used instead.

To cut a long story short, they thought that his vision was fine and that his head tilting was more due to his physical asymmetry.
Done and dusted by 11 am and then we got the hell out of Dodge.

"I'm back!"

...which is how our little soldier greeted us last Thursday as he emerged, bronzed and smiling from the coach.

His school were brilliant, as they had kept a diary and compiled photos of activities that the students undertook all the way along to bring home to parents.

Jordan swam, walked up the slopes of a volcano, made a new best friend, ate out in restaurants, haggled in markets, did indeed ride a camel and lie about on the beach. Now that's what I call a holiday!

It could be a function of his autism but he didn't miss us at all while he was there which is a good thing, I think. His father and I suffered far more from his absence. We went to Dublin for a couple of days. Time slows right down without the boy.