Monday 20 December 2010

December is a Waity Month!

So it's true, December is a waity month. Not only because we've been waiting for Christmas! For us December has been a lot more waity than that.

We've been waiting the last 6 weeks for the local education authority to make a decision about whether or not to assess Sam for his special educational needs. Well today (on the last day they had for us to receive it) we got a letter finally from them saying they were going ahead with the assessment. We are relieved and so happy about this. Hopefully this will lead to Sam having a statement in place for when he starts primary school next year. I will be interested as well to hear what an educational psychologist thinks of him too, hopefully that visit should be arranged straight after the Christmas holidays.

We've also been waiting for Sam's official diagnosis. He was due to be discussed by the multi agency team on the 15th December but I've heard nothing about it yet. Someone mentioned to me that he was first on the list so there was no reason for him not to have gotten his diagnosis but we'll have to wait for the letter from the paediatrician! More waiting!! At the moment I am happily plodding on, but I'm sure it will hit me once I see it in black and white. I have to remember that Sam is still Sam, he is a happy, energetic, loving little boy regardless of his autism.

We have also made some rather large life changes and are waiting on those as well this month. We decided to open a cake shop and work for ourselves. This will hopefully lead to a more flexible family life and when you have a child with disabilities this is soooo helpful! We are underway getting things ready and will hopefully open after New Year sometime!

Finally, just wanted to share a nice outing with you that we had the other day. We were invited to go on the 'Santa' train at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway. The boys had a great time. Although Sam doesn't really 'get' trains, he loves the movement and the fact that you can look out a window without being strapped in a seatbelt. William was much more fidgety but both boys did really well considering the journey was an hour and a half. They also got a present from Father Christmas which although they weren't bothered with them at the time, they've been playing with the toys ever since! It was nice to know from my point of view that we could still go out and have 'family time'. It did help that no one batted an eye at Sam's flapping and shouting as the rest of the carriage (and 2 more besides) were full of other disabled children and their families! If anymore train events come up we're going!