Category Archives: autism

iPads for kids with learning difficulties

MP visits Hackney primary school for launch of new learning scheme

 

DIANE ABBOTT visited a primary school to help launch a new scheme in London which will give iPads to children with learning disabilities.

The MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington, attended Grasmere Primary School in Hackney, east London last week Friday (December 6) to raise awareness of the project.

The initiative is the brainchild of Hearts & Minds Challenge – a charity dedicated to helping families of children with autism.

By donating old mobile phones to the charity, they can go towards an exchange for an iPad. The charity needs to collect at least 185 old, broken, damaged or unwanted mobile phones in exchange for a brand new iPad with autism-friendly apps and features.

Grasmere Primary School is well known for its inclusivity for children with complex special educational needs and its close working relationship with external professionals supporting children.

Families fear respite care cuts

Big issue: Families fear respite care cuts

Warwickshire County Council plans to cut £1.7m from its budget could leave carers at breaking point, reports Mary Griffin

 
Rebecca Page from Priors Marston and her daughter Aleisha Page, who suffers from autism

“My whole world revolves around Aleisha,” says Rebecca Page. “It has to.”

Rebecca’s life plan has changed dramatically since her daughter Aleisha was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of three.

Seven years on, Aleisha is never left alone, needing one-to-one attention 24 hours a day.

Rebecca, who lives near Southam and left her career as a specialist teacher to become a full-time mum, says: “She headbangs until she’s stopped, she kicks and punches and she is extremely active, climbing up furniture.

“She’s a physically fit 10-year-old who functions somewhere between a baby and a two-and-a-half-year-old.

“She has no language but communicates through Makaton (a system of signs and symbols).

“You can’t turn around from her to run a bath. If you’re not holding on to her she’s gone.

“I can only sleep when she sleeps and then it’s like sleeping with a newborn – that half-sleep where you’re always listening out.”

The Carer: ‘I dread the budget every year – we can’t take any more cutbacks’

Since the ‘Age of Austerity’ began, society’s most vulnerable have been hit hardest.

Today, Independent.ie spoke to mum-of-one Heather Hogan.

Heather is mother of teenager David (16).

Shortly after his birth, David was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

At the age of two, he was diagnosed with autism. In recent years, he has lost the sight in his left eye, with his remaining sight fading.

David needs care around the clock.