⭐A Parent Carer Journey from Francesca⭐
My little guy’s name is Freddie – a name which is probably very, very well known in our local area 🤣
There’s so much that can be said about him…there genuinely isn’t the word capacity on Facebook!
He was ill within hours after birth and needed to stay in hospital on medication for the first few days. His development from that point was pretty on track until around 20 months. He had a bad ear infection and it felt as if we lost him almost overnight. He completely retracted into himself, lost speech, eye contact, happiness and fell into the world of Autism. Life was very rocky for a while with little to no support or guidance to help us through. In the arms of Springboard, we found our feet a little and began tracking a path for him.
Over the last few years other diagnoses fell into place. Autism, Learning Disabilities, Sensory Processing Disorder, Play Disorder, Speech & Language Disorder and suspected ADHD. He is also non-speaking so we rely on PECs which has helped him have a voice that he so deserves. Of course with all these conflicting additional needs, comes a lot of anxiety which I feel is one of his hardest challenges.
His path is not easy but he’s pretty happy chucking himself at it! He absolutely adores scooting, climbing, running, swimming, baking cakes, caravan holidays plus Dennis the Menace, Beano Comics and his absolute idol is Horrid Henry. He always has lots of grand plans (as we call them)!!
We are lucky to have an amazing Personal Assistant who treasures Freddie for the nutcracker that he is which enables us to have 121 time with our 10-year-old daughter who has aged far beyond her years adjusting to this unexpected life.
If I could offer any advice to parent carers, it would be to try find the positives in each day and find other people that just get it and don’t even need to ask what has happened – they just shove a cup of coffee at you and a biscuit and are simply there….💗
It's made me a far better person and opened my eyes to the vulnerabilities of our children and young people plus the tremendous strength they have to battle on each day (according to Freddie this should be achieved just wearing a pair of pants & having cake for breakfast🤷)
Written May 2024