Aidan...

[Jill Bayles]

Has just received another award at school...this time for writing a story that was properly structured and punctuated...first time he's managed it! Hurray!

I was invited into school this morning to read it by the Head Honcho, Mrs Dixon. It's all about Thomas The Tank Engine...I'm sure he'd have written about Hammy if he'd had the chance but the topic was given to the children by the Teacher.

So that's another treat Aidan gains this weekend...I've booked him a quad biking lesson as a surprise as he got a quad bike for Christmas and hasn't been on it yet, and that will take place on Sunday 25 February. Then when he's got the hang of it he can join the Kids Club and ride out on a purpose-built track with supervision.

Aidan wants to join a dancing class and his old teacher has suggested that he attends the after-school dancing club for a couple of sessions to see how he gets on. Then hopefully he will attend a local dancing school run by the daughter of one of his Helpers at school. He already knows her as she has connections with the school through sessions that she takes there so that is useful as he has difficulty settling with strangers.

It's great having some activities in the pipeline as Aidan can be quite lazy at times and much prefers being in my company so this will all help to get him used to being away from me all the time.

And of course now that Hammy is with us he's got another interest and I do find that he is spending more time with Hammy than with me so it's all good!

So once again Aidan has made me a very proud mum and I'm pleased that he's making good progress at school.

It's school holidays here next week and Aidan has chosen to attend his after-school club all week so that he can participate in the various activities and trips that have been arranged for the children, which means that he'll be mixing rather than spending all week hanging round my knees! All good for developing his social and communication skills of course.

Well I'd best go now and get back to domesticity...Friday is housework day for me

[SnuggleHam]

Tell Aiden Congratulations from Snuggleham on hamster central for his great work in school

[Jill Bayles]

Originally Posted by SnuggleHam

Tell Aiden Congratulations from Snuggleham on hamster central for his great work in school

I certainly will Snuggleham

We work on the basis of rewards for good behaviour, both at home and at school and I find that it works a treat with Aidan...he is currently being assessed for Asperger's Syndrome (high-functioning autism) which means that he's really high maintenance but the more I learn the easier it gets and he has classroom support in school and we have access to a good paediatrician and his SENCO who have taught me a lot...I work in tandem with the professionals and he's progressed a great deal over the last year. Thankfully there is no great rush to label him in the hope that he "grows out of it"..."it" being behavioural difficulties and a tendency to disrupt in certain environments eg class.

It's only natural for any mum to be proud of her offspring's achievements but I suppose I'm more so, given our family situation...thankfully there are more positives than negatives these days and that's why I call Aidan my "little sunshine boy" because it used to be "all doom and gloom"

[babyboos]

Well done Aiden
I hope you enjoy dancing and have a great time on your bike

[Jill Bayles]

Another proud moment today...received a letter advising me that Aidan has had another piece of his work done at after-school club selected for publication in a book. He's on a roll I think!

At this rate I'll be bankrupt!

We went to Toys R Us yesterday so that he could choose his treat for his good schoolwork and he chose a Magnetix kit, which wasn't that expensive in the general scheme of things so last night he was busy creating models.

This afternoon I'm going shopping for a tumble dryer...wish me luck folks...I'll have a headache by teatime I'm sure...so many to choose from that I don't know where to start.

I'll have to have one sorted by the weekend though so best get my best foot forward...spit spot and all that

[babyboos]

oh I hate buying electrical goods
you always find it cheaper a few days later
or it arrives and breaks down within hours!

hope you have better luck than me

[souffle]

Well done Aiden. We all have gifts in different forms and you are obviously a much loved and talented lad! Keep up the good work