George is 7 years old. He is a whirlwind of happiness, he always has a smile on his face and leaves a happy trail in his wake. He loves the outdoors and in all weathers, the muddier the better in his eyes. He loves to run rather than walk anywhere so we have to be nimble in pursuit! He loves anything that spins and for a while his fascination was street sweepers and is still washing machines.
He was diagnosed with ASD when he was 3 years old and then ADHD when he was 6 years old. He has sensory processing difficulties and severe speech delay. He uses a combination of PECS, pictures, gestures and some words to communicate with us. He frequently struggles to go to sleep and wakes in the early hours. He attends a specialist school daily where he receives the upmost care and support for his needs.
Since George’s ASD diagnosis back in the middle of the COVID pandemic, we struggled to find the right help and advice. It seemed to be one long waiting list for one thing after another for courses and appointments to help get George the help he needed. Due to George’s speech delay, we struggled to find resources to help with non verbal children as most advice was geared towards verbal children and their good levels of understanding.
I first came across Cerebra back in 2022 and looked into their Library Book Resources, it was a lovely surprise – it was like opening a treasure chest! Since then I have borrowed many books and they have been so helpful in explaining things, general help and advice and ideas for further research for support for George. It’s great the way the Catalogue is categorised into different sections so it helps narrow down the topics.
Cerebra have helped us discover that we are not alone despite the many barriers we have faced, there is always a way to progress. A little bit of research and reading can go a long way. We take comfort from knowing that Cerebra will be there to help us with the next challenges, whatever they may be”.
