“Our son J is three years old. He’s a little firecracker with a vibrant personality and he loves to play with toy cars, trains, planes, rockets, duplo and puzzles. He also loves water play so washing hands turns into lots of fun with water everywhere!
J is autistic and has sensory processing difficulties. He has also been diagnosed with ARFID which means he does not eat and meal times can become difficult due to the sensory element of it. It also disrupts his sleep – as he doesn’t get enough nutrition during the day he needs milk during the night.
Cerebra’s Sleep Service was recommended to me during a visit to the paediatricians, as I desperately needed some support with J’s sleep. The sleep team have been fantastic, really easy to talk to and they understood the issues I was dealing with. Just speaking to someone who listened was worth the world. Because of J’s current need for nutrition during the night, there is a limit to the things we can try. Once he no longer needs his night time milk I know the team are there with lots of support and strategies to help him sleep better and that’s reassuring to know.
When I was looking for sleep advice on Cerebra’s website, I came across the Library Service and couldn’t believe how amazing it was. When you’re a parent there are so many emotions involved when you’re looking for information. You can spend a lot of time searching on line and end up going down rabbit holes, it can become very confusing and frustrating.
Cerebra’s library catalogue is great because everything is so clearly categorised – you can easily see what’s available and find things that are helpful. We’ve borrowed books for ourselves so that we can learn more about how best to help J and we’ve also borrowed books to read with him, so that he can understand his world better. It’s also helped us to identify which titles are particularly useful so that we can buy and keep them for future reference.
J is currently making the transition to pre-school which is bringing a new set of challenges into our lives. I sometimes feel that as a parent to a child with additional needs my life revolves around administration and paperwork. There are so many forms to fill in and so many hoops to jump through just to get him the right support. That’s why Cerebra has been such a help – everything is easy to find and the support has been brilliant.
Our contact with Cerebra has helped us to learn, evolve and grow as a family. It’s helped us to feel connected to others and that we aren’t alone and help is out there. Thank you”.
