We are fundraising towards education, therapies and treatments. 

Autistic children who receive intensive, early intervention - both for education and health, are among those most likely to achieve an independent life.  Some autistic children are developing and overcoming symptoms to such an extent that they could be considered no longer autistic by conventional standards - but no one really knows why yet.  I do not see autism as something that should be ‘removed’ from Archie, or even a place he can be pulled ‘from’, more an inadequate label that gives us a clue about how he is processing the world – his perception and experience – if someone asked me to make my brain process the colour yellow differently - or feel love differently - I couldn’t do it, and it would be unreasonable to expect him to experience and perceive the world differently to suit me.  This means we research therapies and treatments, consider to the best of our ability, and pursue a ‘middle of the road’ approach.  Our focus is not trying to find a ‘cure’, but to enable Archie to access an independent and fulfilling life – just the same as any other child.  A view different from mine is not wrong, none of us know all the answers – and that’s all we know for sure!

We have done everything we can to get Archie the help he needs through the state systems - we have some help, but not enough.  We are in touch with some wonderful people, but all of them have staff shortages, budget shortfalls, delays and mountains of red tape - they seem to be losing sleep over this too!  We feel like we 'wasted' vital months on waiting lists and running around the county to get just 'snippets' of what he really deserves. 

Archie will be attending a local Special Needs unit in a mainstream school.  The scientific studies that have been completed so far regarding autistic children and their education support them receiving AT LEAST 25 hours per week intensive tailored education in the early years, most recommending 40 hours per week.  Early intensive education NOW is the best chance Archie has.  We are running a home based programme to 'top up' Archie's schooling.  We will be working with the support of Education Consultants – and the programme will be made to suit Archie, including:  Intensive interaction, Discrete trial work, sensory integration, behavioural training where appropriate, assisted play. 

We are also planning to take Archie to The States for an intensive week of therapy and education - a private course just for Archie, and to develop the skills of everyone in his family support group.  This is a very exciting opportunity – we will all be trained together and individually, his sister will also receive help in learning how to play and interact with him – and us as parents to support their interaction together.  We anticipate this will take place in May of 2008.

Health: Archie’s digestion and immune system are compromised, affecting the delivery of nutrition to his brain.  We are now working with the Autism Treatment Trust (a non-profit organisation), using non-invasive testing to discover what is happening in Archie’s system – we are tailoring his nutrition and supplementing his diet.  This is very expensive but necessary – when we discovered he was unable to digest gluten we removed it from his diet and the results were astounding (more information in Archie’s Story).  A few examples of the costs we are struggling to meet – between June and October 2006 it cost over £500 in supplements alone, more than £300 in specialist foods, £366 in Practitioner fees, £830 for tests, we also needed to fund equipment and sensory items such as a weighted blanket, books, materials, and make adaptations to our home – it was estimated recently that it costs £3M to raise an autistic child (gulp!)

We have a huge mountain to climb – to give Archie the help he really needs, and to give him a chance to live the independent and fulfilling life he deserves.

Every day we see Archie working hard to climb his mountain, and he inspires us to climb ours.