Last week we visited a garden centre near us, and as we were looking around, Penguin stopped at the owl doorstops pictured in the photo below. He looked across at me to make sure he had my attention, and then he said “ow” (which for a guy who doesn’t talk, is a pretty good approximation … More The Ability To Use Words Does Not Equal Communication Skills
Last weekend went to have a look around a showroom for sofas and armchairs, as our current sofa is well and truly worn out. Penguin sits down very heavily on it, and that has taken its toll. As we were looking around the shop, trying a few different sofas out for comfort, a sales person … More He’s got the look…
It’s only been about 18 months since I first started listening to podcasts regularly (yes, I was late to the party). Actually, it was being invited as guest onto the ‘Let’s Talk Autism’ podcast that prompted me to listen to more podcasts, and I was soon hooked. I find it very handy to be able … More 8 Great Autism Podcasts!
In this post I will talk about what it means to be autistic with learning disability (a.k.a. general learning disability, intellectual disability, or intellectual impairment). I’m not a medical professional, and I’m not autistic myself – I’m ‘just a mum‘ of an autistic 15 year-old boy. So this post will be based on what I’ve … More Autistic With Learning Disability Or Intellectual Disability – What Does It Mean?
This picture (below) is a throwback to just over 15 years ago, when Penguin was still bobbing about inside of me, getting ready to make his grand entrance, and change our lives forever – as I’m sure most children do for their parents. My knowledge of autism back then was almost non-existent (and mostly based … More Just A Mum, Writing About Autism…
I don’t usually add trigger warnings to my posts, but I feel it might be appropriate here to start off by letting you know that this post will be kind of heavy, and will mention child loss. Not us, we’re fine. But others sadly are not… A few days ago I learnt that the young … More This Life (And What To Do With It)
Please note: All photos in this post (as on our website in general) are my own, and they may not be used by anyone else without my expressed consent, in writing. Please contact me if you would like to use any of my photographs, thank you. Last week we went to see the lights at … More Christmas Magic At Hever Castle 2021
This post is about some important aspects of learning to use high tech AAC (such as an AAC app on iPad, or similar). I’m ‘just’ a mum, not a speech and language therapist, but we’ve been on a journey of learning AAC for a good few years now, and I have learnt a lot along … More 5 Important Things To Know About Learning To Use AAC!
Over the past few days, most of my time and energy has been taken up by tidying and cleaning our house. We had a person coming round for ‘inspection’ of the house we’re renting, on Friday afternoon, and although it’s the house being inspected rather than our general tidyness, I wanted it to be nice … More How Is Your Functioning…?
AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and it’s a term used for all kinds of methods that can be used for communicating other than speech. October is AAC Awareness Month, and last October I wrote a big old blog post about AAC: Basic Facts And Helpful Resources, which is still relevant and informative, but not … More AAC Apps: Who Are They For & What Is So Great About Them?
Sensational Learning with Penguin 