Ashes to Ashes raffle?

Oh dear I’m terribly behind again. I think this challenge might be something I just concentrate on during school holidays when my research work grinds to a halt amongst the chaos. Half term this week so I will send some t-shirts out (have to admit I haven’t sent the last lot out yet).

I have very much enjoyed the last series of Ashes to Ashes – actually I’ve enjoyed every series of Ashes to Ashes, it’s about the one TV series we’ve watched religiously so I think I will send a bunch of shirts out to the cast and maybe the writers too. It could be an opportunity to try out an online raffle (still need to check out the legalities of that).  It’s also just dawned on me that Keeley Hawes who plays Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes also played the role of the mother in After Thomas. This film is fairly well known amongst families of autistic kids and told the story of a little boy who through bonding with his dog became much more interactive and by the end of the film was pretty high functioning. There were some great and very recognisable scenes in the film. I’ve only watched it once but I remember some very accurate scenes involving attempting to cross the road (think refusing to budge- oh yes I recognise that one – Archie, now a big 11 year old keeps taking to lying on the ground when we’re out and about- only for me – he thinks it’s hilarious), a very realistic shoe shopping experience, some dreadful moments with less than supportive family members and a scene where Keeley/the mother was locked in a cupboard by her child. All scenarios to bring a smile to the face of those of us who live with autism. I’ve dug out the BBC America trailer.

I suspect After Thomas helped in raising the profile of animal assisted therapies and Dogs for the Disabled now offer therapy dogs for suitable children with autism aged 11 and under. Animal assisted therapies interest me greatly, when I’m not doing the research day job, or looking after the kids I run a pet sitting business. There really is something incredibly rewarding and relaxing about spending a quiet half hour with a pet. And of course when your child has severe autism one of the states you seek to achieve is calmness. For the child and yourself. Animals are another way in which the world can be made a little bigger for children with severe disabilities.

Archie has a bit of a thing about fur so isn’t always keen to approach animals. However, his class last year had a rabbit and he was taught to be gentle – we were sent photos home of him brushing the rabbit with a toothbrush, the rabbit looked pretty happy. We also fairly recently bought 2 rescue kittens and he seems quite interested in them. Unfortunately he’s also interested in their food and I have found him eating their leftovers occasionally. They eat his. Next on the list is a dog, to be purchased sometime soon. Although it will have to be right dog, so may take a while.

I’m not expecting an After Thomas style miracle when we get our dog. However, last week we sort of had a little one. We’d been on a Horse Boy Camp – these are horse riding camps run for the families of children with autism. I’ll do a write up soon in my blog although in the meantime there are some posts in the photoblog but it really was a special weekend. We slept in a yurt, Archie rode bareback and without shoes and in a western saddle. You can see from the photo that he enjoyed it. But more than that- he actually noticed the horse. He’s always liked riding – it’s one of his favourite lessons at school; he likes being up high and the movement but he’s never really paid that much attention to the actual horse. This weekend he did – he really bonded with one horse called Lucy, said ‘neigh’ (first – and so far only- time ever) and tried to groom her. He also stroked her – which given his aversion to animal hair and fur was a surprise. It really was a great weekend- for his siblings too, and an example of the sorts of activities that even children with severe disabilities can access with a lot of support. And the sort of thing that does make a real difference. We haven’t had that many successful holidays. We haven’t had that many holidays come to that.

The only downside of the weekend was that I had to miss the final Ashes to Ashes, but thanks to BBC iPlayer the mystery of Gene Hunt and the Genieverse was solved for us on Monday night. It was worth waiting for -a great end (yes yes of course I cried) and I’d really love to run a special  Ashes to Ashes raffle.