Several years ago, back when I used to publish posts more regularly, we were given the opportunity to review Young Driver driving lessons. Our older daughter was only 10 at the time and I don't think it's something we would have naturally considered at that age, but when we were approached and she was excited by the idea, we thought it was worth seeing what they were all about.You can read that ..read more

Do you like podcasts, or watching YouTube videos, rather than, or as well as reading? In recent years I have realised that I am a very visual learner and struggle with holding onto auditory input so I am a late convert to podcasts. When I was younger I had no clue that everyone learns in different ways. During my school years I would spend a lot of time writing notes and learning from those ..read more

This week I have seen several posts in local Facebook groups that are all asking the same thing - how to deal with the big spiders that come into houses at this time of year. Has anyone else been finding more spiders than they are comfortable with lately?! This is not my usual kind of blog post content I admit but I thought I'd offer some solutions (because I've nothing better to do, lol).I ..read more

Every year in England, in the middle of August, there are two all-important days when children are given results from either their A-Level exams, or their GCSEs (usually, but not always, taken at the ages of 17/18 and 15/16).My girls are 19 and 17 now. A lot of friends and family have children around these ages, so for the past few years these Results Days have featured heavily in both our 'real ..read more

Have you heard about this fab new book called Black Rainbow?!(*Some of the underlined text and the pictures in this post are affiliate links; as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but it won't cost you any extra!)Black Rainbow is a fantastic novel written by Danielle Jata-Hall, blogger at PDA Parenting. This story is told from the view point of Sarah, a married mum of two young ..read more

It's that time of year when some parents realise how fast the end of the school term is approaching and begin to feel a bit panicked about how they are going to keep their children entertained during the long summer holidays. Slightly different in our house now that our PDAer is 17 and able to entertain herself most of the time, but I remember past years when the school summer holidays felt like ..read more

I am always thrilled when there is another addition to the growing library of books about PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) and The Teen’s Guide to PDA is the latest publication that will help families. Written by Laura Kerbey, author of The Educator’s Experience of Pathological Demand Avoidance, and illustrated by Eliza Fricker, author of The Family Experience of PDA, this book plugs a gap on ..read more

Have you heard about Play Therapy? Play therapy is a way of supporting a child to express themselves,  something that was first used to help our daughter when she was at infant school. A few years later we were grateful to be introduced to a play therapist when she had to have an extended stay in hospital.After reading about that experience in my blog post Top Tips for Hospital - Autism ..read more

The Declarative Language Handbook is a best-selling book that I've been meaning to read for a while. Written by Linda Murphy, a speech and language pathologist, this book was intended to help therapists, teachers, parents, grandparents and carers learn how to use everyday moments to teach and guide a child's social development. The strapline is 'Using a thoughtful language style to help kids with ..read more

'So, I'm Autistic' is an introduction to Autism for young adults and late teens. Written by Sarah O'Brien, a young autistic adult who was diagnosed at the age of 16, this book aims to provide support for those with an autism diagnosis approaching adulthood. So I'm Autistic also provides information for others who would like to understand more about autism, and it shares insights about how ..read more