Update - sorry it's been so long!

Hello everyone,
Firstly, sorry it's been so long since we did a post but hopefully you've all kept up with things on Facebook.

Henry continues to amaze us everyday and is such a fun-loving sweet little boy who loves to be with people and make 'friends' whenever he goes to the park or play area.

We had a great Xmas and Henry loved opening every single present - and then wanted to open mine too! He was so good on the lead up to Xmas and kept saying only 2 more sleeps till Xmas and was very patient and understanding. We even went to Dudley Castle with one of our volunteers Bridget and her 2 boys to see the animals and Father Christmas and Henry actually went in to see him - although he sat on my knee at the back and wouldn't talk to him! But a great achievement anyway for him to even go in the room.

Henry continues to make progress in the playroom and his language blossoms everyday - he really astounds us with some of the sentences that he says. He is also extremely polite and always say's 'thank you daddy' 'you're welcome' and 'please' all of the time which hasn't been taught.

He is very loving and will always give you a nice hug and a kiss and say 'love you' - it makes your heart melt :)

We have a great team working with Henry - we now have Bridget, Helena, Mel, Victoria and Jess. We've also had a bit of nice news that Nikki one of our original volunteers has just started back today! Henry was very very happy! We also have another girl interested in joining our team so all looks good for this year.

Penny does an amazing job managing the whole team and planning the schedule and giving feedback etc She also does about 10 hours a week in the playroom with Henry and also works a Monday & Tuesday night as a Manager at Pizza Express!!! (and looks after the house and our two other daughters) She really is a 'Superwoman' :) x

Henry has been on an incredibly strict diet over the last few months cutting out gluten, wheat, casein, sugar, the list goes on and on!! We went to see Jean Muscroft in Chester as she is a DAN doctor (defeat autism now) which some doctors believe you can cure Autism by diet alone.
He has to take loads of different supplements which is a real struggle to get them into his drink and then actually get him to drink it!!! The hope is to eventually heal his gut as these doctors say that almost every Autistic child has the leaky gut syndrome were the gut can't absorb all the good nutrients it needs and the bad toxins go straight into the bloodstream and then to the brain. If it is healed then it becomes much easier to lead a normal life.
It's just a massive battle to get him to eat a variety of foods. He'll eat sausages, cakes (specially made with veg!) crisps (plain Seabrooks only) rice cakes, rice milk and the odd bowl of rice puffs! We also manage to slip some veggie ice cubes into his drinks!
We're hoping that he will start to try different foods eventually but at the moment he refuses anything new offered. We will persist!!!

Anyway i think I've rambled on enough - that should bring everything up to date.

Thanks for all your support

Love
Warwick x

New helpers & toilet training!

We've had two new paid helpers start recently - Victoria & Mel who have both had experience working with other Son-Rise families in the UK. Mel has also been to the Option Institute in the USA (the home of Son-Rise) and spent a couple of months working there. So it's great that Penny hasn't had to spend a lot of time training them - just giving them helpful feedback coping with Henry's little ways.

He has tested both of them by being very controlling!! But they have handled it well and we think it also may have something to do with the toilet training.

Henry hasn't been wearing a nappy now for nearly 2 weeks!! But as of yet we haven't managed to get him to do one on the toilet!! He isn't getting stressed as is being very good and I think if we can get him on once that will be it, but at the moment he keeps leaving us little presents around the house!! :)

His language continues to amaze us everyday and it really is a joy to hear his spontaneous talking. He is also incredibly polite and is always saying 'oh sorry' even when it's not his fault! (just like Penny in fact!)

Our Fantastic Volunteer Bridget

Our wonderful volunteer Bridget has been apart of the Helping Henry team from when we started doing the Son-Rise program full time in September 2008. She has the 3 E's in abundance, loves to learn new techniques and Henry loves playing with her in the playroom!
This is what Bridget has to say about working with Henry...

"I have been a volunteer for almost a year now and was very lucky to start at the beginning of Henry’s Son-Rise programme.

Henry really is a beautiful little boy with a warm, affectionate and caring nature. He is a very bright little boy and has the most wonderful sense of humour, with an infectious laugh and a beautiful smile.

Over the last year I have seen remarkable changes in Henry and feel extremely proud to have been part of the team that has helped Henry grow and develop in such a quick and exciting way.

I can’t think of a more rewarding way to spend time and often come out of the playroom ‘flying on air’ because of a special moment we have shared or an amazing achievement that Henry has made. 

I am really excited for the future and feel very privileged to have become one of Henry’s best friends."

Busy week ahead

We've got a busy week ahead but it's all good!

We are seeing a potential facilitator on Wednesday who has been working with a Son-Rise family in Liverpool and is now moving back to the area - so very excited about that possibility.

Then on Thursday with have Sarah Dargue coming to work with us for the day and give us lots of great advice and feedback - always a great day.

Of course Henry will be getting between 4-7 hours a day in the playroom all week which is amazing and he really is coming along every single day. He really does astound us how much he learns each and every day!

We are also seeing somebody else on Monday - so it's all looking good :)

Great Language

Henry has had some fantastic spontaneous language over the last few days, chatting away and coming out with some lovely sentances like "daddy go play in a minute", "it's not got ears - I've got ears", "I want the telly on - I want Ben 10", "Cereals - Maddy likes cereals", "Giraffe goes sleep, elephants go sleep"

Gotta go now as Henry has got his dinosaurs out and is saying "Daddy go play"!!

Hello & welcome to the Helping Henry blog

Hi everyone,
I've set this blog up so we can easily post everything to do with our program instantly instead of Penny having to send it to me and then drop it into a webpage and upload it. Hopefully you will see more posts from Penny now and diary updates here!

Thanks for all your support

Warwick