Anne Wilkinson takes her granddaughter Cora to the toddler group at West Walker and describes it as a “little family”.
Two-year-old Cora has thrived in the weekly play session, giving her family the confidence to start taking her to a mainstream nursery too.
And Anne and her daughter Katy are grateful for the support they themselves get at the toddler group from other parents and the trained practitioners who run it.
“The group is wonderful – it’s like a little family,” Anne says. “We have such a good laugh and the children are happy.
“If you take your autistic child somewhere, people sometimes look at their behaviour and ask why you can’t control it. But the toddler group is totally non-judgmental and everyone is in the same boat.
"The support we get has been, and continues to be, so vital to us, as it is for the other parents and children."
The family hadn’t put Cora into nursery before, because she used to pick up and eat a lot of non-food items and they worried that nursery workers wouldn’t have the time to monitor it.
But shortly after they started toddler group in July, senior family worker Rebecca Weatherstone suggested they try Cora on iron supplements to combat that.
Anne says: “We hadn’t heard of this – nobody had ever mentioned it – so we tried it and what an improvement! It doesn’t work for every child and it’s not a complete cure, but it’s reduced it by 90 percent that’s a huge thing.
“Then Rebecca also said Cora would be fine in a nursery setting and we should get her in as soon as possible. So we did, and she loved it from the start. I think she settled more easily because of being at the toddler group.”
Because of the group and nursery sessions, Cora’s mum Katy is now in a position to work for the first time, and is about to start a job as a support worker.
“Without that group and Rebecca, she wouldn’t have put Cora into nursery, and she would have been stuck,” Anne says.
"It hasn’t just changed Cora’s life around, but it has changed Katy’s too."
Anne, of Rowlands Gill, is so thankful for the group and for NEAS that she has embarked on a month-long fundraising drive for the Little Stars appeal.
She will dress as an elf every day until Boxing Day, and Katy’s partner Richard – a tree surgeon – has got permission from his employer to do the same!
Anne says: “We wanted to give back. NEAS has been fantastic. They’re just there for you – it’s absolutely great.”
We’ll be following their fundraising in December – see our news page and social media channels for updates. For Anne’s and Richard’s JustGiving pages, see the links below.
