Five years ago a young 5 year old autistic lad attended a mainstream school. This school made much of the fact that they had within the school a Specialist Support Centre for children with complex needs.

So specialist was it that they did not realise that the disruption of the usual school routine for Christmas play rehearsals would upset an autistic child. Anxious and unable to communicate the child concerned became difficult, he grabbed hold of the arm of another child so tightly that his fingernails dug in, resulting in a slight scratch to the other child’s arm.

Did the school understand why the autistic lad was upset? Did they heck! They excluded him, sent him home, with an official report that made  this 5 year old sound like a 16 year old thug. Nor did they send his mother any lessons she could sit and do with her child. In short they failed him miserably.

There followed a long battle between mother,school authorities, and educational departments. In the September of the following year the child was at last found a place in Hillside Special School in the nearby town of Sudbury. The change in the lad was  remarkable. He’s now happy to go to school and gets full support from the teachers and staff. Every year the school put on a Christmas show, every year each and every child in the school happily appears on stage. I can’t praise Hillside highly enough.

The autistic lad is my grandson. Now look at him

My grandson is Rudolph in combats

Happy to be on stage