As you all know so well by now, I am super proud of my son , Ollie and how he has gone on to study creative writing and publishing at university against all the odds and in spite of having his voice removed by those who simply couldn’t see beyond the label of autism.
Not only has my amazing boy gone on to find his voice but in true autism style he is taking this quite literally ! I Love it !! He is now using his voice to help others – something which has made me extraordinarily proud and emotional. How my son is growing ! How he has proved all the doubters wrong ! How he has burst out from inside the box others tried to cram him into , including professionals.
This week Ollie and some friends organised an open mic night in his university town to raise money for a charity close to their hearts. There really are some tremendous kids out there ! Ollie read out some performance poetry for which he had previously attained another First – the highest possible grade ! The evening was a resounding success with lots of money raised.
Ollie is building quite a name for himself with his writing.
I am staggered by how far he has come.
I am often asked to name the school who coldly refused to listen to me when I begged them to let Ollie sit the higher level GCSE English paper and who spent his funding , quite legally, elsewhere. I refuse because Ollie’s success has brought such joy – and proved them all wrong . Ollie and I hope that those responsible for their decisions back then will never ” see” a child with autism in that way again and that deep lessons have been learned. Sadly , Ollie’s old school is reflective and typical of a vast amount of schools all over the UK , and judging by the huge amount of emails I receive weekly, it is true of other countries also. To single out one school would be unprofessional and vindictive – it is the education system at large – and more importantly the decision makers – who need to wake up to the enormous potential these children have and to channel for the good and the future.
This is why I am so passionate and dedicated to raising true awareness and understanding of autism and other special abilities and why I spend huge amounts of time educating people about just how gifted and ABLE these children and young adults are. Ollie is getting top grades at university – the boy who would ” never achieve ” !
Imagine the waste if as a parent I had just accepted the prognosis by professionals ‘ caring ‘ for Ollie ?
I have enclosed a copy of his latest poem here so you can judge for yourselves.
Ollie is living proof of triumph over adversity. He embodies that huge ability and endless possibility that so many of the young people I work with possess.
They are each so much more than a label.
So often it’s a different ability rather than a disability.
As the author of “The Reason I Jump” said, why can’t these labels simply be seen as just another character trait ?
It is my everlasting hope that Ollie’s success will encourage teachers and other professionals everywhere to rethink how they see children with different or special abilities – and to recognise the true weight of those precious futures that they hold in their hands. These children should have a voice in their own futures and not be held back due to ignorance surrounding their labels.
To see this blog in full please visit www.icare4autism.org where I write weekly blogs.
Regular Blogs can be found there and at different brains.com
Links to these can be found in this section or on the home page – just click on them and you will be taken straight there. It’s like magic !
Atoms – By Ollie March 2017
Someone says they are particles of salt sailing on the hot azure
Don’t undermine the vastness of the outer brink
They will hover in a fleecy mass above the trees, in love with a hundred leaves strung out from branch to branch in a green waving flag.
O rare incidents, I will see their o shapes drop from birds’ claws,
palming volcanic ash before it fades too soon.
You don’t want to get too close to it, or the nucleus dot will give out.
That is why only some of us can see it , a task for the un – searching eyes.
Tomorrow I probably won’t see them , but that doesn’t mean they won’t vanish into my worn flannel shirt.
I see a girl’s polka dot skirt while she is swinging , it reminds me of their rhythm as it blows softly on the wind .
How old are those O’s , will my mind ever know .
The belly skin of the sky bloats as it is filled to the burning sides
Trillions of them pushed together chanting upupup upupup
Don’t make a joke of their ” the world is too small theory ” because when you know everyone , you learn to look in different places.
He achieved a FIRST for his poetry assignments following his first term at university where he is reading a creative writing and publishing degree.
He got the highest grade possible for his performance poem ” The Joker”. He read this and another poem at a performance in front of fellow students for the very first time. You can view this on my Giuliana Fenwick / therapies for special needs business Facebook page.
The poems are written out below on this post.
I am crying writing this because this is the boy who was told he wouldn’t even be allowed a bite at the cherry for higher English GCSE in spite of being in gifted and talented sets for English throughout middle school. That decision all but broke him and was the first time the word ” disabled” was ever mentioned in our home – by him , through broken sobs.
It never was again. Authors wrote to Ollie after I sent his work to them , telling him he was a ” writer already `’ and to never let school or the education system define him .
Ollie is living proof that those with special or different abilities are so much more than a diagnosis or a label. And that you should never be defined by other people’s ignorance or limiting beliefs surrounding that label. No child should ever be written off or have their future broken . Everyone has a right to a voice and my son has found his at last. His broken wings are mended and he is soaring into the huge blue sky of his future.
I AM SO PROUD !!
*The Joker *
My father stepped on my back so hard, why so hard ?
A loveless chain of thorns he strung on each of our necks
The false purples cancelling out the Crimean flush in our chests
Like the love that was traded in, for the malice he wreaks.
Its vine decaying the good ones of virtue I have in my flesh vessel,
That vessel,
Your vessel no more.
” Dad, why are you waiting on the stairs at night ? What is that black box you clutch to your chest like an unseasoned Pandora’s Box ? Small, ticking silently in its mechanical heart .”
A past fever pumped pumped in my veins like a concealed guilt.
I knew, you knew, of the lies in you in-built,
The treacherous glee you hide but show in your cold blue eyes.
A hoar frost, dissolving on the tongue of an adder tasted with self-glorifying ill-will.
When a boy of 17 tells his father to stop lying , his father’s eyes crinkle as small as sunflower seeds
As though he got a sour taste of lime in his mouth.
He told me these words opening his jack-knife smile, ” I could never lie to you , I wouldn’t hurt you like that ” he said anxiously. Never is a hyperbolic word , NEVER, NEV-er, Never
I let out an inward gasp; the sound a balloon makes when popped by a needle.
Not the balloon that my Border terrier burst through to bite with salivating maul the soft skin of my shoulder –
No, no , no this object : spike, stake, spear has pricked me in my solitude, when I should be watching the corridors of my house for forgeries of coughing; the kitchen tap running ; the slow breathing on the walls , is all this inside my head ?
You tell me you are talking to someone behind a closed door and someone is listening outside : does not something feel funny about the air ? How it lies thick , pregnant and obscure in your oesophagus.
My father will talk of how he met ( trapped ) my mother ; red peacock butterflies in a jam jar ,
leaving her in the confines of clingfilm and glass . In these transparencies of space the butterfly could only glimpse the wasting powders on her wings.
A lidded sky, housetop, every morning and night is shut, the edges of a face looms in the sky, says ” come out, spread your wings’. Is it the Joker or the moon; that this seems to sing ?
*My Side Of Eden In an English Garden*
Flies, oil-specked, dance their night wraiths on the skinny buxus branches,
Another follows their soliloquy.
Tamarisks of air lance their hushful blows in the hive.
The doubloon above oscillates to the milky muse of the cool air.
Taking a breath, I look at the garden , spurning me looking poppies in their hundreds chase my cheeks in drapes of fire.
I try to silence all this noise , but am pushed asunder the red satin cloth, so that I am choking in this button-press of heat and redness – it’s unbearable.
Ouch ! Stung on the mouth by a deity ray, I retreat to the doorstep, cacodemons lie in dishevel on my burning hairs.
Afraid to cry, to anoint myself even more in this deadly rush, I close both the shucks of my eyes till the wolfing hour of day threshes them wide so that gold glimmers in their pods.
*To see more of Ollie’s poetry from previous years, please go to the homepage and click on About Giuliana. The link is at the bottom of this page. *
Here is one he wrote aged just 14, to give you a taster ….
*Guitar Strings *
Vibration shedding sound ripples
on the writhe, serpentine string of guitar.
Sound embracing illusional imagery
of spirals, bolts and spots of iridescent sequins.
Memory prolonged in the mind of tears,
muddy fingers dashing against fury
of field colour.
Heart throbs in the ends of each finger,
opened by the sudden pluck
conjuring sound waves to clasp your lips to be silent.
I am very excited to tell you that I have been invited by Autism Parenting magazine to write an article about my therapy and work for their June 2017 issue.
Also coming up are articles for Health and Happiness magazine over their April and May 2017 issues . It is so deeply wonderful to be able to help and touch so many in this way and to see my enormous passion and tireless work for these incredible children with special abilities be valued.
Very excitingly my work and journey with my son, Ollie, are being written about for Closer magazine too ! This is a tremendous way to get my work and message about the children and young adults I work with out into the mainstream. Very often parents and families do not know where to go beyond the diagnosis and drugs route or they become despondent due to the lists of limiting beliefs and ” can’ts ” surrounding a diagnosis. Mine and my son’s message is to never allow others to define you or limit all you can be . There are enormous positives and strengths too . It’s about giving these children a voice. Ollie is living proof of that and I hope his story will continue to inspire people worldwide , just as my small post about him on the business site Linkedin did in April 2016 when it burst through 40,000 likes and comments.
Most people know or know of someone with autism or ADHD or another special ability but don’t know where to go for support and positive advice. The families as well as the child can become isolated . The thought that someone reading such a strong mainstream magazine such as Closer and coming across an article not just about my work but an article that could bring them hope or maybe even inspiration , is beyond heartwarming . This is just the start .
I am thrilled to share with you that my blogs for ICare4Autism and Differentbrains.com are still going strong . However with all my other writing, articles and the second book underway, it eaves precious little time for a separate blog here ! Please click on the links in this blog section or on the home page to be taken straight to blogs you might wish to read.
On another wonderful, happy, inspirational note, the short post I wrote on linkedIn last spring about my own son with autism achieving his goals against all the odds, proving his doubters and some professionals wrong, – and finding his voice , ended up reaching just under 40,000 likes and comments worldwide ! I could have BURST with pride for him ! He is now thriving at university doing a creative writing and publishing degree – not and for the boy who I was told “will never achieve ” ! As I’ve always said, the children and young people I work with are the bravest and most beautiful people I know.
You can click on the link to the Linkedin post by clicking on my Jessica Kingsley Publishing link on the homepage where they have the link attached to my book.
I now have the heartwarming pleasure of training up teachers, LSA’s , TA’s and staff within schools all over the UK, whether they travel to my therapy centre or I travel to train. Most of those training with me now come on fully or part funded placements from their schools which is a huge testament to this work .
However schools and academies do not always have the budget or the time to spare staff for full trainings.
Yet with an increasing number of children and young adults being diagnosed as on the autism spectrum , along with ADHD ,dyslexia and learning differences, workshops or one day talks/trainings would be invaluable.
I have walked this path as the mother of an autistic child surviving mainstream , as well as a therapist and author , so I have a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise to bring into the school environment. With a long and proven record of working within schools and specialist academies , this is a huge passion of mine ! A day spent sharing techniques and a whole ” toolbox” of methods to promote calmer, more relaxed , more focused and productive classroom environments , will pay dividends into the longterm as well as the short term.
So many children go through so much before they even get through the school gates in the morning and go through experiences that many adults would be signed off sick for. There are many who go through emotional trauma and difficult times, so for these children, along with those who have different abilities, some simple massage techniques can be what gets them through the school gates and actually helps keep them in school that day.
From my own experience and from what those I have trained in schools tell me , classrooms are certainly much calmer environments and more productive ones too after massages have taken place.
I have also been into schools to give assemblies and workshops also and this I really love because it involves all the kids. Its great for them to feel part of everything, feel their voices are being heard too and to play an active part in their own health and wellbeing. Once I ran an assembly in a packed gym and afterwards the queue was so long around the building with kids wanting to see me afterwards that I ended up staying for the entire lunch hour ! I was so happy !! I’m often told they wish I was their biology teacher as they are learning so much whilst having fun in an informal way. I have loved this work so much ,that it is something I would certainly like to offer more of for 2017.
Please email me if you feel your school or academy could benefit from this ,wherever you are located.
Talk and trainings in Belfast 27th-28th April 2017 9.30 am – 5pm both days. CMA approved and certified course. I’m so happy to be coming over to Ireland to spread this wonderful work and share with everyone!
It would be fantastic if you could bring along a copy of my book “Indian Head Massage for Special Needs ” available from my publisher Jessica Kingsley/Singing Dragon or direct from Amazon. I love everyone to scribble all over the pages like a gorgeous well used recipe book because I am always bursting with so much information as we work together.
£300 per person
Early booking essential.
Payments can be spread and there is an Early Bird Offer available if the first £100 is paid by 31st January:
On 26 April 2016, towards the end of Autism Awareness Month, a double page article I was invited to write, appeared in International Therapist Magazine. I feel so privileged to have been asked to contribute to such a top, prestigious, quality publication. The article goes into depth about the science behind my therapy and why it works so well, in addition to the holistic benefits of mental and emotional well being and health. I am extremely proud to be a part of this publication.
On Saturday 24th March 2016 I did a talk and book signing at WHSmith book signing in Barnstaple, Devon. My son Ollie accompanied me and brought along his prized fountain pen to sign copies along with me. I never forget that it is because of his bravery and openess that I was able to develop my therapy and be allowed to talk about him and our journey . I feel he has more right to sign the books than me ! He is an amazing boy !
I love Autism Awareness month and always go to town ! I ran two extra courses where I was so happy to train funded placements and part funded placements for schools and colleges, along with some therapists who wanted my therapy in addition to those they are already practising. I also spent a great deal of time helping my students speak to and email heads of schools and autism centres in order to start using the therapy there . I really do want those who train with me to get this out there and help some wonderful children and young adults to thrive.
My double page article came out in the Spring issue of International Therapist and instantly I was flooded with emails from all over ! This article was about the science behind my therapy too which reassures any sceptics out there ! and proves why it works.
I also took part in a live radio show with Oasis Universal Radio as part of their raising awareness theme for April. See more at In The Press.
The biggest highlight for me however , in this very special mont , is that my son Oliver , against all the odds, and after being told he would ” never achieve ” by a senior teacher at age 13 and being told he was not allowed to sit the higher English GCSE because his autistic brain couldn’t negotiate multiple choice papers and lining up booklets ….. got his first choice place at university to read Creative Writing and Publishing !!
I wrote a very short post on LinkedIn and within a week had burst through 6,000 likes and comments and even as I write this more shares and comments are still pouring in. This news has gone worldwide and ollie has been flooded with offers to write ~ which he was born to do . This has made my entire month. We are blown away and overwhelmed by the heartwarming response. After years of being made to feel second rate in spite of his huge intelligence , my son might now just begin to believe that he is indeed an inspiration.
