This is about Alex, my nephew, who was diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorders when he was two and a half years old. He is eight now, happy and cheerful but he cannot speak or sign, he was not taught yet.

Last week Alex was swinging in the park and fell off. He cried for a bit and then he became silent and grumpy for the rest of the day. My sister is used to this kind of behaviour so she did not pay much attention. Later on, she noticed he was not using his left arm and could see that it was a bit swollen. She immediately took him to the hospital and it turned out that his arm was fractured in two places. Alex was urgently operated. This is just a lucky isolated event out of many, my sister cannot tell when he is not feeling well until it's really severe as he can take lots of pain. One day it can be a lot worse.

I am working with autistic children myself and I can tell he has potential, if he gets the right support. Currently he only gets 5 hours of therapy per week, in Romania, as my sister cannot afford more and he does not get any help from the government. Just to compare, a child in the UK at his severity can get up to 7 hours of therapy per day.

If Alex had more hours, at least 10h per week, for a couple of weeks it would be enough to start developing his language. At the moment, they are working on diminishing his challenging behaviour because he is hitting when something goes wrong. One hour of therapy costs £10, which makes it hard to sustain the needed amount of session, even with the family support.

We finally found a therapist that understands Alex and is really interested in seeing improvements. Alex loves him and is very responsive, hence he spontaneously started saying “Mama”. I trust that he will speak/sign soon which will dramatically improve his life and everyone else's around.

THANK YOU for reading and for your support, it is very much appreciated!

Happy Holildays :)

Ioana