An example of how she teaches him to do things which do not come to him naturally; he will rarely come and give somebody a hug spontaneously, but if you’re sitting on the settee, he likes to come and stand behind you on the settee and then he will wrap his arms around you from the back. Because it reminds him of a game we used to play with him, but he does like the physical contact, which is very strange according to what they say about autistic children. But he will give you a really good hug from the back, and he really loves that. And he likes it if you hug him, in the middle of a game. If it’s playful then he will be okay and he will love it. And he likes it when his mum hugs him too. But for him to go up to somebody and spontaneously give them a hug was difficult.

 

As he started to show an interest in cuddly toys recently. So they have bought him a very large rabbit, because he likes rabbits. They started role playing with this rabbit by hugging the rabbit, and a bit later he did give the rabbit a big hug, and then he went up to [name], my daughter’s partner, and gave him a big hug. So that was very moving.

 

So what I’ve found is that, in spite of all the sadness and the frustrations you experience, is that you receive fantastic gifts. When he says something every four months, the happiness you feel then is just incredible. When he achieves something new, it really moves me, because it is so small, it is so incredibly small and it is so important.