Tony: Yes. It wasn’t anything specific that stuck in my mind. It was just he didn’t seem to be developing. There was a little lad over the road, who was probably about nine months older then Nathan, who seemed to be miles ahead of him developmentally, you know in a development sense. And then we got Nathan, who seemed a bit a small. He just didn’t seem to be … it wasn’t just speech. I mean the big thing would be, you would notice his speech but there were other things as well. You know he wasn’t, he wasn’t doing the things that kids of that age you would expect. He wasn’t taking an interested in ….
Alison: He used to get very frustrated with things. Didn’t he?
Tony: Yes. Yes. He did, quite a lot.
Alison: When he was a bit older. A little bit older and obviously he wasn’t speaking when he should have been speaking at that age, maybe even at about three when he really should have been speaking and he wasn’t and when we were going up to the Family Support Centre do you remember, he had a permanent bruise on his forehead.
Tony: yes he did.
Alison: And a permanent lump on the back of his head.
Tony: Where he would smack himself.
Alison: He would stand where you are now and run all the way down and just run into the patio door and smack his head on the patio door and then throw himself on the floor and bash his head on the back of the floor. And he would lie on the floor bashing his head on the floor and I took him to the doctors because it frit me to death. I thought God what is he doing to the inside of his head. And the doctor was saying, you know, the skull is a lot, lot harder than you think and don’t worry. He might be bashing himself about but he is not going to do too much damage. I used to think, I hope you are right.
Tony: Yes, it didn’t look like it at the time.
Alison: I used to think people must think I am a terrible mother you know. You know, I am sort of like there is this kid with a permanent bruise on his head and he is screaming and shouting and I am not doing anything about it. You know because people just look at you and think oh a badly behaved child. What a terrible parent. And you are thinking …
Tony: Hm. Yes. You get some strange looks out of people don’t you but…
Alison: …I would like to see you cope with this.
