(Ad - Gifted) A proven remedy against common colds from ColdZyme.

 Since the kids went back to school and college we have of course all had a cold. It always happens at this time of year, they have the summer off and then go back to education and mix with different people, it's inevitable.

At the moment it is a worry that as soon as you feel unwell it could be coronavirus. From what I read a lot of the symptoms of Covid and the Flu are similar but the common cold is different. There is more sneezing and snot. I spent a lot of time Googling it when Becky caught the cold.

We were sent some ColdZyme mouth spray to feature here on my blog and ready to use the next time we get a cold.

With ColdZyme it is possible to help protect against a cold before the virus is able to fully take hold. The over the counter mouth spray works by forming a fast acting protective barrier on the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat (where cold germs first take hold and multiply), making it more difficult for the cold virus to cause illness. 

This is the first cold protective treatment to contain the enzyme Trypsin found in arctic deep-sea cod. Trypsin becomes highly active when it reaches to temperatures above 37 degrees (the temperature on the oral cavity).

 ColdZyme can also help reduce the symptoms of a cold such as the sore throats from developing. It is clinically documented to help shorten the length and severity of a cold, so it can help you recover more quickly. 

ColdZyme spray is suitable for adults and children from 4 years old and one bottle is enough to treat three common cold episodes. 

To use:

Of course read the enclosed instruction leaflet.

Open your mouth and aim the nozzle towards your throat.

Press down on the pump and spray 2 puffs (1 dose) every two hours during the time you are exposed to the cold virus.

ColdZyme can be taken up to 6 times a day.

ColdZyme is available from Amazon, independent pharmacies and Boots stores nationwide for around £17.50 per 20ml bottle.

It's wrong but I am quite looking forward to getting another cold just so I can try this out. 

I was sent 2 bottles of ColdZyme mouth spray free of charge in exchange for this blog post.

It's not Autism it's Social Anxiety....

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know my youngest Ellie has been getting assessed for Autism. We finally got some answers on Friday.

It all started when her teacher said that Ellie was struggling at school and she suspected ADHD. She wasn't concentrating and was struggling with the social aspect of school. We saw the school nurse in September 2017 and she suspected Autism too and after being observed in class referred us to CYPS ( the Children and Young People's Service).

The woman from CYPS came to see Stu and I while Ellie was at school and said Ellie didn't have anything wrong with her and her problems were to blame on her hearing loss. She said there was nothing wrong with Ellie despite not even meeting her. The school wasn't having that and we had some great support and CYPS agreed that someone else would come to meet Ellie. That meeting left me feeling pretty rubbish. 

Somebody who didn't know about the situation went in to school and observed Ellie and then the person who diagnosed Ellie without meeting her went and observed Ellie and they wrote their reports. In July Ellie had an Occupational Therapy Functional Assessment. Even more reports were written and we were finally called back to see a child psychologist on Friday.

He had read through the notes and reports and read the reports out to us and explained things. It was hard to hear but very interesting as well.

The single person who observed Ellie said she wasn't engaged in her work, didn't speak to her peers, wasn't confident, didn't get the jokes, was happy by herself at play time and struggled to pay attention.

The person who had said Ellie had no problems without meeting her said she was putting her hand up in class, confident, talking and laughing with her peers, doing all of her work, got all the jokes and was playing with a lot of people in the playground?

The Occupational therapist said that Ellie only gave one word answers, wasn't confident, struggled to judge peoples emotions, wouldn't ask for help if she was stuck on a task and struggled to get when someone was joking or not.

The reports from school said Ellie struggled socially, wasn't confident and was so quiet in class.

So...

The child psychologist was a lovely man and apologised about how we have been treated. He can't understand why the person judged Ellie without meeting her. He seemed confused with her observations just as we were. I even asked him was she looking at the right child? He said he couldn't comment but was deeply sorry. I was so angry but didn't dwell on it.

The child psychologist has came to the conclusion although she does have a lot of signs that point to autism there just isn't enough for a diagnosis. He has said that because of the bullying Ellie has suffered over the years and sometimes struggling to hear with her deafness in one ear he is giving Ellie a diagnosis of Social Anxiety which sounds right to Stu & I.

Ellie misses out on so much because she won't put her hand up in class. She said it's because she doesn't want people to look at her. She is on the outside of groups because she doesn't want to the be the centre of attention. She would rather not be seen than have all eyes on her.

The child psychologist is already planning on writing letters to the school to get help put in place for Ellie and there will be support and more help given through the the Children and Young People's Service.

We told him how much Ellie has changed for the better since starting secondary school so he is going to send someone in to observe her in the class and around school to see how things stand now. 

It feels like a real step forward and it finally feels like someone who makes decisions is on our side and is wanting the best for Ellie like we do. 

My youngest is still being assessed for Autism....

I haven't really said much about Ellie and how we are getting on with getting her assessed to see whether she has Autism or not because nothing much had happened until the past couple of weeks....

This is how it stood the last time I spoke about it....The first woman we had met who said that Ellie didn't show signs of autism without even meeting her had brought a 2nd woman to meet Ellie at our house had said she wasn't too sure about autism but said more assessments were needed.

 The two women went into school and observed Ellie....I spoke to the teacher afterwards and she said that the women had insinuated that there was no sign of Autism....A report was going to be sent out to us....

What I didn't know until we had the end of term review for Ellie a couple of weeks ago, another woman came into school shortly after the two woman had visited. She observed Ellie and said she can see many autistic traits in her....The teacher told the woman about what the other two woman had said and there was a lot of tutting and shaking her head. She seemed pretty shocked....I said to Ellie's teacher that as soon as Ellie had seen the two women watching her she would have recognised them and may have acted differently in front of them. She agreed.

We received a letter last week to go for the next part of the assessment. An Occupational Therapy Functional Assessment. It was described as a fun, play based assessment with activities and challenges to do and that is where we went last Thursday....

We had a fair idea where we were going but to be sure we got the earlier bus and ended up half an hour early....lol Then of course the new woman seeing us was late (through no fault of her own).....So it was a long wait.

The woman was lovely and really put us at ease...She took Ellie off to into a little room and said they'd be about an hour....They were. Next time I will take a book or magazine. hehehe 

When they came out the woman said she would write her report and send it to the person dealing with Ellie and we will get a report soon.....We do have to go back to meet a doctor for Ellie to have a medical but that will be in a few weeks....

Ellie said they did jigsaws, drew and just chatted about pets, what they enjoy doing and football....With things like this I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall just to see what was going on...

So that's where we stand at the moment.....We're waiting for another appointment and some reports.....I really hope they don't stop work for the summer holidays. It was this time last year when we got in touch with the school nurse and they said they would be in touch in September because they are off when the schools are.....I am being optimistic and hoping we have some sort of answer by September for when Ellie starts secondary school....

How we felt after the Autism meeting....The truth.

We have been on our Autism journey since the middle of last year and the story so far is that Ellie's teacher realised she was struggling a little at school. She needed a little extra help and is a little bit different than other children in her class....We saw the school nurse and she said to her it looks like some sort of Autism?....Then we saw a woman from the Children and Young People's Service (CYPS) and she said it wasn't any type of Autism, the deafness in one ear was to blame....She decided this without seeing or meeting Ellie and the school were fantastic in changing the CYPS woman's mind. It breaks my heart to say but there IS something different about Ellie. Something was said to the CYPS woman by someone and we are still none the wiser what but she decided that someone would observe Ellie at school....

Last week I had a phone call saying the CYPS woman and her colleague would like to come to our house and meet Ellie.....I mentioned this on Twitter and on my Word of the Week post.

I mentioned the positives about how they are doing a proper assessment on her, how they are going to observe her in school and how Ellie will be going to one of the centres for a play assessment where she will be observed along with kids round about her own age....It's a step in the right direction!

What I failed to mention was how it left us feeling. Pretty negative to be honest.....This is a bit of a long post! Sorry. One of those where I will know I will feel better when I get it all out and it's there for me to go back to when I need to know what has happened.

The original CYPS woman came and was lovely.....She brought her colleague and I'm not going to say she wasn't lovely. On face value she was but she left Stu and I feeling judged and questioning our parenting skills.....There was a couple of subjects which left me feeling judged and pretty rubbish....

She asked about how Ellie socialises outside of school....

She does after school clubs within the school and we have tried her in a dance class away from school and she is at the age where she's too old for the younger class and too young for the older class. She had fun but she found herself sitting out at the side a lot. It wasn't right for us. The youth club is not an option. I don't want her going because of the kids who do go....Playing out on the streets came up and that is never going to happen. Out the front and back is fine but I am not having my girls knocking about the streets getting into trouble. It's only over the last year that Ellie has really made a couple of good friends and they are lovely but they don't have play date type of parents....

It made me think am I being too protective not letting her walk the streets with other kids or breaking the routine to take her to clubs and activities?

She asked what Ellie liked to play with...

Ellie has about 6 old dolls that she likes to take apart, swap the arms and legs and even take them off and make false legs with Lego. None of them have heads. The heads are still in her doll box but she prefers them without just because with heads they are top heavy and don't sit right. Ellie showed the woman her dolls and she was visibly horrified. She thought it was strange and said it was too but to us it is just Ellie playing....She plays schools, doctors and things like that with them and will build climbing walls, zip wires, trampolines and things like that with Lego and Knex for the dolls to use. She has plenty of other dolls which are all intact and she wouldn't dream of taking apart....It's just a thing that she does.

Soon after she asked what would happen if we asked Ellie to stop doing something and do something else like get ready for bed? It was an open question and as talking about the dolls had stuck in my mind we said that if we asked her to stop playing with them she would ask for 5 more minutes, I will give her two and then she would get angry and start stamping about and maybe throw her dolls on the table and shout.....

It led her on to say does playing with the dolls cause problems?

No it doesn't.....Ellie just doesn't like to be told what to do. We would probably have the same reaction if she was colouring in, painting, playing on the computer or watching TV. It's always 5 minutes more.....

For a few minutes I did think that playing with these dolls was a problem.....I actually took them into school and the head teacher looked shocked for a split second but said that is very creative of Ellie....

She asked questions....The same questions the original CYPS woman asked but Ellie was sat there so it made us feel uncomfortable answering them in front of her. I don't want to be negative about my girl in front of her....It is just cruel! It didn't feel like a true assessment...

The long and short of it was that the woman thought that Ellie should be doing the work the teacher asks without daydreaming and loosing concentration. She is not doing what is expected of children of her age and there is something there....

I told all of this to the head teacher on Friday and she was again so supportive....She agreed that a lot of what was said should not have been said on front of Ellie.....I am so glad that Ellie doesn't really take anything to heart...

Like I said earlier the two woman are going into Ellie's school to observe her but I mentioned to the head teacher it is not going to work. As soon as either of them walk into the classroom Ellie will recognise them and know they are there to watch her....She might have some problems but recognising a face is not one of them.....lol

Stu and I have were left feeling they are just going through the motions of assessing my girl and they have already made their mind up about her. I spent Friday mulling all of this over and felt pretty rubbish about it. I met with friends for coffee and spoke to one about it and she was fab and agreed that we are doing the right things with Ellie. She shouldn't be out playing on the streets and so what about the dolls.....I spoke to the head and she reassured me. It's pretty crap how someone is there to help can leave you feeling so judged and a failure as a parent.....

It was a one day thing of feeling rubbish....I am over it now! I know that we are doing our best for Ellie...Thank you for reading x

Where we stand with my girls suspected Autism....

I've mentioned it a few of my Word of the Week posts about where we stand with Ellie being assessed about her suspected autism. (This might be a long one)

In September we saw the school nurse who referred us to CYPS (Children and Young People's Service). She had met us and Ellie and had observed Ellie in school and suspected she has Autism. We soon got a letter saying there was an 18 week wait to be seen....

A few weeks ago I got a phone call from a woman at CYPS saying she would like to come out and meet Stu & I and find out all about Ellie and start the Autism assessment. She came and spoke to us for a good hour and a half and I never thought talking about your own child could be so draining.....Everything from my pregnancy with her and right up until now was discussed....There was a ton of questions and a lot of thinking on mine and Stu's part....

The woman said it doesn't sound like Ellie has Autism but she was ticking some of the boxes.....It does look like there are issues with school but because she doesn't show more signs at home it doesn't seem like Autism? To her it seems Ellie's lack of concentration and confidence is at school and it is all down to her the deafness in one of her ears. A  Education Health plan (EHCP) should be in place at school. She said the school was letting us down by not having an EHCP....The Sensory support worker who used to visit Ellie at school should not have been discharged and the school should be doing more to help. She left us with forms for the school to fill in and went away to speak to her colleagues to discuss Ellie.....

I was furious! I felt let down by the school and very angry but it was OK, we had parents evening the next evening. I was all ready to lose my temper and tell the headteacher and class teacher how they were not doing enough for Ellie....That didn't happen.

I said to the class teacher that the deafness was to blame for the signs of Autism....There must have been too much noise in the classroom but the teacher said even when it's one teacher and just a couple of children in a silent room Ellie struggles to concentrate and write....The teacher also said that the learner support worker who comes in once a week to help Ellie with emotional development is going to be sat with Ellie in her SATs to keep her motivated.....They have spoken to other schools and the powers that be and have and asked for the learner support worker to be with Ellie that the whole of SATs week....It is amazing! I nearly cried when the teacher told me that....Ellie is having one to one teaching, support workers coming in and more help than she is entitled to....The teacher said she would fill in the forms and they would be sent back to the CYPS woman.....Everything was still pointing towards Autism while Ellie is at school......

The chat we had with the headteacher was interesting.....She is lovely and says a lot of things off the record, so to speak.....She could not get her head around the fact the CYPS woman had made a decision about a child she had never met!! Yes, the woman who said Ellie does not have Autism has NEVER met her.....She has read the report from the school nurse who says suspected Autism and us who think something is off with her (which it kills me inside to say) and that's it. If you rang the doctor suspecting illness they wouldn't diagnose over the phone...If you were applying for a job a potential employer wouldn't just read a CV to decide whether someone got a job without an interview....

We waited for the report to be sent which arrived on the following Monday. It was an interesting read....According to the report all of Ellie's problems were down to her deafness in one ear. Apparently isn't possible to be Autistic at school but not show as many signs at home?....Until Ellie has a ECHP, a sensory support worker in place and some other issues dealt with CYPS wanted nothing to do with her and Autism is not to blame for Ellie's problems...

I had to take the letter into school because the CYPS people had sent a copy to the wrong school. Same name but a different town....The headteacher laughed out loud at the letter and was just as angry as I was. 

Friday morning just gone I spent a good 15 minutes chatting with the head teacher......A lot was said but the long and short of it was no one was coming to observe Ellie at school despite the head, SENCO and other people pleading our case to th CYPS woman. The case was closed without even getting the report back from the school. The head & I both agreed it was wrong.....

Stu and I were told to ring the CYPS woman ourselves and say our piece to her....It really felt like we had hit a brick wall....We rang first thing Monday morning but she was in a meeting.....A couple of hours later she rang back and was lovely which seemed really odd because everyone else who had spoken to her on the phone found her to be not so nice. Their words not mine....

After an apology about the letter being sent to the wrong school she said she is sending someone to observe Ellie at school and she will hopefully get into school to observe Ellie herself too....

We went and spoke to the head to tell her the news and we can't work out why the CYPS woman has changed her mind so suddenly. The head is going to ask her though...I would like to be a fly on the wall when that happens. Now I just hope that the women doesn't come into school with her mind already made up about my girl....

I have read lots about Autism over the past 6 months or so and read about the fights people go through to get their child assessed and a diagnosis and I really didn't think the same would happen to us....It has. The past few weeks have seen me angry, frustrated, let down and now happy that people are finally listening to us! It feels like we are getting somewhere.

The Children's Meditations in My Heart - Book review!

Ellie my youngest hasn't been the best at going to sleep....She always thinks there is something more important to do than sleep. I saw a lovely book late last year on a few blogs called The Children's Meditations in My Heart and it sounded lovely. I was lucky enough to receive a copy to review and we have been trying it out over the last week.....

From ‘Hygge’ to parenting, the Danish way of doing things is often widely talked about and it would appear that bedtime is no different.

The Children’s Meditations in My Heart by Gitte Winter Graugaard is a collection of four meditations for parents to read to their children. Graugaard’s book shows parents how to teach their child the importance of self-esteem and self-love, enabling them to drift off into calming, reparative sleep, their hearts full with love.

The meditations are;

I fill my heart with love.

From my heart, I send love.

My cloud is full of love.

With the universe, I share my love.

I was open to giving this a try with my girl....My fella thought it was a bit airy fairy and new age but when the book arrived I let Ellie have a look through and saw her smiling when reading it....I could tell by her face that she was interested. 

I have never done any meditation before but there is a guide at the beginning of the book with some tips and instructions which were really helpful....

It is just lovely.....Heartwarming and even reading them to Ellie relaxes me.

I have been reading it to Ellie most nights this week and it is helping her relax at night time. The book is easy to read and is so different to what we usually read on a night but it seems to be working....She is a lot calmer and is more willing to go to sleep....

Ellie is not good at talking about her emotions....We think she has some sort of Autism. She has a support worker who comes into school to talk to her once a week which is a great help but when reading this book she has been opening up and telling me more about how she feels about school and life in general....It has been a fantastic breakthrough for us.

This book might not help all children....My teen thinks it's ridiculous but now my fella is coming around to the idea of it....Ellie loves it and has asked a couple of times to read "the love book" herself....She will sit on the sofa with a big smile on her face.

This book is available from Amazon. £3.03 for the Kindle version, £12.95 for the hardcover and £11.36 for the paperback....

We were sent this book free of charge in exchange for our review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. 

Feeling left out at school....

A couple of weeks ago at school Ellie and her class were doing an activity. The had to write on a paper hand how they felt about school and Ellie wrote "I don't belong at this school" or something very similar. Someone saw this and showed the head teacher. 

The head teacher had a chat with Ellie and she just clammed up like she does. She wouldn't say anything. As soon as I found out what had happened I had a chat with Ellie....It was honestly like pulling teeth to get anything out of her but the gist of it is that she sometimes feels left out at school....

A girl in Ellie's class is having a birthday party. All of the girls out of the class were invited apart from Ellie and another girl....There is a trip to somewhere and a sleepover. I don't want to say Ellie is being excluded because of her suspected Autism but it really feels like it as the other girl not invited has additional needs too...Why just exclude two of the girls. It's just cruel!

Ellie is in Year 6. The children are 10 and 11 years old. Friendship groups are made....I get at this age that not everyone is friends with everyone. Not everyone gets an invite to the party...Ellie understands this but all the girls apart from her and the other girl have been talking about the party and it has left Ellie feeling a little left out. I know I would feel the same too. 

Then when we were at soft play a couple of weeks ago we saw Ellie's old best friend. She moved schools when she moved house and she was telling Ellie all about how wonderful her new school was and how she made lots of fab friends....

I think these two things have came together and made Ellie feel like this about school. Ellie doesn't have a best friend that is a girl and she really want's one. As much as the girls talk to her they don't involve her fully in things....

Up until about year 4 Ellie played with the boys....They accepted her then they all got to an age where the boys and girls separate and then Ellie was left out in the cold. The boys didn't want her and the girls were already the best of friends. Ellie is struggling to fit in.....

I have told Ellie to just wait until she goes to the secondary school.....She will meet a lot of new people and find real friends. It happened with Becky....Out of about 30 people in year 6 she only speaks to a couple of them now but has a whole heap of new friends....

We went and had a chat with the head teacher who was worried about Ellie....The head is all about everyone being included and it's breaking her heart to think Ellie feels left out. She mentioned that she got Ellie to choose the hymn a few weeks ago in the assembly and saw how her face lit up and how happy she was to feel included....

The head said she's going to do some little things around school to make Ellie feel needed and appreciated. I did stress to her that I didn't want any of the other kids to notice the "special treatment" Ellie may get....Ellie hates being the centre of attention and is even reluctant to put her hand up to ask to go to the toilet in case people look at her....

Due to Ellie having suspected Autism a lovely lady comes once a week and works with Ellie helping with her emotional needs at school and has had a chat to her about the party and the feelings about not being included....Ellie doesn't like speaking about her emotions to most people but has really opened up to this woman so fingers crossed she can help....