Jamie’s Autism Journey

Our beautiful son Jamie is 3 and a half years old, Jamie has autism and is on the non-verbal end of the spectrum meaning he is unable to communicate. Although he can’t speak, every day he makes us laugh and fills our home with happiness. We know that Jamie is bright, but he needs help to unlock what’s inside. His autism means he finds it difficult to understand even the simplest of language, follow a simple instruction, communicate how he’s feeling, or what he wants or needs.

As Jamie gets older he's becoming more frustrated and its heart breaking for us, as we struggle to figure out what he wants. We worry constantly that Jamie may never speak, that he'll never call us Mamma of Dadda, never tell us he loves us, and worse if he's unwell he can't tell us why.

We have found a type of therapy that can help Jamie make sense of the world and hopefully lead to him being able to speak. However it is very expensive and not available on the NHS or via our Local Authority. ABA/VB is an early intervention therapy for children with autism. It has the best effect when given to children at an early age so it’s vital we get Jamie the help he needs now.

The therapy is play based and fun, so much so the child doesn’t even realise they are learning. What better way could there be to learn? ABA is specialised and the programme of learning is designed around the needs of the child and delivered by trained therapists. We hope the therapy will give Jamie a chance to manage and be able to participate when he starts school.

We are reaching out from the bottom of our hearts for help to get Jamie the help he needs. Every single donation, no matter how small will mean so much to us and if you can't donate please just raise awareness by sharing Jamie's campaign.

This campaign is about more than raising funds for Jamie’s therapy. It’s also about informing other parents who are going through the same that there are options out there, although we are not told about them because they are not made available to us. The more people raise awareness of the need for ABA therapy for our precious children with autism, the greater chance the government could one day give parents the option to take this therapy for their children.

Thank you once again for your support. We can’t put into words how grateful we are. We’ll keep you updated on Jamie’s progress

Please see the Updates section for details of fundraising activities you can join in with.

Please follow Jamie’s story on Facebook, Jamie’s Autism Journey. If you are interested in doing something to help raise money for Jamie’s therapy, please get in touch, we’re so thankful for your help. Some ideas could be to: Hold a coffee and cake morning with friends, join Kev on a 'Run for Jamie' (see updates section), do a sponsored silence, hold a wear your own clothes day at work, or any other way you can think of to help raise awareness of Jamie's campaign.