I haven’t posted for some time, I have had plenty to post about but it is more of the same, brushes with the law, the public intervening when Zach escalates in public. I don’t want to keep repeating how tricky it is accessing the community for adults who have complex needs until I have something positive to report!
I am in Manchester! A few weeks ago the Challenging Behaviour Foundation informed readers about a conference here, it is for those living with or working with learning disabilities and it is called ‘Fulfilling Potential and Supporting Better Lives’. The CBF were offering 5 complimentary tickets to the conference and very kindly gave me one.
It feels like the right time for me to come to a conference about this. One of my goals this year is to make some headway with setting up a Transition House. The purpose of this would be to start the process of Zach beginning to start transitioning to what his life will be in the future, a life where he has independence from his parents.
Initially Zach would just visit for a few hours at a time to build up familiarity and explore the house and hopefully feel comfortable there. We would gradually build up the amount of time he spends there. Transitioning is especially difficult for people who have autism, they upset expectations and routine and therefore cause extra anxiety.
Zach will always need 24 hour a day support but at home although he does a little to help he is pretty much the King and John and I are his minions! In the Transition House there will be expectations that he will help with the running of the home which will definitely come as something of a shock 😮
At the moment Hertfordshire doesn’t have anything like this to my knowledge but I hope that they will be receptive to the idea.
Tomorrow there should be a wealth of information about other such projects which have been successful and I really hope to go home with fresh ideas and confidence that this is something I can do!
It seems bizarre that I am here in Manchester to try to garner some ideas for Zach’s future when I am already worried about how he will cope without me at home tonight, and how I will cope not knowing how he is coping!
Fortunately John is on hand and is hopefully putting the finishing touches to Zach’s dinner at this precise moment!
I went for a wander to check out where the Conference is being held and as I put my hand in my pocket felt a slinky and a scoobie string, it made me smile! Anyone who knows Zach will know these are synonymous with him 🙂
thezachproject 