Small, tiny things

Putting the alphabet in order

Sjoe.  What a week.  It’s not confirmed, but it looks like in just three days Nosh4Noah has raised over 100 hours of therapy for one incredible little kid.  That’s pretty mind-boggling.  To think that people literally around the world – both close friends and complete strangers – have stepped up to help.

Never in a million years did we think we’d manage this.  Neither Melinda, Bianca nor I are professional fund raisers.  As we’ve said, this isn’t an official NGO or Section 21.  We just wanted to help a friend and her gorgeous boy.  We haven’t done anything like this before and we’re all on enormous learning curves.

And yet people have been patient with us and so kind, so warm-hearted and so very, very generous.

I spent a bit of Friday night with Noah’s mum.  She was telling me a little about Noah’s therapy.  A lot of Noah’s autism-spectrum related reality generates frustration for him. For example, most 3 year olds understand the concept of ‘first this, then that’. In other words, if you first have a bath, then you can watch some Bob the Builder.

Of course, some 3 year olds aren’t interested in these kinds of compromises, and will try and project their own will onto the situation.  But in Noah’s world (and please forgive my very basic layperson’s understanding), the ‘first this, then that’ idea didn’t mean anything at all.   Can you imagine the frustration?  Not knowing that you will still be able to do something, but only once you’ve completed another task?

Specialised, focused therapy has changed this.  Noah now gets it.  And suddenly his folks have a way to connect with him and guide him through his day in a fundamentally powerful way.  A small, tiny thing that makes such a huge difference to them.

So to everyone who’s helped us get more of that for Noah: thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.