2018 Small Adventures and Big Outcomes

July 2018 Update

2018 has been dominated by the appeals process to get a more suitable school placement for Sofia’s needs whilst home schooling.  This is an intense process from which we are now starting to emerge from with a successful result and Sofia will be starting her new school in September 2018.

After we had the news that Sofia would be at the school she wanted in September, she changed dramatically.  I’ve never seen her looking so at peace with the world around her.

But it isn’t just the process itself that is intense and all consuming, but the outcome is big as well, it will have an enormous impact on our lives and our relationship as she becomes a full time boarder.  So the remainder of the year will be dominated by this transition to make it as smooth as possible for her.

Travel, however, has proven to be a hugely beneficial to Sofia, her confidence and her anxieties.  So 2018 is by no means devoid of its challenges, only they are smaller.

The first mission when the home schooling started was to get Sofia out walking and going to see places.  Travel thus far has been devoid of visiting places of interest simply because she has not been able to handle the environment or understand the process and a whole bundle of things we don’t even notice.  So we visited small local sites culminating in Harry Potter world where she managed to stay through to the end.

Harry Potter was a wonderful experience.   We will definitely be going back again and again over the years.

Traveling thus far we have been to Dubai, Sofia’s long weekend fly break, before the Tribunal hearing to get away from the mounting stress and it was here that for the first time Sofia wore goggles and learnt how to snorkle!

After the Tribunal a window of opportunity saw us head up to Scotland on the solo motobike.   Sofia was reaquainted with the motorbike and renewed her passion for them.  Sadly the journey was cut short so we will try to return before the end of the summer.

Having prepaved the the year with walking and site seeing, and the site seeing paying off, it was now for the big challenge of going on a hike, much the same as the journey to Africa, I was taking Sofia completely out of her comfort zone, giving her no choice but to face the challenges that she would be presented with.  The hike only lasted two days and as a first effort was a phenominal success for Sofia.

Wild camping in bivy bags was the new challenge for the Scotland adventure.  Completely out in the open.  It may take some getting used to the bags though!

The rest of the summer will hopefully see a return to Scotland and the hiking trail and then Sofia is off to school.   When I knew what was ahead for the year, I booked a proper holiday in October.  Some thing we haven’t done in 4 years.  A congratulations to both of us for making it through what will have been one of the toughest years we have had so far.  It will be a wonderful opportunity to look back over the last 4 years and reflect on the changes that have happened and how far we have travelled, literally!

So with Sofia at school what will be happening with Adventure with Autism?  That is something I will not be able to speak about until I’ve had time to adjust.  Only for now I am aware that I will now have the time and mental head space to really start developing the vision I started with and it irks me that I have not as yet fulfilled that promise to myself.  So keep watching this space – I hope to have clarity on this by the end of the year.

With dyspraxia and hyper mobility, hiking and carrying a back pack was a real challenge for Sofia, I am so proud of how well she did!

We travel and publish our adventures on social media to help raise awareness for autism. Sadly this costs money so if you would like to make a donation to help please visit: 

 https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1005498