Autism Charity Autistic Children ABA Wishing Well House

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She Did It! Friend of Wishing Well House Raises £1500! - 26/07/2008

Anita Watson demonstrated incredible courage when she did a solo parachute jump from a plane in aid of Wishing Well House. Supporters were there on the day to cheer her on and having faced a full day's training Anita had to pass an exam before she was given the go ahead to make her way to the plane. It was an amazing triumph and everyone watched in total admiration as she jumped from the plane single-handedly and then breathed a sigh of relief as the parachute opened successfully and she manouvered her way thousands of feet down to safety. Wishing Well House would like to thank Anita for being so brave and for all her efforts and support for our charity.

Anita Watson Jumping Solo From A Plane In Support of Wishing Well House Please Support Her - 30/05/2008

Friend of the trustees Anita Watson will be jumping solo out of a Cessna 206 plane from 3500 feet on Saturday 7th June at around 4pm in order to raise money for Wishing Well House. When asked why she decided to take such a giant leap for the charity Anita said: "This is something I have wanted to do for many years and I can't think of a better reason for doing it! Having met Lucien, I now have more of an understanding of just how much this type of teaching could benefit the children and I wanted to do what I could to help."

Lucien Coulon, the inspiration behind the charity is autistic and his Mum Regina is one of the trustees. Commenting on Anita's amazing courage she said: "I cannot thank her enough for what she is doing to raise money and awareness for Wishing Well House, it is a wonderful gesture and Anita will certainly be at the top of our list to join us when we raise enough money and open the doors to welcome our first pupils".

Anyone wishing to support Anita's parachute jump can do so by logging on to www.justgiving.com/anitawatson to make a secure online donation. The parachute jump will take place at The Parachute Centre Ltd, Tilstock Airfield, Whitchurch, Shropshire SY13 2HA. Hope to see you all there.

An Extraordinary Person - 10/04/2008

Many of you will have seen the programme last night on Channel 5 about Stephen Wiltshire, which once again helped to raise awareness about autism, and thankfully made the point that the majority of children with autism do not possess savant syndrome, where extraordinary mental abilities are prevalent.

As a child, Stephen was mute and did not relate to other human beings. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language, uncontrolled tantrums and lived entirely in his own world.

At the age of five, Stephen was sent to a school for children with special needs, where it was noticed that the only pastime he enjoyed was drawing. It soon became apparent he communicated with the world through the language of drawing; first animals, then London buses, and finally buildings. These drawings show a masterful perspective, a whimsical line and reveal a natural innate artistry.

Aged eight, Stephen started drawing cityscapes after the effects of an earthquake (all imaginary) as a result of being shown photographs of earthquakes in a book at school. He also became obsessed with cars and illustrations of cars at this time (his knowledge of them is encyclopaedic) and he drew most of the major London landmarks.

His teachers encouraged him to speak by temporarily taking away his art supplies so that he would be forced to ask for them. Stephen responded by making sounds and eventually uttered his first word - "paper." He learned to speak fully at the age of nine.

On last night's programme he accurately drew the London skyline from memory following a 15 minute helicopter ride over the capital city.

Just as art unlocked Stephen's verbal skills, Wishing Well House is planning to use music and movement to help children with autism to communicate and to eventually help them to use speech. It has been proven that song can help to improve verbal communication and social skills.

To learn more about Stephen or to purchase his art log on to
Stephen Wiltshire

National Autism Week - 03/04/2008

As it's National Autism Week we felt that this was the perfect time to announce our search for a child with autism in the NorthWest of England who would like to take advantage of free one to one tuition. Based on the Fylde coast, Wishing Well House has just been awarded a grant that will help towards providing two teachers that will deliver tailor made education programmes to two children in the Lancashire region. We already have one child in place and if you are the parent of a child with autism then we want to hear from you. Wishing Well House currently holds music and dance classes on Sundays at a dancing school in Blackpool and we will shortly be introducing one to one music classes for children with autism where we will create individualised programmes to suit each child. Music is a proven way to help children on the autistic spectrum to learn to communicate and in some cases begin to speak. Anyone interested should contact us via email to info@wishingwellhouse.co.uk or telephone 0845 638 1810.

Book Launch in Support of Autism - 12/01/2008

Over the festive period I read a wonderful new book due for publication on February 28th 2008. I laughed and cried and could identify with so many situations experienced by Christopher and Nicola, the parents of David who is autistic....their love, their frustrations and the continuing ignorance of many people about autism and the difficulties of caring for a child with autism and the impact on their families. The author Chris has said that he will endeavour to raise awareness wherever relevant and possible for the work of Wishing Well House and we, in turn, are happy to recommend this wonderful book to our friends and supporters. As an authorised seller we have been offered this book at a discount and for every book we sell there will be a donation made to Wishing Well House. The book will retail at £6.99 and we can offer it to you for £6.50 inc postage within the UK. So if you would like to pre-order your copy please email info@wishingwellhouse.co.uk
Here is more information about the book.

A Real Boy
How Autism Shattered Our Lives – And Made A Family From The Pieces
Christopher Stevens with Nicola Stevens

“This wonderfully honest book tells us a great deal, not only about
autism, but also about the extraordinary tolerance and unselfishness
that is born out of unequivocal love. At the same time, it reveals
some uncomfortable truths about the struggle it takes to access the
rights of those with disabilities in our so-called civilized society.”
- Jane Asher, President of the National Autistic Society

A Real Boy is the incredibly moving story of one couple’s
experiences bringing up their severely austistic son,David.
• There are 535,000 autistic people in Britain (about 1% of the population)
• The condition is a thousand times more common than in the 1950s
• A further 2 million people either live with an autistic person or help to care for one

David is a happy, healthy and affectionate eleven-year-old boy. But he’s also autistic: unable to speak more than a few words; barely capable of expressing his most basic needs; oblivious to danger; blind to other people’s emotions. A Real Boy is David’s story, and that of his parents who are raising him with humbling courage, love and humour. As they say, loving an autistic child is easy, but living with one is harder than could ever be imagined. It is a book that will make you laugh and cry, and a testament to ordinary people coping with extraordinary circumstances.

Author details:
Christopher Stevens is a writer and journalist. He has been a senior sub-editor at The Observer for the past ten years. Nicola Stevens is a qualified careers adviser, specialising in working with teenagers. Together they have two sons, and live in Bristol. They are available for interview.

PB • £6.99
Publication date: 28 February 08

We Won - Wishing Well House Awarded Lottery Funding! - 02/12/2007

Following the huge disappointment on Monday 26th November when we lost the head to head for Lottery funding against a school in Cumbria, it was euphoria on Friday, when Granada Television turned up on the doorstep of Wishing Well House trustee Regina Coulon, to surprise her with a cheque for the full £40,000 for being the charity runner up with the most phone votes out throughout the week.

Through floods of tears Regina said: "It's been a very emotional week, everyone has worked so hard and friends, family and people we have never even met were phoning their votes in to try and help us win. When we didn't get the vote on Monday we felt so disappointed, not just for the children we are trying to provide music classes for, but for everyone who had shown such passion and support for our project. So to get the full £40,000 on Friday is the best Christmas present we could ever have wished for. Thank you to everyone for picking up the phone, we couldn't have done it without your help, in particular that of our new patron Laura Critchley who promoted the competition to all her fans. In the meantime, we hope the charities that weren't successful throughout the week will benefit from the TV coverage and hopefully local businesses in their areas will be prompted to help support these very worthwhile causes."

Wishing Well House provides dance and movement classes every Sunday in a room provided free by the Whittaker Centre in Blackpool. However, the charity will now invest in sensory equipment, specialist music therapists and musical instruments in order to teach the arts to children with autism. It is believed that many autistic children are pitch perfect and in America, several experts in the field of autism have used music as a way to help the children improve communication skills and social interaction, with many of them learning to speak through singing. For more information on the classes telephone 0845 638 1808.

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