Autism Charity Autistic Children ABA Wishing Well House

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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.

London School for Children With Autism Needs Your Vote Today - 29/11/2007

PLEASE TELEPHONE 08702 433 902 NOW AND SUPPORT TREEHOUSE

Following your support by voting for Wishing Well House at the beginning of the week, when we were competing in The Big Lottery Fund’s ‘The People’s Millions’ programme – today we are asking you to support Treehouse which is also improving the lives of children with autism and the lives of their families.

TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education, was founded in 1997 by a small group of parents who were determined to secure an appropriate education for their children with autism. Today, TreeHouse runs a school in North London for 60 children and young people with autism and campaigns for better autism education nationally. They also undertake policy and parliamentary work, research to ensure autism is a national priority, support parents to campaign locally and offer training and consultancy on autism education.

TreeHouse, whose £80,000 bid will be aired on the ITV London 6 o’clock News today, Thursday 29th November, is hoping to gain funding for its ‘Landscape for Learning’ project in order to create a stimulating and inspirational outdoor educational space for its pupils. The area will be inhabited by native species of birds, wildlife and plants which children with autism, their siblings and families, local children and members of the local community can explore and enjoy.

TreeHouse’s Fundraising Manager, Claire Knapton James, said: “Children with autism benefit hugely from interaction with their typically developing peers and TreeHouse will develop existing partnerships with local school and community groups, creating opportunities for children to learn more about the natural world and to encourage understanding in how we can all help protect our environment for the future. So we are urging our local community to support us and vote for TreeHouse on the 29th November.”

PLEASE TELEPHONE 08702 433 902 NOW - Lines will be open between 9am and 12 midnight. ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number and will not make a profit from the votes.

Thank You To Everyone Who Voted - 27/11/2007

Congratulations to Sandside Lodge Special School!

Unfortunately, Wishing Well House heard today that they had not achieved enough phone votes for the televised competition last night to win the £40k Lottery Funding to buy music equipment for their arts project to help children with autism. Sandside Lodge Special School has been successful in their bid for £80k for a school playground. Trustee Regina Coulon said: "Obviously, we are hugely disappointed, especially as everyone worked so hard and so many friends and colleagues were so supportive. We would like to especially thank our new patron, singer Laura Critchley who contacted all her fans to tell them about the charity. Despite the disappointing result for us, we will continue to work hard to fund-raise in order to provide musical instruments and hire music therapsists that can help children with autism communicate and in hopefully in some cases... start to speak."

She added: "In the longer term we still have a dream to open an arts based school in NW England that will provide one to one tuition for children with autism. We desperately need permanent premises and we still need to reach that first milestone of £150k in order to get the school open. However, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sandside Lodge Special School and wish them every success with their new playground project and we would also like to thank everyone who supported us yesterday, we can't achieve this without you all".

PLEASE VOTE NOW - 26/11/2007

Stop Urgent - THE NUMBER TO CALL IS 08702 433 402
This is it, today is the day! You only have 15 hours to make a wish!
WE ONLY HAVE 15 HOURS TODAY (MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER) TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM.

Will you give 10p or up to £1 to help Wishing Well House win £40,000 of Lottery funding? Please say Yes as this could enable this charity to buy musical instruments, hire music therapists and purchase sensory equipment to help more children with autism communicate through music?

THE NUMBER TO CALL IS 08702 433 402

Showbizworks.com supports Wishing Well House, a small start up registered charity which aims to open a full time arts based school in providing one to one education for children with autism. The school is currently operating lessons every Sunday by a team of dedicated and committed volunteers, however they have inadequate resources and equipment. One Mother whose child attends the classes says: "This is the only time we have as a family for social interaction with our son, and for our son to interact with other children and I have noticed that he is now trying to speak for the first time in his life, so these classes are invaluable."

Tonight, Wishing Well House will go head to head with another charity on ITV's People's Millions (operated by The Big Lottery) at 6pm to win £40,000 of Lottery funding. The charity with the most phone votes will win the money. This the last hurdle....we have made it down to the last two from 1000 applications! But only one charity can win.

We are asking you to make two wishes today (Monday), in fact please do it now on Monday 26th November. When you vote, you are making a wish for the success of Wishing Well House and also take the time to have one personal wish for yourself or a loved one (hey one good turn deserves another).

Anyone, anywhere in the country can vote up to ten times from the same number and calls from land lines cost just 10p each. Please take 1 minute out of your busy Monday to help children with autism. Then pass this email on to 10 of your friends or suppliers who you think will help to support this worthy cause.

The number to call is 08702 433 402.
Please watch Granada Reports tonight or log on to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/peoplesmillions

Wishing Well House will know by Tuesday lunchtime if they have been successful in their bid. Please log on to www.wishingwellhouse.co.uk on Tuesday evening to see if the charity has been awarded the money.

Thank you so much........we know how busy Mondays are, but a 10p call (or even better, ten calls at 10p) will make a real difference.

Once you have voted and wished, send this email to the ten most likely people you know that would help in your address book and ask for their support. Send us an e-mail to let us know if you have supported and definitely let us know when your wishes come true. We will be adding to the roll of honour on the website as the day progresses.

Lucien, Jared, Niall, Harry and Troy the current children at the Sunday school along with their Mum's and Dad's thank you for your time and wish you a very Merry Christmas

Thank you too from The Trustees of Wishing Well House.

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