Why you should use the Hearts and minds cash back scheme? My name is Sarah Pounder, I’ am 34 years old I live with my partner Dale and our three children. James is 11, Adam is 9 and Joel is 4. James has a diagnosis of severe autism he has profound learning difficulties, sensory processing disorder and ADHD. Bringing James up has been very difficult for us because his behaviour is very challenging. James’ autism has really affected is ability to communicate and learn naturally. When your child is given a diagnosis of autism you are very hopeful that somehow the special educational needs schools will teach your child and bring them up to speed, I know I have. I thought that when James got a place in a special needs school that he was in good hands and that they would have the specialism to teach him how to speak, looking back I couldn’t have been further from the truth. I wish that the things I know now, I wish that I had known them back then. James went to a special needs school from the age of 3 years old. We were very optimistic and excited that finally James would get the correct help and support, it was only has time unfolded that we realised that this was the start of a long hard battle. James did not make any significant progress whilst being in a local authority special needs school; in fact things went from bad to worse. James’ behaviour escalated in violent head banging, poo smearing and there were still no signs of him talking. Dale and I decided to send James to a non maintained local authority school; this school taught applied behaviour analysis (ABA therapy). The result were outstanding, he made a huge amount of progress. Dale and I had been to tribunal and high court three times only to be denied this therapy for James, despite sufficient evidence supporting his progress. James then had to go back to the special needs school that he previously went to. James had been back there again for 3 years and once again and made no progress. Dale and I were not happy with the way things were going, things were starting to go pear shaped. So we got in touch with Ian McGrath who is the founder of the Hearts and Minds Challenge Charity he then introduced us to one of the charities advocates. She has helped our family massively, she has helped us to understand legal Jargon, guided us through procedures, kept us calm with her sound advice which, reduced our stress levels and the worry of all the what if’s. Her support was a massive strength for us. Hearts and Minds provide this and really it’s a first class service, it’s priceless and it’s really is worth its weight in gold. Hearts and minds have helped us get James the full time ABA therapy programme that he needed and once again he his starting to make progress. I know that our family is not the only one out there, that has had problems with the education system, it is happening all the time. If you haven’t already experienced any problems yet it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen to you. I have never come across a charity that provides this much help and support and we are eternally grateful. Hearts and minds do a lot of events to keep the charity going and to help families like ours by funding advocates which give help and legal support. Local authorities will make you fight tooth and nail to access the correct help and for your child. They purposely baffle parents with legal jargon and procedures and most of us don’t stand a chance. This is why it is so important that we all try to do our bit to. If we all try to use this cash back scheme when ordering anything online a small percentage goes to the charity, it then means that this charity can then afford to fund advocates, like the one who helped our family. All that you need to do is go through the hearts and minds cash back scheme, search and order your items and it will then tell you a percentage of what cash back you can earn. It does not cost you anything to do this. In fact I ordered a dishwasher and got it delivered straight to my front door. They even carried it into the kitchen for me. I have earned cash back and not even had the stress of dragging the kids to the shops. Anyone can order through the hearts and minds cash back scheme so please tell family and friends about it too. I think this charity is a wonderful charity and it is so important to makes sure that it succeeds, so please if can do your bit too it will make a huge difference. Thank you for listening and all the best to you all Sarah, Dale, James, Adam and Joel. X
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:25:33 +0000
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