A Derbyshire Mum's fight to get her son an autism diagnosis

Derbyshire Mum Caroline has three boys, but from birth she noticed something different about Lewis. 

"He never slept, never fed well, never looked at us, and at 2 was still non verbal," says Caroline.   

They took him for a hearing test when he was two, and at the appointment Lewis began arm flapping and an assessment for autism was recommended.

Three years later and the family are still fighting to get a diagnosis, even though he has many issues:

"A few worries are no danger awareness, a poor diet of only brown and cream foods, no sleep, and delayed speech... and too many others to mention."

But because he has no diagnosis, he has no services.  But Caroline is fighting to help Lewis from every angle: he began a new assessment in a new area 6 months ago.

"We will never give up!"

She has also joined the Hearts and Minds Challenge to get her son an iPad by collecting old mobile phones.

"I think that an iPad would help Lewis interact, learn, help his speech, independence, and self help skills in life,"  she says.

Please support her mobile phone collection if you can:

https://www.facebook.com/events/423188507790118/

As if that wasn't enough, she is now making and selling beautiful jewellery to raise autism awareness and funds for Hearts and Minds.  Once again, her son was the inspiration, because she needed an ID bracelet for him in case he slipped away:

"Lewis lets go of my hand a lot, and I was so worried he would get lost on holiday, so I thought what a fab idea to make ID bracelets, then came a few ideas of jewellery and ideas just flowed from my head."

A child's ID bracelet

This is her jewellery page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Awareness-Jewellery-and-Safety-items-By-Caroline/283234721809964?hc_location=stream

Some more examples of her jewellery - all of which can be purchased by messaging her page.

Could an iPad help your child too?

If you live in Britain, simply collect 165 old mobile phones and the Manchester-based charity Hearts and Minds will exchange them for a new iPad.

Details here:

Website: : heartsandmindsphones.co.uk/
Facebook: facebook.com/HeartsAndMindsUK 

Twitter: @handmchallenge

Pinterest: Hearts and Minds

YouTube: HeartsAndMindsUK

Google+: Hearts and Minds

More about the charity here: Hearts & Minds Challenge