I haven’t always been a wee crabbit wummin (although my family may say otherwise!) but it is someone that I have had to become in order to obtain the help and support that my son needs to live his daily life.  This Blog is my attempt to share our story, to give an insight into what it is really like to have a child with additional support needs (because it’s not all bad!) and hopefully to help others along the way.  It will contain my ramblings on life and my opinions on various matters and I hope that, even if you don’t agree with it, that you will appreciate my perspective because I would appreciate yours.

So, who are the Crabbit Family?

My name is Fiona and I have been a stay at home Mum for the last few years.  It was difficult to balance working life with the great many appointments that made up H’s Diary and became impossible when we had to fight my employers to try and obtain a decent education for him.  Fortunately, our battles were not in vain and H is now happy and settled in a wonderful school – but you will learn more about that later!

My husband, Calum, and I met when we both volunteered with Special Olympics when we were teenagers.  Little did we know what the future had in store for us!  Calum works full time, and then some, in order to provide for our family.  He is a retinoblastoma survivor (eye cancer) and can tell you just how cruel children can be when you are ‘different’.

Our daughter, Miss B, is 13 and I am told she will become human again one day!  Miss B’s life revolves around music, dance, drama and the occasional bit of homework… sometimes all at the same time!  She is the most fantastic big sister and we are extremely proud of her and look forward to sharing more about her in this Blog.

H is our 12 year old son and he has an alphabet of labels thanks to a brain injury.  H was born after a text book pregnancy and delivery and I knew as soon as he was placed in my arms that there was ‘something’ not quite right.  It took almost 3 years, missed milestones, lots of Doctors and tests for us to discover that H had had a stroke at around 26 weeks of pregnancy and has severe PVL.  H has defied the odds and all the predications that they made for his future and is now a handsome, charming, bright young man who is large as life and twice as noisy!   H endured a pretty woeful time in mainstream Primary School and is now enjoying life in at his High School which is a National Centre of Excellence.