Hi my name is Deborah Kelly. I am a Mum to two beautiful children. Nathan who is nearly four years old. He is a very happy and healthy little man and also has a diagnosis of Autism!! He is now pre-verbal with some physical issues both related to autism and medical, from birth. He sleeps and eats very well and is such a delight to have in our lives.. Nathan was diagnosed at 22 months old after being under the EIT team from approx 14 months.. This didn't come as a big surprise to us and we had prepared ourselves for this outcome..  I had a very difficult pregnancy and equally a horrendous birth with an emergency Cesarean section. We are very lucky to have him here with us. Early on Nathan was a very content baby but as the weeks went on, he would wake with what seemed like night terrors and also had acid re-flux. Developmentally things seemed to be going "normally" we had a couple of words, lots of smiles and he even took his first steps at eight and a half months. Big turn of events and what we believe could have been the cause of Nathan's regression. At 9 months our little man became very sick, he was hospitalised for five days with the Rota virus, he lost 7lbs in just 3 days and we watched our little man disappear. No more smiles, eye contact, words, it was all gone. All he wanted was to be held, i couldn't put him down for a second and he was screaming. From that point on coming home from the hospital our world was turned up side down, bringing him in a car, meeting new people, being in bright places, being in loud places, it's like his whole world had changed.

Now 3 years on our little dude is starting to come back to us :) We have decided to home school Nathan as having 1 to 1 really works for him, we now have up to 20 words that he uses and understands, he is getting fascinated with numbers. He is so affectionate to all of us, really starting to see his sister too, wants to interact with her more and more. We couldn't be happier with how he is doing! 

Also we have our little girl Erica who is six years old. She is extremely bright and a very happy little girl.  She is in senior infants in her second primary school and doing really well at present.

She is currently under the school age team with a possible diagnosis of autism she would have a lot of issues based around anxiety, socialising and sensory issues. In all our little woman is a treasure, she tries so hard with her brother and we think not having the "normal" sibling relationship or bounding has really effected how she feels about herself and why she finds socialising very difficult with kids of her own age. Put her in a room with adults and she would chat for hours!   

I have joined Áirc Midlands as a Mullingar Rep in October of 2017. My role first in Áirc is a parent, a volunteer, and Public Relations Officer. I enjoy everything i do so much, weather it be leading a horse at horse riding, decorating cookies with the kids at our parties, painting pictures. They are a fantastic organisation. It's so great to meet like minded people that know what it is like to have children with additional needs.

The support alone for parents, children and there families has made our lives so much easier on a day to day basis. We look forward to further family events and parent meet ups!! I am happy to be contacted by text on 085-7073264 if anybody ever needs a chat or info, happy to be sharing our journey so far if it helps!!