Can you support us?

Donate to Tree of Hope today so that we can continue to help children

Tyler is 2 years and 9 months from Portrush in Northerrn Ireland and has severe developmental delay including autism which is characterised by his lack of speech. Tyler had a few words, but at 14 months he went completely silent. Whilst he now babbles, and makes some sounds, he still has no real words. This can cause him to be frustrated and make him lash out.

This affects all parts of his life. He has sensory issues which mean that he has difficulties with food, certain sounds, keeping his shoes on and much more. Because of his issues with food, Tyler is anemic and can be very pale and tired at times, but when he goes to bed he often just lies there without sleeping.  Doctors have suggested that this could be a sign of some sort of depression and him wanting to hide away from the world. As you can imagine, hearing that your two year old is depressed because they can’t cope with the world is just devastating – I have to help him!

I have fought hard over the last year or so to get Tyler as much help as possible through the NHS. He has been referred to more than ten different departments, but no one up to that point had given me any successful ways to help him.

After his diagnosis I pretty much had a breakdown because I didn’t know how I could help my son. Then a TV programme gave me a glimmer of hope. The show demonstrated how Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the natural science of understanding and shaping a child’s behaviour to help them meet their potential. I cried my eyes out as I watched the programme because I could see so many children like Tyler and I could understand the despair parents felt. But by the end, I was crying with happiness because I finally had some hope that things could get better!

Some NHS speech therapists here use elements of ABA, but on the whole this therapy is not offered on the NHS despite it being scientifically proven to work and it being the leading therapy for severe autism in the United States.

Following the recommendations of other families, I decided to work with Pathway to Learning who are an ABA consultancy firm based in Northern Ireland. Their specialists have carried out a very detailed assessment of Tyler and have devised a specific programme based around developing his strengths and overcoming his weaknesses. The programme is implemented by his ABA therapist Geraldine, who has over twelve years experience, and who comes to our house 3 times a week. The PTL team constantly analyse the statistics of Tyler’s progress so that they can develop the programme to suit him.

We started implementing the programme with Tyler a week ago and already the progress is unbelievable. Tyler is trying to say more words and his attention span is increasing. Most importantly though, Tyler is really enjoying it. When Geraldine walks in, he lights up and can’t wait to get to his play room. It’s fantastic!

Asking for help is not always easy, but when it’s a choice between your pride and your son’s voice it’s a no brainer. Also, by raising awareness of Tyler’s story, I hope to show how much ABA is needed here.

So, please support Tree of Hope so that they can help Tyler.

Support Tyler

Request a callback

Fields marked with an * are required

Fields marked with an * are required