Wednesday Whitterings

On Saturday my husband said to me "we need to think about moving to England", I said "yes! we need to move  before Dimitri is 14!". 


Then I woke up.

The feeling of excitement and relief was replaced with - not much to be honest. I used to be much more enthusiastic about change being possible, now, I'm taking the "bury your head in the sand" attitude. I wonder if there is a government policy entitled "wear parents down with red tape and bullshit until they give up and fade away into the background"? I feel like I'm fading.


Is my belief that "things in the UK" would be better(for Dimitri) unfounded? Hum, don't think so, but maybe that is just a foreigners view of "things in Greece".
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On Sunday we went to the party held by Noesi, the internet hub in Greek for all things pertaining to children with disabilities. It was created by Aggelos Koutoumanos, and I, like many other parents I'm sure,  am  grateful to him for providing central place for information and a place for parents to meet, which was nigh on impossible to find otherwise.


I managed to meet up with Marilena who I haven't seen for ages (briefly saw Riko who was very busy in the ball pit) and met Poppy, her husband and two beautiful daughters for the first time in person! As it turned out though, Dimitri was feeling less than social, he is not keen on sharing his toys resources parents, and took turns dragging either me or hubby away from the action to a quiet corner where he was happy to sit with his iPod. 


A couple of weeks ago I got the Understanding and Changing Behaviour in Angelman Syndrome interactive dvd (I don't like the interactive dvd style by the way, and the videos won't open with Google Chrome, but do with internet explorer). This kind of excessive attachment was mentioned as being frequent in Angelman Syndrome. As shown on the videos, if two people are chatting and ignore the third person with AS, you are likely to get your hair pulled or some such thing. I probably don't have to tell this to other parents of kids with Angelman syndrome.....


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I was looking up where to buy a book entitled "Developing and Using a Communication Book", cos' you know, after 8 yrs of having a communication book for Dimitri, it's probably about time it was laid out in a more functional manner, instead of the random scattering of laminated velcro-ed pics.


In my search I came across the site Inclusive Technology where I also happened to see this
 the Inclusive Slate!


Tablet pc with Windows 7.


 I wish I'd seen it before, it would have saved me a lot of time surfing the web for a tablet pc that works with Windows 7. I can't see any particular brand name on it, so no reviews available of how well it functions or how sturdy it is, but looks like I could put The Grid 2 (communication software available in Greek) on it. The other option I had been looking at was the HP slate 500 (not available just yet - here at least). HP Touch Smart computers have been used successfully in schools in the US, I'm assuming they work out cheaper than some other touch screen computers which are used in special education? (check these computers at Inclusive Technology).


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Well, that's enough waffling for one day.