At the beginning of August we moved house from Engadine to Balgownie in North Wollongong. The decision to move areas had been a tough one; here's how it came about.
Firstly we decided we needed to move house due to the poor disabled access we had for Jacob in our old house. We had so many steps and stairs that it was making it very difficult for Jacob to get around on his own and we could see his frustration at having to rely on us to enable him to go where he wanted. We decided to find a more suitable property in Engadine. We got going with all the renovations that needed to be done in order to put the property on the market.
During this time we were discussing with Alex's behaviour therapists where best to send him to school next year. I spent much time investigating our options and it was already obvious to us that Alex was not suited to going to a mainstream school due to his autism, his severe ADHD, his sensory needs and his challenging behaviour. We already had him down on waiting lists for a couple of Aspect schools, one in the Sutherlandshire and one in Corrimal, North Wollongong.
Brendan has been working in North Wollongong for a year, he works long hours, is on call 24/7 and we were seeing less and less of him due to long work hours and travel time.
Mid-way through term 2 we had an offer of a place for Alex from the Aspect South Coast school in Corrimal. This school has the reputation of being one of the best schools in Australia for children with a spectrum disorder. We had already visited it and been extremely impressed by what it could provide for Alex. Now came the tough decision of balancing the needs of all our children.
If we moved to North Wollongong it would mean finding a new school for Samuel and Jacob. They had been doing great at our local school, Marton Public School(MPS). It had surpassed all our expectations of what it could provide for both. We were beginning to feel part of a friendly and supportive community, the boys had made some great friendships and were comfortable and happy at the school. What MPS had provided for Jacob had been exceptional. They truly understood Jacob's CP only affects his physical self , that cognitively he is a very bright boy and they believed in him, his ability and his potential to learn the same as his peers. They supported all his needs whilst ensuring he was made to feel like any other child in his class.
Whilst we didn't want Samuel and Jacob to leave such a fabulous school we knew that we would be able to find a new school for them in the North Wollongong area, one that would be able to support Jacob's needs but we believed we only had one choice for Alex.
We therefore made the decision to move areas and have the bonus of being closer to where Brendan works...yay! more help with the boys for me.
We put our house on the market, sold it within a week, found one we liked within the same week and moved 6 weeks later. Talk about being busy!
The move went well, we've been in our new home for 7 weeks and we are all very happy here. Interestingly enough, Alex is the one we thought wouldn't cope well with the move and he's coped the best. In the first week he frequently told us "the new house is my favourite"!
Jacob is much more independant here due to most of the house being on one level and we can see how happy that makes him. Finally he is able to keep up with his brothers.
We're sad to leave Engadine and MPS but this has been a good move for us as a family and it's on to another chapter in the lives of the Carroll family.
We hope to stay in touch with our friends in the Sutherlandshire and you can follow Samuel and Jacob's new blog to see what they're up to - http://theadventuresofsamuelandjacob.blogspot.com.au/
Hopefully I'll get to make more regular updates...having three boys at school now surely means there's more of a chance I'll get on top of things?!
