'Never give up on your autistic child'

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'Never give up on your autistic child': teenager scores amazing exam

success

CARLISLE, UK: An autistic teenager once labelled a " monster " by his

mother has pulled off a stunning sweep of exam passes.

, 16, a pupil at Carlisle's Newman School, learned on

August 26 that he had picked up seven GCSEs – all at grade C – and

four NVQ passes.

His mum, Sharon, gives much of the credit for his amazing success to

a " living angel " at his school.

She said: " No praise is high enough for the staff at Newman School

and, in particular, for his teaching support assistant, Kerrianne

son. She has been his lifeline for the past year and she was

also in tears at the school gate yesterday. As far as I was

concerned, one pass would have been a triumph – never mind 11.

" Kerrianne has now put off a round-the-world trip so she can help

settle into life at Carlisle College, where he is going to do

a computer course.

" She won't be getting paid for that. As far as I'm concerned, she is

an angel, " added Sharon, who lives with her husband, , and five

other children in Harraby, Carlisle.

The s were living in Rutland in the Midlands when

suffered a massive brain haemorrhage at the age of nine and spent

weeks in a coma in an intensive care unit in Cambridge.

Sharon said: " We were then told he would need an operation but his

chances of survival were only five per cent. But as they prepared to

take him to theatre, he suffered a heart attack.

" They carried out surgery a few weeks later. He came through it but

we were told he would never be the same again. He was weak down the

right side and spent the next year in a wheelchair.

" He had physio, but as he got stronger he became a monster. He

wrecked supermarket displays, destroyed furniture and even went for

me with a knife.

" The authorities wanted us to put him in a residential home. They

had effectively written him off. We could never have done that. "

was diagnosed with autism and has to take large doses of

medication. When living in the Midlands, fellow school pupils used

to refer to him as " the idiot. "

That all changed two years ago when the s moved to Carlisle

and enrolled in Newman School because of its " calm, peaceful

atmosphere. "

Sharon said: " Staff there were not fazed by his special needs. They

seemed to regard it as a challenge and bent over backwards to help

him. The pupils were great too.

" The amazing thing is that he's achieved his exam passes after only

being at Newman for four terms, rather than six. We only got him in

during December 2004 and then the floods came.

" That is really because of Kerrianne. She did more than could be

expected of anyone – and far more than she was ever paid for.

" She was by 's side throughout the day and, when it came to

revising for his exams, spent a week of her holidays writing out

some sophisticated crib notes.

" Now she's giving up more of her own time to help him settle at

Carlisle College. just thinks she's unbelievable.

" The one thing I would like to stress to all parents is: never give

up on your child – even if other people are prepared to. has

just proved that anything is possible. "

(Source: The Cumberland News, August 25, 2006)