My husband and I often joke that parents of special needs children should work for the United Nations as peacekeepers, such is the diplomatic role that we constantly have to undertake. How many international disputes could be avoided with reward charts and reflection areas? Stop bombing each other and you can have a sticker...

At the moment our current battlefield involves both of our children. Our son likes to play by himself in his own little bubble, lining up his cars or pushing his train. Any approach is usually met with a scream and a thump. Our daughter, on the other hand, wants to be involved in everything. Because she has delayed play skills she doesn't find things to play with herself and always wants to play with what our son has as it looks so much fun. It is a delicate balancing act! On one hand, why should our son not be able to play with his toys by himself? On the other, why should our daughter not be able to join in? Who knows - give me Iraq any day!

On a different note, I had a really interesting conversation with our son's consultant today. She is going to refer us to the community behavioural unit to help with his sometimes volatile behaviour, in an attempt to nip it in the bud before it becomes a real problem. She is also going to make an appointment for us to see an Autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorder specialist. Originally the consultant had suggested to wait six months to see whether his obsessions would decrease if and when his language improved, as we don't know whether his foibles are ASD or language disorder related. The more that I understand about it the more I believe that he is on the Autistic Spectrum somewhere or other. At the moment he has a thing about threads and labels on clothes and his socks have to be completely crease free, resulting in his shoes coming on and off about half a dozen times until they are just right. We will have to wait and see but at least the wait will not be so long now.

I also received a letter today from our MP regarding the continuing saga of our daughter's and her friend's therapy provision, or lack of, at school. I don't know if we are exceptionally lucky with our MP but she has been really helpful. Having seen the letters she has been writing on our behalf it definitely feels as though things are in the process of being sorted out. Will keep you updated!