Watlington

This is a blog I've been meaning to write for a relatively long time, but I haven't gotten to it. In a way, this blog is one of the most important ones I'm writing. It's about an amazing family that lives in Watlington, a small village with a population of about 2000, located about 16 miles outside of Oxford (and yes, thatched roof cottages actually DO exist. They're pretty cool.). I stayed Davina (Davy) and Geoff Bannister and their 2 children, Laura and Stevie, for 2 nights while I was visiting Oxford.

This is Laura, and she's 7 years old. She loves to read and play on the computer. Her favorite book is "Eat Your Peas." Her mom, Davy, thinks that she's going to grow up and become a thief because she has a very subtle way of snatching food off the grocery store shelves and from the counters at home.

This is Stevie, and he's 5 years old. He enjoys running around chasing soccer balls (footballs), and helping his mom unload the dishwasher. In this picture he's standing in a pair of his mom's shoes. He likes to try on everybody's shoes.

Both Laura and Stevie have a disease that is becoming more and more prevalent in today's society. They are both autistic. I learned a lot about autism in the 2 days that I spent with the Banister family. Autism is a sensory perception disorder that affects all senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch and taste all get jumbled in the brain. This makes it very hard for the children to learn how to communicate with other people and for people to communicate with them. This means that the house has to be extraordinarily child proof because the kids might not understand the phrase "Don't put that in your mouth".

One theory about why autism is so prevalent now is that it is cause by long term use of antibiotics and birth control by the mother. These prescription drugs can leave toxins in the mother's digestive track for years. During pregnancy, the toxins are transmitted to the unborn child through the umbilical cord and enter the child's digestive track. The intestines pass the toxins into the child's blood stream and this causes damage to the brain as well as the digestive system. Laura and Stevie have very sensitive digestive systems and are on special diets and supplements to detoxify their digestive track.

I don't have any picture of Davy and Geoff because both of them are constantly on the move, either working, taking care of the kids, cooking or cleaning. It's a lot of work, but they manage it all with amazing grace and perseverance. Through all of this, they were wonderful hosts for me for the 2 nights I spent with them. They are a busy, but happy family, which is amazing given that the divorce rate for parents of autistic children is 80%. I think this is because they found the right method of raising their autistic children. They are home schooled using a program called Son-Rise, which is a parent-led, play focused, home schooling program, which is managed by having a number of facilitators that come in to play with the kids 7 days a week. There are a lot of autism treatment programs, but Davy and Geoff chose this one because it didn't have the words "coping with your autistic child". They were looking for a program that valued the child and celebrated the unique abilities of autistic children. The program is based on building social skills first with the expectation that the cognitive skills will follow. Children can recover from autism and grow into unique and well funtioning adults, but it is a long and tedious process. Laura and Stevie are well on their way. Both of them are very sweet and loving, but they are a handful right now.

If you want to learn more about Laura and Stevie and the Bannister family, you can click here to view their website.