Sound Therapy

Is it any coincidence that very helpful organisations have been set up by parents of children with disabilities, seeking to plug the gap they’ve experienced in the help that’s available. The Henry Spink Foundation is one (see the last post) and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation is another.

The CBF wants to see children and adults with severe learning disabilities, who are described as having challenging behaviour, having the same life opportunities as everyone else, including home life, education and leisure.

It was set up almost ten years ago by Viven Cooper, herself the mother of a child with rare Cri du Chat syndrome. For nine years Daniel lived at home and attended a local school until the situation became impossible. At his residential school his improvement was immediate which made Vivien wonder why this expertise hadn’t been accessible earlier. She started the CBF to try to ensure that information about challenging behaviour reaches those who need it.

There’s now a regular newsletter, information sheets and DVDs. For families there’s an email network and a family linking scheme. Finally, for professionals there’s a linking scheme which aims to make specialist information available to all who would benefit. If you haven’t yet been to their website it’s at www.thecbf.org.uk

It’s wonderful that people such as Henrietta Spink and Vivien Cooper feel moved to achieve some good from their experiences and personally I’m amazed that they have the energy left to do this.

For more information, please visit www.decoda.org