As I drove to collect my son the next morning, I thought to myself  "he will be fine once I get him back to my brother's and he starts to play with his cousin" Sadly this was not the case, he was really quite traumatised by his time with his mum. I think she had become some what detached from him in the few short months that we had been in Scotland. She had been working in a local bar and by all accounts living the high life, she had forgotten what it felt like to be a mum. Although I had told him he was only staying for a little while,  and we would both be returning to Scotland,  I am sure he thought it might be a permanent arrangement  It does not give a very good impression of his relationship with his mum but at the time I think she had some deep seated emotions about having a child with autism. Not because it was autism,  although as I have said before I am sure she herself is on the spectrum,  he could have been born with another set of life challenges and it would probably have garnered the same reaction. For her I think, when her dreams of being a mother did not fit the reality, it was too over whelming.

She did not,  and has not,  talked to me about this so I can only guess,  but the mother and child bond did not properly form. It was left to me to somehow be both parents to him.

He did not come out of his state of "shut down" for some days,  it was not until I told him we would return home early that he started to get back to his old self. I arranged with his mum for one more visit,  the next day of two hours,  and then we would head home. It was like all the progress we had made in those four months had been wiped out. I had learnt my lesson,  to never take any signs of progress for granted,  to never put him in a position that could jeopardise all the good work everyone was doing. I think his mum learnt a lesson too. Unless she was willing to work a little harder at their relationship this was always going to happen.

After I collected him he stuck to me like glue,  I only got some time to myself  when he fell asleep,  but it took what seemed like an age before he did fall asleep. The next morning I explained very carefully to him what was going to happen and looked deep into his eyes to see if there were any signs he understood, not a flicker. I then took him to the local supermarket to buy the food he liked to eat whether it was good or bad for him I had to get something into his belly.  I seem to recall he had chocolate muffins for breakfast that morning washed down with a kit kat. Reluctantly I took him to see his mum, comforted by the thought,  it was only for two hours. I carried him from the car explaining over an over " I will be back in two hours then we will be going back to Scotland. okay? ".No reply. She took him from me and held him in her arms and I think she held him like that the for the whole two hours. When I came to get him he leant ever so gently towards me gradually detaching himself from his mother. I could see the hurt on her face. The seriousness of the situation was finally sinking in ...