Christmas 2007 came and went and my son's visits with his mother were successful. They spent about four or five hours of good positive time together on three separate occasions. It felt like both he and his mother were excepting the situation and, odd though it might have felt to him, he seemed to have found a place in his mind for thier new style relationship. A struggle for any child, but for a child with autism I suspect that once the situation is assessed, processed, and looked at from all angles it can be accepted. That is one of my son's best attributes; his ability to move on, although his initial shock at any new facet to his life is felt very keenly. He does have the capability to see beyond life's upsets to a better place, even if it is not the desired place.

 Our immediate future was set, at least for the next eight or nine months. I would study to get my taxi license and my son would spend each day becoming more and more familiar with his new life. I was able to take him to see his mother on several occasions as my life now centered around his. The next big challenge was to be when I was ready to start work again. The issue of my licence and start day coincided with the school summer holidays. I had to find some childcare so I could work. Not long after arriving in Scotland, and on the advice of the child psychologist, I had joined the local autistic society. For a small fee I would have access to a summer play scheme (a place he loves to be)that they ran for five weeks in the summer holiday, although they could only allocate him three weeks. It was something, and it left me with only another three weeks to worry about. My local council subsidize leisure centres all over the city and they all run a summer camp for children. With the help of another charity which supported children like my son I signed him up. The idea being that the charity would visit the summer camp and explain to the staff all the things to expect from an autistic child. My local council are very vocal in their championing of 'inclusion', as they call it. Their claim was that no matter who you are you will be catered for.

 Sadly, what they said and what they actually did were quite different. It was explained very carefully to the staff at our local leisure centre that my son needed and would benefit greatly from having a clear menu of the days events, and that is was better to write it in his presence. Which, as I now understand it, is autistic childcare 101. This did not happen. Also, he was unsupervised when changing for swimming. I had previously explained that he would need help to dress and undress and also dry himself properly. This caused him great distress as he was being teased and bullied by the non autistic children, of which there were many. They did, however, have the presence of mind to call me so I could collect him. I tried two more days then pulled him from the camp, on the third day he was there for about 20 minutes. Another lesson learned: never again would I trust anything I was told by anyone in connection with my son unless I had first hand knowledge of their advertised abilities. I started work proper on the day he went back to school, happy in the knowledge I had chosen the right profession ...