Joseph S's quilt    (Quilt Completed)

Thank you

Joe loves his quilt, it arrived this morning and he's already snuggled reading in it - he keeps alternating between his book and examining the pictures on the quilt. Big thanks to everyone involved - Helen x"

Finished photos

Individual squares

Fabric

Card

Stitched by: Louise K Barnes

Biography

Joe arrived after a perfectly normal pregnancy and was our second child - his older sister (2 years older than him was showing signs of some delays but at first all seemed well - by 6 months old though we could see some of the same things - he was not meeting his early milestones and visually he was not tracking objects - we took him to see the same paediatrician who sees our daughter and he was given a presumptive diagnosis of Joubert Syndrome, after an MRI whem he was 3 and genetic testing for both children this was confirmed with an alteration to gene AHI1 as their causative gene. As Joe got older the autistic traits we had seen for a long time became more obvious and in order to get him the right support we had him assessed for autism - he got this secondary diagnosis this year although we have not been able to work out quite where he sits on the spectrum due to the complex nature of his other disabilities.

Joe is not yet walking on his own although he is trying very hard at the moment, letting go of one piece of furniture before reaching for he next, he gets around outside in a wheelchair which again he has been working hard on propelling for himself. Joe doesn't speak, but in the last year he has started to use lots more signs to communicate and he is starting to explore high tech communication.