Matilda

“Our beautiful daughter Matilda started to attend the Peter Pan Centre soon after her 2nd birthday. She had no formal diagnosis at the time but now has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Sarah was my first point of contact when I called the Centre. ‘Come and visit us and bring Matilda with you to see what she thinks too,’ she said. This warm and very welcome invitation set us at ease, as I had felt quite nervous about phoning up that first time.

We always knew our daughter would receive a diagnosis, but how do you explain it to people when you have nothing written on paper? ‘Matilda will do well here, I would tell you if I didn’t think she should attend’ Sarah said. Straight away, I knew she totally understood me as a parent. It was exactly what I needed and wanted to hear. From day one at the Centre, she was greeted with such warmth from all staff who, like us, saw that Matilda viewed the world differently from other children the same age as her, but saw how this made her special. Quite quickly life for Matilda stopped being about what she was not achieving and became about celebrating what she was achieving. ‘She’s got her hands messy today’, ‘she’s said all her numbers today’, ‘she’s tried yogurt today’ – all these things seem so simple and every day for most families, but to us, and Matilda, they were huge achievements that were worthy of being celebrated.
When she started at Peter Pan, Matilda was pre-verbal and found separating from us challenging. The staff put on activities that were specifically designed to engage Matilda’s interest and to calm her as quickly possible when she entered the playroom.

This made this transition easier for her and for us too as we had never before left her with anyone who wasn’t immediate family. We felt completely confident that the staff understood her needs and how these were best met while she was in their care. She could not have been in a safer or more nurturing environment.

We always wanted early intervention for Matilda because the world is an uncertain place, and for us, school options were fast becoming something we needed to consider. ‘Matilda is such a bright little girl,’ the staff would all tell me. ‘She’s been dancing and singing, she is such a character’, ‘she’s been chasing Michelle around the room both of them dressed as a super heroes’ – we all laughed together alongside Matilda, knowing what fun she was having.

She was making such beautiful progress at the centre that after much deliberation (and many, many conversations where Sadie and Kirsty had both eased our concerns by telling us the options we had regarding schooling) we decided that attending a mainstream pre-school was the right path for Matilda to take.

We cried tears of happiness and sadness on Matilda’s last session at the centre. We felt we were closing the book on such a beautiful chapter in her life, but we were excited to see where the next chapter would take her. After all, she had bloomed like a beautiful flower sharing her individuality and personality with the staff, who allowed her to express herself exactly how she needed. This gave us confidence that she could face the next challenge in her life head on and we should not underestimate what she is able to achieve.

Matilda is now a big sister to her little brother George, who she adores and they play together every day. She continues to attend a mainstream school and is now happy in reception class. Matilda is now able to communicate with intent and is quite the little chatterbox, she is extremely gifted in maths and has really enjoyed the process of learning to read, and is becoming more confident with her writing.

All of this we feel, would not have been possible if she had not attended the Peter Pan Centre. The truth is as a family, we all needed the Centre to help and support each of us.

What an amazing and unique place to have right on our doorstep.”

Lucy, Matilda’s mum