It's been two weeks since my last blog.

Here's a picture of Alex taken in school for a hand-drawn portrait. (I like it in sepia)

Alex hasn't been well since Saturday when we return from Ben's first Birthday party. Ben is Jeremy's best mate, Brian's son. The last time I saw Brian and Vicky (his wife) was when they came to Alex's first Birthday party.

It has been two days and his fever's quite persistent at a constant 37.5 degree and he has been coughing a lot.

My poor little boy is so lack of sleep because of the cough that he went to bed all by himself about an hour ago, only to be awaken by his cough again. He is so tired that he just fall right back to sleep. Oh dear, I hear him coughing again and just hope that he is well enough to travel on Wednesday.

Just checked on him and he is still very tired and went back to sleep. Anyway, we have some great news. Alex's speech is coming along and I heard him say "no go" when his dad wanted to go out to the shop this morning and he has been very talkative since my last update.

Neel from TASS came to see us on Friday and assessed Alex. She is quite impressed with him. She also recommended that we visit a few mainstream and special needs school in order to make a decision as to where we should place Alex next year. She also suggested that we should have Alex "statemented" as soon as possible as the process will take about six months. Whichever type of school we place Alex, they all need a statement for him. Once he has a "statement", it is our right and by law that the Government has to provide all the necessary facilities to ensure that his needs are met. There will be no excuse to say that there isn't enough funding for the school year etc.

There are two special needs schools in Bracknell and both about 15 minutes from us. Kennel Lane is a special need school for 5 years to 19 years and they open to children with ASD, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy etc. The other special needs school is a "half way house" between mainstream and special needs school. Rainbow centre is a reputable school accepting children with ASD and they are quite picky with the type of students they accept. The other option is mainstream school Holly Spring Infant (about 5 minutes from us).

Once we return from Florida, we will make all the appointments to see the schools. Both Jeremy and I are keen to put Alex in mainstream school but we are also afraid that he may not be able to catch up or bullied. It's a tough decision.

On a brighter note, Neel did mention that if we put Alex in mainstream and he is struggling, we can always change him to special needs. I just hope it's as simple as that but we will never know right now.

One thing that I am very reluctant to leave UK is that all the professionals working with Alex are very very good and caring. They are all paid for by National Health and Bracknell Forest County Council is considered as one of the best in the country for Special Needs.

We should go to Florida and look around before we make any comparison. This is not just a holiday!