Corey E's quilt    (Quilt Completed)

Thank you

We have received Corey's quilt and when I opened it it took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and needless to say my son loved it! Corey loved the quilt as soon as he saw it as he recognized so many of his favorite characters! He even recognized his own name! He kept asking where I got it from and I told him some wonderful people handmade it for him but he didn't understand but still he recognised his name! :-)

We have been struggling a lot and have gone through a bad patch with Corey and school and his development so this really cheered us all up esp Corey, he wont go anywhere without it! My family also adore it and think it's a wonderful charity so may be joining in the stitching, as will I! I am currently finishing off my first square :-D So once again thank you soo sooooo so much it means a lot to us and you really made his day thanks xxxxxxxxx

Finished photos

Individual squares

Fabric

Biography

When Corey was born we thought we would lose him, I went into labour and the doctors couldn't find his heartbeat. They spent hours poking and prodding me and saying that my son was dying and that they needed to get him out now!

While they were talking over me about what the best option was, Corey decided he'd had enough and I started to give birth. Luckily he was born with no problems.

He was always a very very happy baby, but he never spoke. He would make noises but never learnt words. He went to a child minder at the age of 6 months and stayed with the same childminder up until he was 1 and a half. I never thought anything of Corey not speaking because he was my first child and I didn't know what to expect.

By the age of 1 he could just about say juu which went juice and he could say dan dan which meant granddad and he would say maaa for me. But it still sounded like baby gurgles. I moved into my own flat when he was 1 and a half and this affected him badly, he became withdrawn and not his usually happy self and the words he did start to learn disappeared and he became mute.

My childminder had also noticed this change, but she also noticed he still couldn't walk, and when he tried, he walked like he was drunk and she thought something was wrong. I spoke to my health visitor who came to see us and she also thought something was wrong. My dad ended up looking online and found that Corey fitted the autism description and said maybe that's what was wrong.

So at 2 we went to the children's development centre for a meeting, the doctor spoke to me about Corey and watched him for a bit. She said that they would put him on the waiting list for the official test but he had autism it was very plain to see. He was finally officially announced as Autistic when he was 3 and a half.

He carried being mute and trapped in his world until he went to nursery and he started to come alive again. He refused to be touched by anyone and would scream if you did but now he lets people hold his hand if he knows them and trusts them. Nursery also got him used to children before that he hated children and wouldn't play with them, if we took him to a play park and there where too many kids he would hide in a corner with a toy repeating a motion over and over again until the children or we left. He is better with kids now but still needs to improve his social skills, but he still hates crowds and will freak out if there's too many people.

He will be 6 this year and he still talks like a baby, mentally he is about 3 and is very behind his class mates. He goes to a mainstream school and outshines the children when it comes to maths and computers but doesn't know how to speak to people and when he does not many people understand him.

He has very poor balance still and is very clumsy, I've been told this will never improve. He hates loud noises and suffers badly with anxiety, when stressed he will have a tantrum and kick and punch (he did this more as a toddler but in the last year he doesn't flip out so much but instead when stressed will shout or talk to himself or head butt the chair.)

He hates change and routine is his life and can be very very stubborn about it and get very upset and frustrated if you change. He repeats himself a lot has also developed a stutter. As I mentioned above he now talks like a baby/toddler who has just started talking.

He is a very very happy boy but sadly gets picked on a lot at school and in parks because he doesn't fully understand what people say to him and when he speaks the children laugh. He still can't perform personal care and still has to be woken for the loo at night and also helped to be wiped after the loo but the school have said his work is beginning to improve so he is learning. He visits the child development centre a lot and also sees a speech therapist.

He is a very bright and happy boy but sadly gets picked on and sometimes doesn't understand whats going on but he has come a long way even if it has been slow and only slight its very good for him. It's just a shame he can never go to a cinema, doesn't like theme parks unless it's Lego land or Disney and doesn't like fairs or crowded places. So sometimes we plan a day out and if we get there and it's packed we have to just go home because he wont stand it.