Category: Uncategorised

Another fantastic week for the Awesome Archie team 🎉 My week began with a super exciting email. As you may remember from last weeks post, Archie and I are now delighted to be collaborating with Autism Unlimited. This is something that we are really chuffed about. I was contacted by Jenny Chapman (Autism Unlimited training coordinator) who asked me if I would be interested in completing the Tier one Signalong training . I have already completed and LOVED the beginners training and once my tier one has been completed I will have a licence to be able to educate the kids I support in schools. SO EXCITING!

We are currently creating a brand new assembly to incorporate this theme and we will deliver this in schools across Dorset and Hampshire as of March 2023 🙂

Thanks Jenny for this incredible opportunity, I cannot wait to get started 🙂

Donated in-school support.

This week we have donated to two different schools. One received a “Post Office” role play kit and the other, a Chemistry set… child appropriate of course 😉

These two kits were donated by YOU. You improved the effectiveness of two schools, that are desperately trying to provide a well rounded but individualised education to children with special educational needs. Thankyou!

We (as always) are gratefully still collecting out grown children’s clothes and shoes. Each term we proudly take donated items to the Dorset Children’s Foundations Treehouse . Each item supports families of children with disabilities and kids in the local community. It is such a joy to see what your donations do to help. THANKYOU. Sarah Miller, Hannah and Toby, Thankyou for your AWESOME donation this week xxx

Staff that go above and beyond.

At Awesome Archie non profit we sadly hear stories daily from parent/carers that are left hurt or disappointed by a school, LEA or service. This obviously breaks my heart but I get it. It wasn’t so long ago that we were in our own horrendous and genuinely scarring fight for our own son. However, this does mean that when I hear or experience those that are going above their job description to help a kid in need I LOVE IT and I cannot help but name and shame!

Two awesome educators have made me weep with joy this week and I cannot wait to thank them publicly. First, Mrs Linda Poulter, the ELSA at the Priory School in Christchurch. This week I spoke to Mrs P about a situation that I needed her support with. The matter is personal and, of course, private so I will not disclose the ins and outs but Linda spent an entire afternoon caring for a child who is suffering with some emotional turmoil and I am forever grateful. Being an ELSA is an incredibly tough job. Not only is Linda a fulltime teaching assistant, which let me tell you is a job in itself, she lovingly takes on the role of emotionally supporting those under her care. Linda Poulter, you are truly awesome.

Finally, this awesome creature…

This is William Gilpin’s Beech class teacher, Miss Dalton. I have been lucky enough to work or volunteer in schools for well over a decade now and am blessed to get to meet many teachers. I have been volunteering in Miss Dalton’s class since September of 2022. In our class we have a fairly high number of children with special educational needs and it is my privilege to go in and help those children catch up with any work that they may have missed or go over what they may not have understood. We all know that every child learns differently and some take a little while longer to process what has been taught. I can honestly say that I have rarely seen such an incredible teacher. Miss Dalton is endlessly patient, continually encouraging and teaches every single child in her classroom to their own ability and understanding, she meets them where they are! The children absolutely adore her and I am so incredibly grateful for the work she puts in every single day.

Thank you Miss Dalton for allowing me to be a small part of Beech class and keep up the unbelievably awesome work!

Please remember to follow us on our socials and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest news and handy hints and tips.

Rebecca Clapcott.

Happy new year to you all. I really hope that you have all had a peaceful Christmas period and feel even just a little bit fresher for having a rest 🙂

Lots to get through his week, so lets go!

This new year, we have started as we mean to go on. With a renewed enthusiasm to support the kids, families and schools who love and/or support those with neurological differences. Having Archie (all those years ago) made us realise just how overwhelming the task of raising a child (especially with differences) can be, how long the road is and how every inch of progress seems to come after a marathon of fight. We promise you now, that we will do all we can to support you on this journey and we are privileged to do so.

New Collaboration.

Awesome Archie has been affiliated with the DCF for around 18 months now. It is something for which Archie and I are most proud. The Dorset Children’s Foundation support so many families with disabled children and being linked so closely to them has certainly taught us a great deal. Thankyou Patsy and the team for everything you do to support us!

We are also delighted to announce that we now have another incredible charity to collaborate with. The brilliant Autism Unlimited!

On Wednesday I was privileged to be invited to a “vision” meeting with Emily Griffiths (the marketing manager for Autism Unlimited), Mark Arnold (additional needs ministry director of Urban Saints) and Debra Goatly-Birch (artist and community project coordinator). We met to discuss the 2023 Autism Unlimited campaign and what we felt would be helpful within the ASD community to give the rest of the world a greater sense of what neurodiversity really is!

To say that I felt humbled and EXTREMELY lucky to be in a meeting with such an inspiring group of people would be an understatement! It was just so wonderful to talk about the strengths, the challenges and what we can all do to get the message of ASD understanding out to the neurotypical world.

We are currently working together to get this amazing new campaign ready for launch in March 2023. Exciting times ahead! THANKYOU AUTISM UNLIMITED!

Whopping Donation time!

THANKYOU ALL SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!

Today the Awesome Archie team headed down to the DCF’s Treehouse with a literal “van full” of goodies that you have all donated over this week. Yep, you heard right, JUST THIS WEEK?! THATS HOW AWESOME YOU ALL ARE!!!!!

We greatly appreciate everyone’s support but I feel I must make a couple of individual thanks also.

Becci Price – Proud ASD advocate who drove down from Basingstoke to donate a boot FULL of games and toys, most of which were brand new. To her son James, for being so kind and aware of the need for this. YOU ARE AWESOME!

Katheryn Avery – Proud ASD parent carer who spent her week gathering children’s clothes for us to collect. YOU ARE AWESOME!

The Winters family – Proud ASD parents (adult son) who sold cakes and gave us the proceeds that bought more sensory lamps and toys for the kids Awesome Archie supports. YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

In short, if the rest of the year is as great as this one week… YOWSERS!!!!!

Thankyou all and have a great week!

Rebecca Clapcott

Founder Awesome Archie non profit.

As we head into 2023, we at the Awesome Archie team want to say an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who has made our first “full time” non-profit year so incredible. Patsy and the team at the Dorset Children’s Foundation, the amazing staff at Autism Unlimited, the Winters family, all of our schools and all of our generous donators… WE THANK YOU.

A special thanks must go to Mr Harry Redknapp, our trustees (Elaine, David and Karen), Mr Simon Croutear and my husband… without whose support, this year would not have been as remarkable as it has been.

Thank you to each and every one of our website visitors, subscribers, likers and notification bell-ers on our YouTube channel and also to our ever growing social media family.

This Christmas I made a promise to stay “online” over the entire period and I was privileged to be in contact with our awesome families throughout the festive season. As a parent/carer, you can still feel incredibly lonely, even in a room full of people. This year my heart felt full and I felt truly privileged to be a small part of your autism journeys.

For this new year, I am continuing last year’s resolution. I want to keep growing our non-profit from strength to strength. I want to spread not only autism awareness, but autism ACCEPTANCE and I will NEVER stop fighting for correct, respectful and fully deserved inclusivity within main-stream… no matter how hard it might sometimes get.

I am however going to also be focusing on my mindset. Being an adult with undiagnosed but definite ADHD, I have spent some of this previous year doubting myself and hating the parts of me that I cannot change. I am so pleased that I am working on my self-belief and will be following the Japanese thoughts of kintsukuroi. Kintsukuroi means “to repair with gold” and is the art of repairing broken pottery with a precious metal and understanding that the piece is far more beautiful now for having been broken.

I hope that by sharing this post, anyone reading who may feel or has felt broken this year, may take solace in the fact that it is those moments of brokenness that push us forwards onto brighter and more beautiful times.

We would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2023!

I have always been a massive fan of Christmas. When I was a kid, I remember genuinely not sleeping for nights before the big day. Even now in my forties, I still get overexcited at the sight of a decorated tree and the high street all lit up.

It was only once we had Archie that we realised what a HUGE disruption and difficult period Christmas can be for some families. I know, I am sounding like an old scrooge, but it’s true.

I remember the early days, both pre and post diagnosis, the exhaustion of trying to do the simple things like the weekly shop. The supermarkets were crowded, the decorations were everywhere and the Christmas music was blaring. These were the days before ASD friendly hours of course! I will never forget the COUNTLESS rude comments about my child, all the time delivered by people assuming he was just naughty or that I wasn’t a decent parent. It’s scarring!

It has taken me over a decade to convince myself that I am doing my best. To us, Archie is perfect just the way he is and other peoples, often uneducated views about him or I, don’t really matter.

I am sharing this as I have received a handful of DMs this week. So many of you have shared about experiencing “Mum guilt”- having to spend Christmas with family members that just don’t understand or accept financial strains and health concerns. For these amazing people, Christmas this year is going to feel tough, and for that, I want to tell you that WE ARE HERE!

Take each day of this holiday one at a time. Your “awesome” child and your loved ones are all that matter. Try to surround yourself with people that truly understand that struggle, hopefully making you better equipped to grit your teeth with those who don’t.

Lastly, always champion your child. I am now proud to say that Arch and I always leave early from family events with NO complaints from my AMAZING family. All it took was a little bravery to open up a conversation about why Archie would rather be at home. That it wasn’t anything personal and that I, as his very proud Mum, feel that his needs have to be met for him to have a nice Christmas too.

With this in mind, we decided to host a YouTube live stream of a mini carol concert on our driveway. We wanted to provide some well deserved Christmas cheer for those families who may be having more of a bumpy Christmas journey.

Link here.

Thank you to all who watched or joined us in person and a MASSIVE thank you to the Boscombe Salvation Army band. We were really touched that you agreed to support us, especially when I know you are so busy at this time of year.

Hello all, as always, we at Awesome Archie endeavour to support and share any knowledge that we believe can help the lives of those affected by autism.

Being a carer for someone is an incredibly tough job, I know this first hand, but imagine how tough it is for a child carer? This was something that, up until just recently, I didn’t think too much about, until I met Mina Peroni.

Mina Peroni is a Level-Up Programme Co-ordinator & DSL @mytime_charity who is deeply passionate about young peoples wellbeing and equal opportunities.

I first met Mina about a year ago when she came into a school where I was working. Mina spoke about the lives of young carers and how a child’s entire outlook on life could be so different to those kids who are free to just be kids. I will genuinely NEVER forget the incredible talk she delivered. It made me look at my own children and how much they are affected by Archie’s needs and even though they NEVER moan, it put things into perspective for me. This is why I am sharing this information with you all.

My time Carers state that they are levelling the playing field for young carers!

“With an educational approach driven by charitable action, our mission is to level the playing field for young carers by providing them with the support, friendship and opportunities that every child deserves.“

There are an estimated 700,000 young carers in the UK.

“You’re a young carer if you’re under 18 and help to look after a family member with a disability, illness, mental health condition or drug or alcohol problem.“

And let me tell you, I know a couple of kids that are under MYTIME’s care and they LOVE it! They go for days out, have parties and get to just be children without interruption or worry.

If you think that a family member may benefit from MYTIME’s amazing care, please do contact them and let them know that you heard about them through us. Mina and the team are all just so lovely and we HIGHLY recommend both the service that they provide but also what they stand for.

WELL DONE MYTIME young carers! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Awesome Archie is Father Christmas… ish 😆

This week we had a knock at the door from a dear friend Maria. For those of you watching our live at the time, you will have heard her ring the doorbell 🤣 Maria very kindly donated a HUGE collection of immaculate children’s books and Archie knew straight away what he wanted to do with them. We ( I 😉 ) immediately started wrapping them and we headed off to our “Awesome” families to deliver them. For me personally, this has been the highlight of my Christmas so far. I adore all the children that we are blessed to support and seeing their faces as Archie gave them a gift was priceless 😍

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Thankyou to Maria and ALL of our unbelievable friends who go above and beyond to support, not only us a family, but as a non profit too. WE ARE TRUELY BLESSED TO HAVE YOU!!

Awesome Archie is hosting a mini carol concert with The Boscombe Salvation Army

This Tuesday evening (13/12/2022) at 7pm you are invited to join us on our YouTube channel for a free, live streamed mini Christmas Carol service. We know that with all the hideous germs going around that many families with vulnerable children will not venture out too much this Christmas season. We wanted to spread some Christmas cheer into your living rooms with our love and best wishes . All you have to do is subscribe to our YouTube channel (it’s free) and hop on at 7pm on Tuesday 🙂 Click here for link 🙂

Lastly, sit down…this may shock you… I HAD A NIGHT OUT!!!

I realise that to lots of parents this may seem like “non news” however, for me it was AMAZING and totally newsworthy :). With founding and running Awesome Archie whilst being a wife and mummy, there is really no time left for me. If I’m honest, any rare left over time results in me napping because I’m so worn out🤣 but I DID IT!

I was very graciously invited to join the priory school out on their Christmas meal. I haven’t worked there officially in a while, but I still support them with their SEN and I felt really lucky to have some Christmas fun with them. I must admit that it was just what I needed and it felt amazing to get all dressed up with makeup and everything (for those of you who watch my lives, you will know that this is rare 😉 .)

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THANKYOU for getting my Christmas officially started.

This weeks blog is dedicated to author Matt Haig. For those of you who don’t know, Matt has spoken for the first time about his recent ASD and ADHD diagnosis and how it has put so many things into perspective for him.

“From the publication of his first novel in 2004, Matt Haig has enjoyed popular success with his fiction for adults and children, including crossover hits.

His style is highly readable, switching seamlessly between humour and poignancy, but this conceals his pursuit of deeper literary concerns. In his adult fiction, in particular, Haig employs a succession of unusual narrators to dissect family life and dysfunction, exploring notions of anxiety, suppression and control in the context of familial relationships.”

British council literature

Matt took to Instagram to explain how he has always felt a little different to his peers and that this has lead him to struggle with his mental health. Something for which I must say, he writes impeccably about. His books the “Midnight Library” and “Reasons To Stay Alive” were transformative for me personally. HOWEVER…

This is why I feel so strongly about getting a diagnosis.

For us, it has always made sense that having a label didn’t need to define Archie but we NEEDED that label to get the correct support for us, our son and his siblings.

No one wants their child to be in a position where a diagnosis is necessary, but when you are in it, accept it, use it, learn about it and embrace it. It took us a couple of months to grieve (sounds weird but that’s how it felt) and then we were able to push on and educate ourselves.

We believe that, in the end, your child will thank you for it and that you, as a loving parent, won’t live in guilt regretting the signs that you ignored because it was all too much. AND IT IS, IT’S REALLY SCARY but it is also beautiful and life changing in so many positive ways.

If you think that your child may have ASD please click on this link and it will take you directly to the National Autistic Society. They have so much wonderful and useful information for all families affected by autism. We have also attached a small clip that Archie made, explaining what his autism is like for him.

For more information, please feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so that you’re notified of any new videos. We are also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and would love for you to join us on any of our socials!

As scary as it feels right now, I promise that, once you’ve accepted it, you’ll feel so much better… and there are multiple charities and non-profit organisations that have got your back.

This weeks blog is a real celebration of owning your own quirks! 😋

Yesterday was a real highlight of my entire week. I had spent most of the week looking after my ill children 🤢 and creating both content and craft to use for fundraising. It was yesterday that all of the hard work paid off for us as a team.

It was a 13 hour work day (mostly standing) and let me tell you that I am paying for it today. 🧟‍♀️ However, it was so worth it.

My day began at the lovely William Gilpin school, where I volunteer support to a few children with SEN. We were having a WWII experience day and I decided to throw myself into the spirit. I knew that some of the kids may not have been super comfortable dressing up, so seeing an adult looking a bit silly has to help ease their tension… it certainly worked! 🤣🤣🤣

We all realised early on in class (pretending it was 1939) that there was no room in those days for individuality. Everyone wore something similar to the next person. The girls had to be in skirts, the boys in shorts or trousers. Women were most likely going to be homemakers and the men went to war. Children’s learning was regimented and never individualised, regardless of need and my little students picked up on it. 😍 It lead to some really lovely discussions about how grateful we are to live in our time, even though its still far from perfect. How I can come to work with brightly coloured hair and NEVER wear a skirt 🤣 and how my way of learning is not the same as my mates, but it’s still learning. Great, great day.

Next I moved onto another school, this time in Christchurch. The Priory School’s annual Christmas Fair.

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It was our second Awesome Archie pop up shop of the season and it was lovely. We not only managed to raise £ 270 🎉🎉🎉 but we were more importantly able to talk about the power and beauty of autism . How it’s not to be feared and how peoples quirkiness is part of their individual make up and should be celebrated.

It was very moving for my husband and I to see so many kids wearing our Awesome Archie merch and each T came with a lecture of “BE PROUD TO BE YOU!” 😍

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We are delighted to announce that HALF of yesterday profits will be fed back into the Priory school via their own charity “Friends of Priory School.” We hope that the £135 we are donating will help you to keep spreading the message of love and acceptance and keep all of your lovely pupils happy 🙂 Not only that, we have just purchased you a “life skills” play set (toaster, blender, kettle, etc.,) for you to keep your “awesome” kids learning those all important life skills.

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Another AWESOME week 🙂

Awesome Archie’s Christmas pop-up shop is now in full swing! (Bear with, I am going somewhere with this 😉 )

Today we launched our Christmas fundraising mission with our first Pop up shop of the season. We were lucky enough to be invited to sell at the Boscombe Salvation Army’s Christmas craft fair, and what a wonderful event it was.

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The Awesome Archie team were allocated a beautiful side room where we were not only able to sell our donated (thank you all) and created goods, but also had the chance to chat to families who wanted to share their troubles or celebrations of their experience with autism. The space meant that we could have plenty of time to have some really meaningful conversations and I am so grateful for the opportunity that the organiser, Claire Randell gave us . THANKYOU Claire!

Click here to see the video of us getting ready!

The whole building was FULL of Christmas treats and donated goodies and all the tables were manned by people who simply wanted to give their time to help others.

This struck a really valuable chord with me. My marriage, my Career, my children, my home have all thrived because of other people’s kindness. As someone with ADHD (unmedicated) and anxiety (medicated) I used to struggle to admit that I can’t do this parenting thing alone. Somehow, I used to think (many moons ago) that me not accepting Archie’s differences would make life easier for me and admitting his “problems” would be too big for me to cope with. I assumed that people would look at me as a failing parent and make judgements on my ability to be a mum.

NOT ANY MORE… and that is because of the age old proverb – “It takes a village to raise a child” (see, told you I’d get there!)

This  proverb  simply means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

This was so evident for us today! Not only do I want to say a massive thank you to all three of my AWESOME trustees for coming and supporting (thanks Elaine Hurll, Karen Newsome and David Mercer) but also, a huge thanks goes to…

* My eldest son for looking after Archie at home so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

* Every person that donated something for us to sell.

* Every penny spent at our pop up shop and all of those Awesome people who said “keep the change!”

* The organisers of this event who gave up so much of their time for not a penny of profit.

* The people that cooked bacon butties and made coffees so we wouldn’t be hungry.

* The parents who looked after other peoples kids so they could have a 5 minute breather and to those who took the time to ask how I was doing (it means a lot).

* The minister who let my daughter have a pillow fight with him! (No joke, I have photo evidence!)

* The people who felt safe enough to share some really emotional stuff and have others offer advice, knowing that it wouldn’t go any further!

I could go on forever.

So THANKYOU for helping us raise our children. THANKYOU for donating or buying so that I can pass that gift forward and THANKYOU for listening to me bang on about how children’s differences need to be celebrated, not feared.

Our little shop raised £149.50!!! EVERY PENNY of which is going back into the work we do to support kids with autism.

Our “village” is truly the blessed!!!!

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This weeks blog is dedicated to all the parents, carers, fundraisers and educators that support kids throughout their individual journeys through childhood.

This week I have been touched by the amount of kindness, love and support there is in our world. I know that the news can often fill us with dread but for me, I have been uplifted and humbled by people’s generosity and understanding for those born a little differently.

My week started with a message from the founder of the Dorset Children’s Foundation , the lovely Pasty Hallmey. She explained that she had been able to offer me ANOTHER £1000 which meant that I could buy yet more SEN equipment for the schools and families that we proudly support.

This has meant that this week, Awesome Archie have donated SEN goodies to Parkfield School, Mudeford Junior School, William Gilpin School, Christchurch Junior School, the Dare to Believe program with Dorset School Games, Poppets Pre-school along with a couple of families that asked for our help.

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We would like to publicly thank the Dorset Children’s Foundation for all the work they do, not only for the children with physical disabilities but for guiding little non-profits (like me!) to reach those with neurological differences as well. Archie and I NEVER take your support for granted! THANK YOU!!

Awesome Archie had a fantastic experience this week. He and I were interviewed by Helen Head, an inclusion journalist for the BBC. Archie has been interviewed a few times now, but this one was different. Helen came into our home and spent a long time chatting with us about the challenges and celebrations of living with ASD. I cant give any more details away at this time but we will keep you posted as to when the interview will air. We would like to thank Helen and the team at BBC Radio Solent for giving us so much of your time, it means a great deal.

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Author and illustrator William Grill encourages kids with dyslexia to just write for love and never give up.

Firstly I need to admit that this was a party to which I totally gate crashed 🤣Oak Class at William Gilpin school had worked so hard to get a day taught by William Grill himself and they very graciously let me check in. What a fantastic and inspirational teacher he is to us all. As a successful dyslexic author, he was a real inspiration for the kids, especially those that find writing tough. I have attached his website deets here and would love you to check him out 🙂

Lastly, today I had a really incredible experience. For years I have been using little bits of makaton to help Archie communicate in public. Although he is incredibly verbal at home (and where he is comfortable), he is predominantly non-verbal when out in public.

I was privileged today to go to the beautiful Portfield School and be trained in ‘Signalong’ by an Autism Unlimited educator called Jenny. This all-day course was unbelievably helpful for me, not just as a parent, but also for my work in supporting children with autism in main-stream.

We started the day with a coffee and a chat and continued to, not only learn about the importance of signing for non-verbal children, but also the positive impact it has on the families and friends of those supporting. I was fortunate enough to sit amongst some parents of kids at Portfield School and it was amazing to be able to engage with people who just fully understood how tough parent caring can be however, it was even more lovely for us to be able to share all the positives and laugh about our parenting disasters.

I have attached a link to the incredible Autism Unlimited here and would urge you, as either a parent, carer or educator, to take a look at what they offer. I will now be practicing daily and signing wherever I go in the hope that it will encourage others to be brave enough to use other forms of communication.

Thank you Jenny and the Autism Unlimited team.

WOWSERS, life at Awesome Archie is cool right now. 😍 These last few months have been a really exciting ride and this weekend has to have been the happiest in our career to date!

The one and only king of the jungle, the football legend and genuinely lovely guy HARRY REDKNAPP has shown his support of the work we do here at Awesome Archie non profit!

Not only did we get to meet him and his utterly wonderful wife Sandra, but he has kindly signed our books for us to auction in the new year

He has also sent us a little clip of him reading our books. Just remarkable . We are still giddy with excitement!

link below 🙂

Harry Redknapp reads Awesome Archie!

We will finalise the deets nearer the time but for now, here is a sneak peek of the goodies up for grabs and the awesome man himself!!!!

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THANKYOU HARRY REDKNAPP. You are helping us to support children with SEN and we LOVE you for it xxxxxx