About the Book

Liz’s blog, Coraline and Us, won the Wellbeing category in the BAPS SEND Blogging Awards in both 2019 and 2020, and was a finalist in the Fresh Voice category of the Brilliance in Blogging (BiB) Awards in 2018. Her writing has been featured by the Down’s Syndrome Association, the charity Wouldn’t Change a Thing and Sutton & Epsom NCT magazine amongst others.

Liz’s aim is for this book to be the first of a trilogy.

• Book 1: Everybody wants a dance with Coraline: Stepping into love with my daughter with Down’s syndrome
• Book 2: (Title to be confirmed). Stepping out of intensity and into balance with my daughter with Down’s syndrome
• Book 3: (Title to be confirmed). Practical tips for SEND paperwork, appointments and therapies with my daughter with Down’s syndrome

Liz covers how Coraline’s sensory considerations intensified as she grew older and the slow, relentless increase in paperwork and challenging of the authorities to get provision for her that took over her life. She saw similar feelings echoed around her in friends with children with additional needs. She recounts how she learned and grew when faced with her own unexpected heart condition and associated hospital visits and stays.

She shares how she was not aware of the state of intensity that she had slipped into, and how she began to realise this and the steps she took to change. At the core of this shift was prioritising her own self-care.

A practical book which might be of interest if you have a child with Down’s syndrome. Liz addresses the problems she encountered in completing paperwork and securing provision for Coraline. She presents her solutions, from her perspective as a parent of a child with additional needs. The areas she covers are not exhaustive but are a stepping stone. These include what she has learned about:

• Physiotherapy, speech and occupational therapy, optometry and dentistry
• Expressing breastmilk when Coraline could not latch on
• Coraline’s rights in the EHCP process, who to ask for help, writing a strong EHCP and
• ensuring the local authority honours it
• Filling in the Disability Living Allowance form
• Managing emotions
• Mindset around paperwork
• Challenging the local authority calmly and sleeping soundly at night

Liz wants to share what she has learned, as it is only because others shared what they knew with her, that she managed to both get support in place and to become calm and balanced whilst doing so.