Isn't She Talking Yet? - Times Online - WBLG

Genetic fix 'corrects Fragile X'

I keep meaning to post this story, from the BBC's website, about scientists at MIT successfully tweaking a gene in mice which showed many of the symptoms of Fragile X . Read it in full here.

We're on Something Special,

which I call pretty damned exciting. Well, I say "we" - I mean Nell (see pic), though her father and I also appear, grinning so dementedly at all times  that we look like we've been mainlining cocaine for days in preparation. The episode is called Funfair - the new series of the programme is out and about on location, rather than studio-based - and will be broadcast next month. I'll update this when I have the actual transmission date.

UPDATE: It's January 17th at I think 9am and 12 noon, but do double-check.

Some random observations: a) everyone involved in making the programme is practically a saint; b) Justin Fletcher is the world's kindest man, even when mobbed by children every thirty seconds while trying to work; c) Nell is the youngest child ever to have taken part in the programme, which makes me feel all proud (also, every time I watch our preview DVD, I cry. I haven't cried as much since that ad for Yellow Pages where the ancient old gardener thinks he's about to be sacked but instead gets a new ride-on lawnmower).

Skating in wheelchairs

Thanks to Elaine for her email about the ice rink at Kew Gardens. "I went ice-skating at Kew Gardens yesterday with my kids", she writes, "and happily shared the ice with three kids in wheelchairs who were being pushed energetically (and at high speed) around by the ice stewards. The kids were having the best time, and were joining in with everyone else....I never knew this facility existed and I assume it wasn't a one-off".

I didn't know about this either - how cool. If you're in London and your child is in a wheechair, get yourselves to Kew. (There are also ice rinks at Somerset House, the National History Museum, and various other locations - here's a link to them all).

Men of the cloth and men in white coats

Nearly Christmas, and my thoughts turn to charitable behaviour. We are looking at our local schools at the moment and the one we have identified as best serving Nell's needs - we can walk to it, it's small, it's friendly, loads of children she hangs out with go there already - happens to be a church school. Wrong denomination, but never mind - not a problem for us, and besides, it's a church school, so they're bound to be kind and understanding, in the circs: we're talking about a child with a severe problem.

Now, I make the (clearly insanely naive) assumption that churches aren't mad keen on hypocrisy. If I were a vicar, or a priest, an an imam, or a rabbi, I would want people to come to my church/mosque/temple because they wanted to be there, not because they wanted me to sign a piece of paper fast-forwarding them to a particular school. Right? Wrong. It's all about bums on seats - so if you want a place at, for instance, a C of E school, and you happen to be Catholic (or Muslim, or Jewish, or Buddhist, or whatever), you still have to sit there pretending you have no ulterior motives whatsoever. It's grotesque, actually - here is a child with severe difficulties, but the Christian church school will only consider her application if her parents pretend to be something they're not. I find this - well, I could rant for miles about what I find this, but let's just say morally dubious and leave it at that, for now.

Cue, slight despair. But who's this, riding to the rescue, displaying true charity? The lady from the council,  rather unexpectedly, followed by doctors. Lots of them, all underpaid and over-busy, but more than willing to write any number of letters to support our case - and all of them displaying a degree of compassion that is missing where you might most expect to find it. If the debate on faith vs science hinged on human decency alone, I'd be strongly inclined to come down on the side of science - not something I'd have said ten years ago.

Oh, and if you're wondering why none of this is over-ridden by us having a statement: it's because Nell has been observed and found to be "very well adjusted", and never mind that SHE CAN'T ACTUALLY TALK. I'm on the case, and that statement will be mine at some point, but at the moment we can't have one because our child is happy and well socialised. If she sat in a corner weeping and had stones thrown at her, no doubt the process would have started ages ago. I'm fortunate in that I have quite a well-developed rottweiler streak - I am extremely tenacious. But you can see how some people just give up, can't you?