Today I was delighted to share Joshua's first experience of jumping in a bouncy castle with his mum. When were at the YMCA yesterday I encouraged Josh to have a go by looking at the kids through the window of the bouncy castle. (Josh has never been into a bouncy castle due to his autism). He looked smiled then went away. Later on I saw him rushing up to the trampoline line with a friend and big smile on his face. However when his friend chose to move on to a different activity Josh then moved away too. I suddenly realised that the power of the friend was going to encourage him to try a new activity. I sourced out the friend then and asked him why he had moved on from the tramp? His reply was that he changed his mind and wanted to do something else. I explained that Josh had gone with him but unfortunately hadn't gone on with the task when he had moved away, then left that idea to develop in his thinking. About 10 mins later I saw Josh and friend approaching the bouncy castle. A few other children pushed between them so I quietly moved Josh up to stand beside his friend and then moved away. Next thing he was in the castle bouncing away. His mum nearly cried when I showed her his video and photos today. She emailed them on to her account. Tomorrow she will bring in a flash drive to get a copy of the video to show his dad.
