As proud supporters of the National Autistic Society we were very interested to hear of a family that the BBC One series DIY SOS: The Big Build was featuring.

Here’s a little bit about the family:

“Louise initially moved into her ex-council prefab home with her husband and young son Thomas ten years ago. Her husband was a builder and was going to do all the work on the house and make it a wonderful family home. Soon after they moved into the house Louise and her husband relationship broke down and he left.

Louise took being a single mum in her stride and continued working full time trying to do as much work on the property as she could within her means. She got her Dad to help her with a few bits around the house but due to finances she could not make it into the home she wanted.

During this time Louise was noticing that Thomas was not developing like his peers he had started having temper tantrums and did not want to interact with other children. Eventually after lots of doctor appointments and meetings Thomas was diagnosed with ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) in 2007.

Thomas, like many autistic children, likes things to be controlled and calm and areas like the playground at a mainstream school were difficult for him to deal with. Louise had to battle against the local authority bureaucracy to get his needs recognised and enable him to be in an environment that he clearly needed and after three years she finally got him into a special school and since then his behaviour has improved dramatically. In this time Louise has had to change her job to suit Thomas and now works part-time so she plans to renovate the house have been put on hold.

Louise has found herself in a house that she is struggling to maintain but due to her dogged determination has not allowed it to get on top of her. The house is very cold- as it’s a 1940’s prefab with no insulation. They live with a duvet on the sofa at all times as it’s freezing. The house has no proper flooring the walls are just sheets of metal , there are electrical wires exposed everywhere where work has started and not finished and there is a cast iron flue in the middle of the home that brings in a constant draft. It doesn’t feel like a home in anyway and the best way to describe it is living in a large cold tin tent.

We are going to enable Louise and Thomas to enjoy a normal standard of living and give them a safe, warm and pleasant environment. We are planning on completely redesigning the downstairs of the property adding a ground floor extension, adding a new kitchen, making a warm cosy living room and most importantly designing a self-contained space for Thomas to use all year round. We want this house to become a home both Louise and Thomas and leave a legacy for the future.

Thomas loves the garden so we’re creating a garden space just for him, hopefully with a trampoline he has always wanted.”

We didn’t need to think twice about offering support for the project and we’ll let you know how the project goes in due course.