Nina’s Story

Ten-year-old Nina lives in Norfolk with her parents, Natasha and Daniel, and her four siblings, Sam, Eddie, Andrew, and Roddy.

Nicola says, “My two eldest boys, Sam and Eddie, have been diagnosed with dyspraxia and have suspected Aspergers syndrome. Andrew, my younger son, has also been diagnosed with dyspraxia and is under investigation for potentially being on the autistic spectrum.

“Nina is suspected to be on the autistic spectrum but we’re still investigating.

“Raising children with additional care needs is difficult and home life can be hard for everybody. Sometimes my children struggle to understand each other so there can be a lot of arguing. Because of their conditions, the children can fixate on things. So, it’s challenging for them to have other focuses and cooperate.

“All the children attend a mainstream school. They’re intelligent but they may just need some extra support or time doing certain things. It’s been a constant struggle to get the children the help that they need. Daniel and I do not get any respite. Life is a challenge and can be quite stressful at times.”

Family Fund’s Discover Digital Festival

Nina attended Family Fund’s Discover Digital Festival which offers various creative workshops over the summer holidays.

Natasha says, “Nina attended most of the workshops at Family Fund’s Discover Digital Festival where she learnt to create movies, make music, invent apps, and produce digital art, amongst other things.

“I found out about the festival through an email newsletter. The sign-up process was straightforward, and the festival workshops took place on Zoom which was easy to use. The apps that were required to take part were all free and we were told ahead of time what needed to be downloaded.

“Nina learnt lots of new things from the workshops. She really enjoyed it and kept at it even after the sessions had finished. I was quite surprised at how quickly she picked everything up. Nina was really proud of what she created and showed everything to family and friends.

“Nina has learnt skills that she can take away with her. She also gained more confidence in herself and her ability to use digital technology. The Discover Digital Festival is great because it encourages creativity and education. Even though Nina’s brothers didn’t directly take part, she did show them what she was doing so they learned something new too, and it strengthened sibling bonds.”

“Occupying the children can be quite expensive during the holidays.

“The Discover Digital Festival helped to keep Nina busy. It was something that she looked forward to. The workshops kept her entertained and educated. It sparked an interest in new things for Nina. It also helped to reduce the number of arguments amongst the children at home. As a result, the festival took away some of the stress of looking after children during the summer holidays.

“I would definitely recommend Family Fund’s Discover Digital Festival to others, and I already have. It’s great that we also had access to recap videos in case we ever missed or forgot something so we could catch up later.

“The Discover Digital Festival was a huge blessing for my family because it helped my child to be happier and more creative.”

The programme would not have been possible without the support of Stone Computers and Sync.

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