Oliver was born in 2007 and was a very happy content baby, but after several months, he failed to reach his milestones. We were concerned about his progress and failed to convince the Health Visitor that he wasn’t gaining his early years skills.
After a brief break away, Oliver became quite unwell and was admitted to hospital. There we met a consultant who confirmed that Oliver had severe global delay and we were referred to a geneticist several months later. On the 15th September 2008, Oliver was diagnosed with Angleman Syndrome, a neurological disorder affecting chromosome 15.
Angelman Syndrome affects every aspect of Oliver’s life, severe developmental delay, speech impairment, movement and balance disorders, behavioural uniqueness , sleep disturbance, epilepsy and feeding issues.
Oliver was still young and sleeping in a cot but due to being non verbal, the only way to let me know he wanted us, was to bang the rail of his bed. As he got older this got louder, not sleeping and banging became a constant battle.
An Enclosed Safety Bed for a Special Needs Child
We approached our Occupational Therapist who could only offer larger wooden beds which were not an option as Oliver only communicated through banging the sides throughout the night.
We trawled the internet for a bed and came across the makers of the Courtney Bed but to ship to the UK would have been out our financial reach.
As a cabinet maker, Oliver’s father studied the bed and with several email conversations with the makers of the Courtney bed and Oliver’s godfather Adrian who is a draftsman we came up with Oliver’s bed a unique bed for a little boy, a bed with dignity.
There the story should end, but friends were approaching us for a safe bed for a special needs child, so from Angelman Syndrome to Oliver’s Bed, life has changed.
We have now tested the bed to BS 8509:2008+A1:2011 and set sail to launch our bed on the market