Sarah Millican helps Daisy and her blind son enjoy books at home

Teddy is 5 years old and was born prematurely at 34 weeks. After a rocky start, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and is registered sight impaired.

His mummy Daisy tells us how much Teddy loves borrowing Living Paintings books…and how they found this joy together at home, thanks to a social media post by comedian Sarah Millican.

Teddy absolutely loves reading – especially with his grandad

Daisy tells their story –

“Teddy first started using Living Paintings books at his school – but I didn’t realise they were available for us to borrow at home too, until I saw a social media post by Sarah Millican during the third lockdown. I registered Teddy straight away and he was amazed to see the books arrive at home!

Teddy absolutely loves reading – especially with his grandad! He enjoys looking at his books all the time – first thing in the morning, after school and always at bedtime. We live with Teddy’s nanny and grandad so they are very much involved in story time. Grandad even reads to Teddy in the bath!

His favourite books are Julia Donaldson ones – he loves the rhymes! When ‘The Snail and The Whale’ arrived, he sat on the sofa with nanny to carefully feel all the pictures, it really brought the story to life for him. “

Receiving the Living Paintings boxes is the highlight of the month for Teddy

Daisy continues…

“The Living Paintings books and resources mean that Teddy can listen to stories, engage with the 3D images and turn the pages. There are so many barriers to books with his disabilities. The boxes we get through the post open up a world of imagination for him and are allowing him to start to become a more independent reader as he grows.

Teddy sits in his P-Pod to turn the pages of the story. He loves to memorize the words and read them back to us, so if he knows the book he will say the words to himself from memory. Otherwise he just pretends as he turns the pages. He also likes to chill out in his room with audio CDs – we have a lot, so often we have the same story as the books we receive. He likes to follow the audio descriptions from Living Paintings and take his time looking at the pages.

Receiving the Living Paintings boxes in the post is the highlight of the month for Teddy!

I am so grateful for the service you provide and I just wish we’d found you sooner!”

Thank you to Daisy, her son Teddy and the grandparents for sharing their story.

And thank you to Sarah Millican. Sarah kindly lent her voice to ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ in 2020, and did a post on her social media about volunteering her voice to our charity – which Daisy saw and got in touch with us direct so that her son could borrow books at home.