Logans’s Mum said:

“An Early Years Worker at a Little Talkers group first told us about Charnwood. Logan was two and differences in his development, including speech delay, had started to become obvious.

We were told at our 20-week scan and subsequent MRIs that Logan has a rare brain condition called Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum, which means he is missing the main ‘bridge’ that connects the right and left hemispheres. Development delays are common with ACC, as the brain has to find other, less efficient ways to make connections without a Corpus Callosum. Even though we knew Logan could face some challenges, living them was getting hard. Everywhere we went I felt judged for my child’s differences. He ate very messily; he couldn’t stay on a chair; he still mouthed all toys and objects; he didn’t pay attention or answer to his name; he didn’t have any words.

It had never occurred to us that there would be an inclusive nursery in the local area. We joined Charnwood’s Opportunity Group and instantly felt at home and accepted every Friday morning. The parents of mainstream children who were there actually wanted to understand difference, and the staff were just incredible at making me feel it was okay for Logan just to be Logan. I no longer felt I had to get a square peg to fit in a round hole – I had found a better game where every shape mattered equally.

Logan joined Charnwood for his pre-school year, on a resourced place, in September 2024. His wonderful special person, Lisa, became a member of our extended family! The staff just adored Logan, and all the children in their care. He absolutely loved nursery and the things he could play with. He was often covered in paint within five minutes of arriving!

Logan engaged in activities at Charnwood to help him with his listening and attention, the building blocks needed for communication. Through consistency and repetition, he learned to communicate his wants and needs outside of the family unit. He soon learned where the crackers were kept and led Lisa by the hand when he wanted more!

On Disorders of the Corpus Callosum Awareness Day in 2025, all the staff wore their hair in middle partings and painted them with glitter to show the location of the Corpus Callosum in the brain. They read ‘ACC And Me’ to the children and explained that Logan has differences because he is missing the bridge that they all have in their brains. A couple of the parents told me their children came home that day and told them about their bridge, and that Logan doesn’t have one but is building other roads. To instil understanding and acceptance about a complex condition in children so young – wow, what a special place Charnwood is!

The staff at Charnwood were also a huge support to us when navigating services such as Speech and Language, applying for Disability Living Allowance, and in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process to ensure Logan’s needs and provisions were clearly communicated for starting school.

Logan now attends an autism-specialist school (a later diagnosis) and they picked up where Charnwood left off in terms of consistency and repetition in numeracy and literacy. And a wonderful thing has happened…Logan has started to talk! He mainly enjoys counting things from 1-10, and has also said a few words in context such as “car”, “bye-bye” and “ears”. His first word at school was “happy”, testament to the foundation laid by Charnwood to prepare Logan for school, and the support we received to ensure he got his place at our parental preference.

Logan is, and has always been, happy. Anyone who meets him talks about his cheeky, dimpled smile. Despite his differences, he is thriving both in and out of education, and this all stems from the invaluable support and love we received from Charnwood in Logan’s early years. The future looks exciting, but we’ll never forget Logan’s wonderful toddlerhood with Charnwood by our sides!”