IN a world full of internet banter, Facebook gossip and Twitter chat it should be easy for anyone with something useful to say to get their message across, you’d think.

But the mother of a ten-year-old autistic boy from Downton begs to differ.

Alisha Selfe is finding it tough to get local people to lend their ears – no matter how passionate she is.

Alisha is upset about some issues affecting her son’s quality of life.

At the age of three, Ruben was diagnosed as having all four recognised traits of an autistic child.

The life of her family would never be the same again.

When he was five Ruben was sent to the only school in the area that could take him – Woodford Valley, a 30-mile round trip.

Travelling such distances is not unusual for children with autism and the years have been challenging for Ruben and his mother – culminating in his recent upgrade to the school’s upper class for ten-year-olds with special educational needs.

This switch to the older class hasn’t been easy, says Alisha.

She said: “Autistic children suffer high anxiety and sensory problems every day.

“Often they cannot cope with the complexity of life. No words you use can help them when their head goes into sensory overload.”

Alisha says the best way to imagine what it is like is thow one autistic boy of 12, who was asked what it was like having autism, described it.

He said: “Imagine standing in the middle of the M25 with all that fast moving traffic either side and someone is trying to have a conversation with you and you have to understand what they are saying.”

When a crisis arises in school, the child is removed to a neutral room away from the class.

Parents and SEN teachers call it the ‘timeout room’. It’s a neutral environment with a mat to lie on with maybe some music playing in the background.

Alisha said: “Sadly at Woodford School some bean bags kept in a cupboard serve as the timeout room.

“Other centres have waterbeds, a disco light, water tubes, fibre optics – even a hydro pool in some cases.

“They help calm the child down."

Now Alisha, tired of the lack of feedback to her internet and social media appeals, has been trying to raise money for some better equipment.

She recently ran the Great South Run along with two staff members from Woodford Valley, Laura Simpson and Gemma Paul.

The target was to raise £1,000 to buy some sensory equipment for the school. They didn’t reach the target – so now they plan to run again in another charity race.

She said: “We feel passionate about the needs of these children.

Leaflets, word of mouth and a web page do not seem to be enough.

“We should be able to raise £1,000 for some equipment. We only raised £178 in pledges so far and £190 for a non-uniform day but surely we can do much better.

“Surely the people of Salisbury and the villages around will give generously once they are aware of what’s at stake here?

“This is small group of autistic children at a school in the middle of nowhere, but we need to grab some attention.”

Anyone who would like to donate can go to justgiving.com/ yimby/GSR.