Network Autism Social Enterprise

07/04/2026

Network Autism Dumbarton….

One of my dreams is coming true this week…. For a long time I’ve wanted to create a group closer to my family and get to spend a bit more time doon the road….

And this weeks it’s starting! On Saturday 11th April @ 1030 - St Martins Church Hall, 331 Main St, Renton, Dumbarton, G82 4PZ.

We have had so many families reaching out about the new group and such kind comments and community support! Plus my beautiful family - love you all to bits…

Thank you everyone and can’t wait until Saturday - FIVE 5️⃣ days to go….

Lotsa luv,
Caroline xx❣️🙏🏼

03/04/2026

Afternoon Everyone,

Tomorrow (Sat 4th April!) - We are SO excited as our Network Autism Stay & Play sessions begin again in Portsoy institute Hall, Institute St, AB45 2RR at 10.30am.

Be so great to see you there!

It’s a safe space where autistic children, siblings, parents and grandparents can come together with other family’s to chat, support each other and most importantly, have fun!

There’s loads of toys out to play with freely. Also craft activities, painting, colouring, icing biscuits plus sprinkles, activity sheets. Loads to do!

Every month we have a theme. Not surprisingly this month it’s Easter. We’ll have an Easter Egg Hunt, decorate eggs and eat hot cross buns.

We have symbols beside each area, toys, books, crafts, painting, snack - this all helps with early communication and play is such an important part of that.

It’s very relaxed and our families love it, if you know somebody who might be interested in our group then it’d be brilliant if you could tag them in this post,

Caroline Traa xx❣️🙏🏼
(Network Autism Social Enterprise)

28/02/2026

Morning Everyone, This is a pretty cool list of Apps that I wanted to share on. Caroline

03/02/2026

Sorry for being missing in action lovelies!! Sometimes all the other stuff I do takes over. Just spotted this and wanted to share. Off for a well earned break this week then will get back to the toileting posts next week. Hope everyone’s all good x❣️🙏🏼

When’s the right time to potty train your child and how should you start?

Find out everything you need to know to set your child up for success in our new film, Potty and toilet training: A three-stage journey by visiting our website to watch the full film: https://eric.org.uk/news/eric-partners-with-bristol-family-hubs-for-new-potty-training-animations/



Co-created with: Bristol Family Hubs and City Council

With thanks to: John James Bristol Foundations, Burges Salmon and The Society of Merchant Venturers

25/12/2025

🎄🎅🏼🎄 Autism Families 🎄🎅🏼🎄
- TOP 5 XMAS TIPS -

🎁 1️⃣ 🎁 2️⃣ 🎁 3️⃣ 🎁 4️⃣ 🎁 5️⃣ 🎁

🎄🎅🏼❣️Wishing you a good day today - I had to think about what I wanted to say the day would be - chilled, calm, happy, not too explosive, seeing your child interested, not anxious, smiling, interested in one of the gifts, joining together with you…. We want a lot, we expect a lot and some parts will work and some may not, it’s all OK, we get a whole new day tomorrow, you’re doing fine….

🎄🎅🏼❣️I’ve had so many Christmas Days that were stressy, sad, drunken (no more of that!!) ugh - the list goes on, the anxiety in ourselves is hard to deal with never mind how our children are coping. Here’s what I’ve found - 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣

1️⃣🎄🎅🏼❣️Firstly, ditch other people’s expectations - do things YOUR way, the way that works for your kid and your family…. I always spread Xmas dinner out a bit over the day, less intense and works here to this day! Chill - chill - chill….

2️⃣🎄🎅🏼❣️Second - Don’t forget - Your child is probably struggling today, the noise, excitement, visitors, changes in the house, weird lights, different routines, new items, scratchy clothes, funny foods, stressy parents/carers….. The list goes on…. For my girly, hated present unwrapping, to this day we don’t do that! Who cares! Santa sacks! If she wants to be in the living room she is and if she doesn’t she leaves…

3️⃣🎄🎅🏼❣️Third - Try and breathe and slow down, keep some of your child’s routine as much as you can, same times for meals, bed, let them do what they usually do if you can…. Every year I set a place at the Xmas table for Bex, she’d sit for a little while - eat her usual foods, in her usual bowl then head back to her computer, her room and her space when she chose to.

4️⃣🎄🎅🏼❣️Four - whether at home or visiting have a little sensory or chill out space that’s just for your child, comfy stuff or calming twirly, lighty up stuff that your child enjoys, duvets, tent, headphones, comfy clothes, pillows, cushions, rugs, hat, shades, whatever you need, do it…. For my girly it’s often pyjamas on and always we would create her corner, with her music and ipods to block out the stuff she wanted to.

5️⃣🎄🎅🏼❣️Five - Remember, you are enough, things will get better, you’re doing your best, you’re loved, loving, capable and you have got this. AND if you need a chat DM me for my zoom code. I’m online TODAY & EVERY DAY until Jan 1st @ 7am & 7pm (UK) xx

Have a good day!
Caroline xx❣️🙏🏼

🎄🎅🏼❣️PS Picture shows my two beauty’s as little iggle things! Bex is wearing her school jumper on Christmas Day, Coz she wore it every day, holidays, weekends, school days, her choice - we all survived and she was (& is!!) HAPPY X❣️🙏🏼

01/12/2025

Kicks off Today ….

If you’re the parent of an autistic child we would love to have you join in with our small group for some ‘All About Autism’ sessions share in our private WhatsApp group throughout December -

I think you’ll find it helpful. More than welcome!

Message me if you’d like to come on board. Last day to join up xx

Caroline x❣️🙏🏼

30/11/2025

Tomorrow my wee autism programme kicks off again. If you fancy it - reach out. Caroline x

22/11/2025

I was not happy for decades….

I do what I do now with families of autistic kids coz I want better for you, I don’t want you to suffer like I did.

I became driven to share everything I had learned and did to help my daughter.

It’s not rocket science - we don’t need more books, conferences, training programmes to bring about change - we need to implement the stuff that we know we should be doing but with the support around us of people who get it.

That’s what I set out to do. I have no agenda. Free, fun, fabby stuff that’s going to help you. All I ask is that you interact and do the stuff!

If you’re curious - reach out. No agenda. Ditch the excuses. Face the fear of doing the stuff you keep putting off. This really matters - more than all the other s**z you’re busy with….

I-Get-IT!

You can have it ALL! You get to decide.

Wishing you the kinda day you need today.

Luv n Smiles ALWAYS!
Caroline x❣️

18/11/2025

Autism - Screaming & Communication

When Bex was little she screamed, a lot! I had no idea what to do initially. I later learned that screaming, in fact any behaviour, is communicative. For Rebecca it meant lots of things, it communicated pain, avoidance, fear, multiple things….

Autism and learning disability fascinated me. It consumed me - trying to figure out how to help my baby, I did every course I could, joined groups read books, learned sign language, and how to help Rebecca to communicate using picture symbols.

I studied for a Masters in Profound and Multiple Learning Disability and Multi Sensory Impairment at the University of Manchester 20 years ago - hard going when Cam was just a baby. I wanted to write a parents pack of everything I’d learned that helped me and Bex at the beginning of our journey. So I did it, it became my book ‘What Can I Do Tomorrow?’ which is mostly about PLAY!

Play is vital for all of us. Often our kids don’t know how to play, that was our experience. We have to almost teach it - ooooo controversial I know!!!

As for the Masters thesis, I’d already written a PhD thesis which wasn’t the easiest for me so I decided to finish ny course with JUST a Postgraduate Diploma. I’m proud of that today. I got to do my major assignments in Autism, Communication, Sensory Impairments, Epilepsy and Family Relationships - many of which I share about in my Autism Astronauts free programme I do for parents. Recently I found some of my Assignments and had a good read - still as relevant today!

Gosh I can really digress!! What I wanted to say today was picture symbols changed Rebecca’s life. She couldn’t speak until she was 7 years old but she learned to communicate using pictures and boy was (is!) she smart!!!

I’m so proud of my girly!!! In Network Autism we created our own symbol system, it doesn’t in anyway replace the work families do with their Speech & Language Therapist - we use them as labels, for play, games, social stories.

How I love what I get to do every day and the families I get to share with. I really believe we are all in this thing called life together and that when we give - we receive.

So here’s a wee example of my Christmas symbols - sorry (NOT SORRY! 😃) to mention the C-word in November! Love Xmas and all of you! And with that I’ll button it for today and go grab another coffee ☕️

Have a good wee day the day! Cold AF here in Aberdeenshire. Cx❣️🙏🏼

16/11/2025

People are remarkable and we each have a purpose. Keep looking for yours if you don’t know it yet. Believe in the impossible and find things that make you happy. Have a beautifully serene Sunday my friends,
Luv Caroline xx❣️🙏🏼

TAMMIE SHULTS

The left engine detonated at 32,000 feet, sending metal shrapnel through the fuselage at 500 mph. A window blew out. Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old mother of two, was partially sucked through the opening. Passengers pulled her back inside, but she was critically injured.

The aircraft was disintegrating. Oxygen masks dropped. People screamed, cried, texted final goodbyes to their families. The vibration was so violent that passengers believed the plane was breaking apart mid-air.

And Captain Tammie Jo Shults, speaking to air traffic control, sounded like she was discussing the weather.

"Southwest 1380, we're single engine," she said, her voice impossibly calm. "We have part of the aircraft missing, so we're going to need to slow down a bit."
Part of the aircraft missing.

Not "we're going to crash." Not "I don't know if we'll make it." Just a composed request, as if she'd already decided: we're landing this plane safely.

"Could you have medical meet us on the runway as well? We've got injured passengers."

One hundred forty-eight people were about to owe their lives to a woman the Navy once told couldn't fly jets.

New Mexico, 1973. Twelve-year-old Tammie Jo Bonnell stood at an air show, watching planes loop and dive across the sky. Something clicked inside her.

She turned to her father: "I want to do that."
Her father, who'd raised her to believe she could do anything, said: "Then you will."
The world disagreed.

In the 1970s and 80s, military aviation was a fortress with a "No Women Allowed" sign on the door. Women could refuel jets or push paperwork. Combat pilot? Not even a possibility.

The logic was circular and designed to exclude: "Women can't serve in combat roles, and fighter pilots are combat roles, therefore women can't be fighter pilots."

Tammie Jo got her pilot's license anyway. Studied aeronautical engineering. Applied to the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School.
They rejected her. Not for lack of skill. For being female.

She kept applying. In 1985, they finally accepted her—not as a fighter pilot, but as an instructor. She could teach men to fly jets, but she couldn't fly them in combat herself.

She took the job. It was the closest she could get to the sky she loved.
For years, she trained Navy pilots while watching men with less skill advance to fighter jets.

She remained grounded in the training squadron, her excellence unrecognized, her potential constrained by a policy that valued chromosomes over capability.
Then in 1993, everything changed. The combat exclusion policy was lifted.

Tammie Jo was 32—older than typical fighter pilot trainees who started in their early twenties. She applied immediately.

And she became one of the first women to fly the F/A-18 Hornet.
The F/A-18 is a supersonic fighter jet used for air-to-air combat and ground attack. It's one of the most sophisticated aircraft in the military, requiring grueling training and operating under extreme G-forces in life-or-death scenarios.

Tammie Jo didn't just fly it. She mastered it so completely that the Navy made her an instructor in "Out of Control Flight"—teaching pilots how to handle emergencies when everything goes wrong.

She also became an aggressor pilot, playing the enemy in simulated combat, challenging TOP GUN students and entire naval squadrons.
Translation: Tammie Jo Shults was so exceptional that the Navy had her train the elite pilots everyone's heard of.

But she still faced constant skepticism. Male pilots questioned whether she'd truly earned her position or was just a "diversity hire." They tested her constantly, waiting for her to fail.
She never did.

After over a decade in the Navy, Tammie Jo transitioned to civilian aviation. She joined Southwest Airlines in the early 1990s, flying routine commercial flights for the next 20+ years.
LaGuardia to Dallas. Chicago to Phoenix. Passengers who had no idea the woman flying their plane had trained TOP GUN pilots and could dogfight in an F/A-18.

She was just Captain Shults. Professional. Calm. Excellent.
Until April 17, 2018.

Southwest Flight 1380 departed LaGuardia at 10:27 AM with 144 passengers aboard, headed for Dallas. Captain Tammie Jo Shults. First Officer Darren Ellisor.
Twenty minutes into the flight, at 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania, the left engine didn't just fail—it exploded.

A fan blade broke loose due to metal fatigue and tore through the engine casing. Shrapnel—some pieces the size of car doors—ripped through the wing and fuselage.

One piece hit window 14A.
The window shattered. At 32,000 feet, the pressure differential creates violent suction. Jennifer Riordan was partially pulled through the opening. Passengers grabbed her and pulled her back inside, but her injuries were catastrophic.

The plane was dying:

Left engine: gone
Hydraulic systems: failing
Cabin pressure: lost
Vibration: so severe passengers thought they were breaking apart

People texted final messages: "The plane is going down. I love you." "Tell the kids I love them." "We're going to crash."

In the cockpit, Tammie Jo faced a nightmare scenario. This wasn't just single-engine operation—the explosion had caused massive damage throughout the aircraft.

Her Navy training kicked in. Out of Control Flight. Emergency procedures drilled endlessly. Muscle memory from thousands of flight hours.

She took control of the aircraft, declared an emergency, requested Philadelphia International—the closest suitable airport.
And then she flew.

The plane wanted to roll left from asymmetric thrust. Tammie Jo fought the controls. The vibration was so severe that instruments were difficult to read. She was flying partially by feel, using her body to sense how the aircraft responded.

Air Traffic Control: "Southwest 1380, what's the nature of your emergency?"
Tammie Jo: "We have a part of the aircraft missing. We're going to need to slow down a bit. Could you have medical meet us on the runway?"
Her voice: completely calm. Matter-of-fact. Professional.

Inside the cabin: flight attendants performing CPR. Passengers holding each other, praying, crying, convinced they were about to die.
In the cockpit: Tammie Jo Shults was landing the plane.

Single engine. Damaged aircraft. Severe vibration. No second chances.
11:27 AM—exactly 20 minutes after the explosion—she touched down at Philadelphia International.

The landing wasn't just successful—it was smooth. Minimal impact. The plane rolled to a stop. Emergency vehicles surrounded them.

Passengers erupted in applause and tears. They'd been certain they would die.

Jennifer Riordan was rushed to the hospital but died from her injuries—the only fatality. Eight others had minor injuries. Everyone else survived.

The audio of Tammie Jo's ATC communication went viral. Aviation experts analyzed the landing and said most pilots would not have succeeded under those conditions.

Passengers called her a hero. One said: "She spoke to us like a mother. Even when we thought we were dying, her voice made us feel like we'd be okay."

Jennifer Riordan's husband thanked Tammie Jo for bringing his wife's body home and for saving everyone else aboard.

The media wanted interviews. Awards. Celebrations.
Tammie Jo declined most of it, deflecting credit to her co-pilot, the flight attendants, the passengers who helped. She said: "Any pilot would have done the same."
But that wasn't true. Many wouldn't have had the training. Many wouldn't have had the composure. Many wouldn't have succeeded.

In one interview, a reporter asked if she'd been scared.
Tammie Jo paused: "There wasn't time to be scared. There was only time to fly."

That's a fighter pilot talking. Fear is a luxury. Action is a requirement.
After the incident, she returned to flying. Because that's who she is: a pilot who flies.

Here's what we should remember:
She was told women couldn't fly jets. She flew them anyway—and became so skilled she trained the world's best pilots.

She was rejected for being female. She kept applying until they had no choice but to recognize her excellence.

She spent years fighting for recognition in a male-dominated field. She earned it through skill, not shortcuts.

And when an engine exploded at 32,000 feet, killing a passenger and crippling the aircraft, she landed it safely while sounding like she was discussing dinner plans.

That's not luck. That's decades of preparation meeting a moment of crisis.

Tammie Jo Shults didn't ask to be a hero. She just wanted to fly.
But when heroism was required, she delivered—because she'd spent her entire life preparing for the moment when calm expertise would mean the difference between life and death.

Sometimes heroism isn't dramatic. It's calm. It's professional. It's decades of training compressed into 20 minutes of perfect ex*****on.

The plane wanted to crash.
She refused to let it.

15/11/2025