I AM writing in response to the article (Malvern Gazette & Ledbury Reporter, July 7) re: families of disabled children.

As the mother of two children I can fully endorse Diana Maiden's comments.

Our eldest child was born with a congenital birth defect which required surgery. She recovered but has been left with ongoing health problems.

Our youngest child has a diagnosis of global developmental delay. This has in many ways been harder to cope with as medical staff cannot determine its cause nor can they fix it. It has long term implications for all our lives.

So much of her first two years were spent with my trying to get the help she so badly needed. I did not know which way to turn. What I had was a child who lay on the floor staring into space.

The experts wanted to `wait and see'. All I could see were months slipping by with no formalised plan of help. Only at my persistence did a care plan get put in place. She now has a portage worker who calls to the home to work on a one- to-one basis which makes all the difference. We cannot thank her enough for all her help.

Fifteen months later and our lives have changed as our child can now talk and walk and follow a simple instruction. This is such an achievement. We know we have a long way to go, but each little step forward means so much.

We resorted to getting additional therapy from The British Institute for Brain Injured Children. This also has helped a great deal; as has the nursery she attends, whose staff has been really supportive.

As Mrs Maiden stated, it is the siblings who suffer too. Our youngest child's fear of new surroundings and the resulting inappropriate behaviour made us prisoners in our own home.

I understand many foreign countries target these children from a very early age with masses of therapy available. They feel the input is most effective at this stage. This country would sooner `wait and see' with the resulting problems as these children start to fail in mainstream education. There is then the long wait for help. These children would surely have benefited from help from an early age, as would their families.

We would not be without our children, and have learnt so much about ourselves from having to cope. It just would have been better for us all if the support had been more formalised.

We don't know what the future holds but now appreciate the importance of little things.

Mrs S Herrington, Ledbury.