Thomas and Megan — Finding Focus, Every Day
For Thomas, school used to be a place where everything happened at once — and nothing stayed still long enough to make sense.
Before Megan, walking into school meant entering a building full of noise, movement and unpredictability, with no way to filter it all out. Thomas would come home overwhelmed, unable to regulate, and the meltdowns that followed were as hard on his family as they were on him.
Thomas describes it simply: before Megan, school “just wasn’t as comfortable.” He got nervous. He couldn’t tell what deserved his attention and what didn’t — everything was happening, all at once, everywhere.
That changed when Megan arrived.
“Megan’s just been a lifesaver. She’s been brilliant. I just have this lovely ball of fluff which I can stroke. It’s really calming, stroking Megan in lessons, and there’s something to do with my arms when I’m listening in lessons.”
It’s Megan’s quiet, constant presence that makes the difference. When Thomas’s attention starts to drift — to a noise down the corridor, a conversation two rooms away, anything but the lesson in front of him — Megan pulls him back.
“Megan brings my thoughts back into the lesson instead of them drifting away to wherever it is. The Megan magnet just draws my attention back into the moment. It’s been really helpful in lessons.”
Thomas’s Teaching Assistant has watched that shift happen first-hand — in his grades, and in him.
“He has breaks during the exam, and he’ll take a break and then he’ll go on the floor and Megan will come over to him and he’ll just lie with Megan. He regulates himself. Then he’ll have a few minutes and he gets back up again.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Thomas has moved from an average set in Maths to the top of the top set. He’s now heading into the top set for GCSE English too — a significant achievement for a student who is both autistic and dyslexic.
“It’s just absolutely magical to see. It’s just so emotional. He’s just really changed. Megan has just really changed his life.”
Thomas’s story is proof that the right support at the right moment can turn a school day from something to survive into something a young person can actually thrive in.
This September, help us give more autistic children and young people a Megan of their own.