Last updated 13:11, Tuesday, 24 June 2008

As ten-year-old twins Georgia and Kyla Johnston appear at the living room door after a day at school, their faces are filled with happy smiles.

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Georgia Johnston, 10, left, with mum Sarah and twin sister Kyla

But despite being identical in the way they look there is something that sets them apart. While Kyla chats away excitedly about their day, Georgia also joins in but the sounds that come out of her mouth are not the same as her sister’s.

Georgia has autism and although its severity has eased since she was diagnosed at the age of four, she still experiences serious problems with her speech and now mum Sarah is hoping to raise money to take her to a specialist centre in America to help her find her voice.

Georgia was a bright and happy baby who was constantly babbling and seemed to be ahead of her sister in her development but all this changed when they were 18 months old. Georgia suddenly became distant and blank and although Kyla showed signs of learning difficulties by the age of two she was leaving Georgia behind.

Sarah now believes the catalyst for this sudden change in Georgia was the MMR injection, the combined vaccination to prevent measles, mumps and rubella.

“I couldn’t understand what was going on,” she Sarah, who lives on Richardson Street in Carlisle.

“Georgia became very badly behaved.

“She has pushed three televisions off their units.

“I couldn’t take her anywhere. It was heartbreaking to see the change in her.”

Both girls attended James Rennie school but Sarah felt that she wanted to do more for her daughter.

Looking after the girls is a demanding task and Sarah has put in many hours with Georgia at home to try to give her more help.

“I have always coped,” she said. “I wanted to do whatever I could to help her.”

Sarah went to the charity Cerebra, who help children with brain related conditions, and took Georgia to Blackpool for speech therapy once a week.

It was in 2003 that Sarah heard about Growing Minds in Florida, America, which is considered to be the world’s most advanced centre for helping autistic children.

She started to raise money for the trip and took Georgia on a five day course to help both mother and daughter the following year.

When they returned home Sarah set up a classroom in their home and set about teaching Georgia what she had learned while in America.

It took several years before there were any signs of change in Georgia’s behaviour.

“They taught me how to be with Georgia,” said Sarah. “I left with a folder of ideas of things to do with Georgia but things were still hard when we came back.”

“Georgia had to learn the right way to behave and the play therapy helped her to interact.”

As a result Georgia has gone from a child with no eye contact or interaction to one who is mildly autistic. There was a time when Georgia wouldn’t even give Sarah a cuddle or a kiss. But now Sarah finds joy in the fact that her daughter will come to cuddle her.

However, Georgia has no sense of danger which means that she needs to be supervised. She still has problems with her speech and can only pronounce some words – and when she speaks sentences they sound like baby babble.

Sarah said: “If Georgia saw Kyla playing across the road she would want to run out to her but she wouldn’t realise the danger of the road. Someone needs to be on hand all the time to watch her.”

Georgia started attending Newtown Primary School in Carlisle a year ago to join her sister, who has been there for two years, a move that Sarah says has helped her immensely.

She said: “Georgia has started to write and is learning to read. She communicates through writing.

“I think being around the other children at the school has really helped her and she has started to interact with them. I still thinks she prefers to be on her own though.”

Talks with Georgia’s current speech therapist have led to the belief that a different approach may be what’s needed as Georgia seems to be stuck at the same level in her speech.

Although she can say some words she is unable to pronounce certain consonants and doesn’t know how to move her mouth to produce sounds. The result is a mumbling sound.

Sarah is also concerned that Georgia’s problems with her speech will hold her back when she goes to secondary school next year and could cause problems for her.

After looking into alternative speech therapy methods she found The Kaufman Children’s Centre For Speech, Language, Sensory-Motor, and Social Connections in Detroit, America and sent a DVD recording of Georgia trying to speak to be assessed. The response was positive and they have offered to help Georgia.

But this four day course will cost more than £4,000 and Sarah is now desperately trying to raise the money to take her daughter to America.

She is organising a charity night at St Bede’s Social Club in Carlisle on July 19. A quiz, auction of prizes, raffle and disco are planned and Sarah is looking for prize donations for the auction and raffle. Tickets can be bought from Baps and Wraps in Denton Holme, Carlisle, Big Baps on Newtown Road, Carlisle and from Newtown primary school in Carlisle.

There are also collection boxes in Gretna Bakers, Lucchesi fish and chip shop in Gretna and Baps and Wraps in Carlisle.

Sarah can be contacted on 01228 548755 for donations and tickets.