Two-year-old Laura Houghton had turned blue and lost consciousness bythe time her mother discovered her hanging by the neck from a curtainrail. She'd been tied to the rail by her older brother Tom, who suffersfrom a number of disabilities including attention deficit hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, autism and an undiagnosed geneticdisorder.
"I'd only left the room for a minute to cook some tea, and he's such agentle boy really," says Sally Houghton, Laura and Tom's mother. "But hegets frustrated and he found it really difficult when Laura camealong."
Tom and Laura are now 12 and eight years old respectively, and live withtheir mother in Lancashire. Houghton is recovering from a nervousbreakdown, brought on by the strain of caring for Tom and his sister."From the time he was two until he was nine, he never slept for morethan two hours at a time. I was working nights, and I just never slept.It all got too much for me," she reveals.
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