When proud youngsters come home bearing merit points, it's usually because they have written a lively composition or drawn a pretty picture.

Colchester lad Adam Barker got one for "being gentle with the fish".

The nine-year-old, who has severe autism, had gone Awol during a lesson at Market Field special school in Elmstead Market.

A search was launched and headteacher Gary Smith found him - in an empty classroom with a goldfish clasped in each hand.

As Mr Smith hurried over, he feared the treasured class pets had swum their last laps of the tank. But thanks to Adam's relaxed grip, both survived the ordeal.

Hence the merit point.

Mum Helen wasn't exactly thrilled when he brought it home - but with a child like Adam, you take the merit points however they come.

"He's a lovely, sunny child really," she said. "He's so laid back he's almost horizontal."

Her son may be laid back - but a day of looking after him leaves Helen anything but.

Adam likes to eat, and he doesn't seem to care much if what he eats is food.

He loves sweets - the only phrase he will speak at the moment is "sweeties please" - but sand is also a particular favourite, and a few weeks ago he ate his first balloon.

He gets crayons and bits of nappy stuck in his ears and nostrils, and has to be taken to casualty.

Knowing no fear, except where cats, dogs and spiders are concerned, he regularly "escapes" and has been found covered in blood after smashing a light bulb with his bare hands.

Most nights, he decorates his bedroom with his own poo, leaving Helen to clear up.

Caring for Adam would be tough enough if he were an only child - but divorced Helen, 36, is a mother-of-three. Her two other sons, James, 11, and Harry, seven, also have special needs. James is dyslexic, while Harry has a speech and language disorder.

She copes - but it's not easy.

"Adam doesn't sleep at the moment," Helen said. "They think he has a shortage of a chemical, called melotonin, which we need to help us drop off. He is up and about at 1am or midnight, not having settled until 11pm or 11.30pm.

"I'm expected to have him on the school bus at 8am and then get the other boys off to their schools."

Helen admits there are times when she feels she lacks the strength to keep on looking after Adam.

Whatever he gets up to though, she doesn't love him any less.

"You have to look at it and say this is what he does'," she said. "He is not doing it to annoy me, he's doing it because he finds pleasure in what he does."