onlycrazygal

I do not wish to persue previous discussions mods so please down your weapons! This is my last post here, Im not stating this for a reaction, before you attack BADDAD ok.....As far as I am aware during my time on this forum I have been nothing but courteous and polite to everyone. I had only just recently returned to the forum as I felt bad being away so long, I knew some would be wondering how I was, I wanted to at least let them know I was ok.... this forum has changed so much..... What the heck happened ? Im saying a quick thank you and goodbye to those who have supported me in real difficult times on this forum in the past, you know who you are. I couldnt just leave without acknowledging what this forum once meant to me, the warmth and unconditional acceptance was well appreciated. I wish you well OCG ONE LAST THOUGHT, THOSE THAT ARE HAPPY WITH THE SYSTEM ARE USUALLY THE ONES THAT HAVE YET TO EXPERIENCE IT....... OH DEAR WAS I NAUGHTY LOL.....

If this forum does not allow for a person to share negative experiences by professionals, then I am deeply saddened that people feel this way as you stifle progress... Isnt this a forum where people can air how they feel in a safe environment amongst friends ? Or is it a forum for the positive experiences only ? I must agree with coolblue I need clear guidelines as to what I can and cannot say on this forum, thank you, OCG

Can someone plz explain to me what happened on thread "boy diagnosed with Autism" ? I post the newspaper article, a few people reply, then I write my own experience (to join in the said discussion) as many people do.... Next thing BADDAD has a wobbly at me and the threads closed. If Ive broken some forum rules I apologize. Now and again threads can be a bit controversial and differences of opinion will surface based upon individual perceptions, but is that really a cause to be a tad oversensitive ? I would like to think people on here are openminded enough to disagree but still appreciate and respect one others views. like I stated there is good and bad in everything, It just so happens I agree with a few points others have made including you BADDAD. Corr Strewth Im totally at a loss ??????? GOODNIGHT, OCG xx

At the end of the day surely we are all free on this forum to add our unique opinions... These are the kind of issues that really do need airing because it does happen. Generally when a social worker is involved we are talking care proceedings or should I say, threats of care proceedings. Personally I find this kind of tactic repulsive as It happened to my family. My son was told he couldnt possibly love me, because if he did love me he would go to school and save me from going to prison. He was told he was trying it on,told he was lazy, at one point he was sat on until he promised he would go to school. I was threatened with imprisonment and my child put into fostercare. It was a terrible time for us, there was so much pressure to do things their way.My son became ill due to the bullying tactics they used. They all have quota s to fulfill, targets to accomplish the system is target driven,they have line managers to answer to. Upon reflection I wish I had kicked her out of my home, but parents, especially vulnerable ones put their complete faith in the professionals and I did. There is good and bad in every profession however, when there are targets and substantial financial gains or financial savings involved, understanding sadly goes out of the window...

Felt compelled to post this as we got this kind of treatment with the bullying and threats...no-one should have to go through this kind of treatment. Boy later diagnosed with autism Posted: 09 January 2009 | Subscribe Online writes Dave Burke A social worker has been found guilty of assaulting a 12-year-old boy he was helping to return to school. Stephen Dent, who works for Croydon Council, became ?pink with aggression? when the child refused to go, Croydon Magistrates' Court was told. Dent, who pleaded not guilty to assault, was today given a two-year conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay costs and compensation. Dent, 54, had been assigned to help the boy, who had been off school for more than 15 weeks after a meningitis scare last year, the court was told. Article continues below the advertisement Aggressive His mother told the court that Dent, of Harrow Road, Warlingham, had been at their home on 15 July when he became aggressive. The mother alleged Dent had grabbed her son by the arms, dragged him across the floor and ?intimidated? him, causing the boy to become hysterical. She also claimed that Dent threatened to call in ?stronger men? to deal with the boy and that he warned the child would be put into care and bullied if he did not comply. She alleged Dent told the boy: ?If this were 20 years ago, I?d have your arm behind your back and you?d be frogmarched into school.? Dent denied making the remarks. Autistic spectrum disorder After the incident, the boy was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and acute separation disorder, which made him afraid to leave the house. Dent was not aware of the boy?s condition at the time of the assault. The court was shown photographs of the bruising and red marks suffered by the boy. Sarah Lewis, defending, said Dent was ?simply trying to assist? the boy. Dent?s colleague, Stephanie Greaves, a project worker with the Croydon Oak Avenue Project, admitted that numerous previous attempts to get the boy back to school using different methods had failed. Article continues below the advertisement Excesssive force Dent, who had worked in social care for more than 30 years, was a former manager at the project, which specialises in crisis intervention to prevent young people going into care. Finding Dent guilty of assault, district judge Anthony Callaway said: ?I have absolutely no doubt that Mr Dent was motivated to assist the boy from the start, and in particular on the day in question.? But he continued: ?In the flash of the moment I take the view that he applied excessive and unlawful force to the boy, and on that basis I find the case proved.? Suspended But the judge stopped short of sending Dent to jail, saying that losing his job as a result of the conviction would be punishment enough. After the verdict, Croydon Council confirmed that Dent was suspended soon after the council had become aware of the complaint that led to his conviction. "He remains suspended while an internal investigation takes place under the council?s disciplinary process," said a spokeswoman.

yep can certainly count me in, been trying to get my sons aspergers identified and diagnosed since he was 9, hes now 13yrs and no closer to the goal really. originally was accused of Msbp, went through care proceedings etc. Its a wonder we survived in one piece but we did Have to say though it has left me with mental health issue: called, Imnottakingnocrap disorder OCG

just thought I would paste this for people to read: thanks, Are the needs of children with SEN being met? This Special Children article is from August 2008. To receive the latest issue, subscribe here. SEN provision SENCO Special Educational Needs Local government authorities were heavily criticised for failing to adequately manage provision for children with complex special needs in February 2007. So how did things change in 18 months? The Audit Commission national report ? Out of Authority Placements for Special Educational Needs ? concluded that ?while strategic planning for the educational needs of children with complex needs has improved, opportunities to provide more integrated and cost effective services through joint working between education, social care and health services were not being maximised.? The report suggested that a ?lack of integrated local programmes of support for children and families, such as therapies and mental health support? had led to demand for out-of-authority provision in many areas. There are currently more than 11,000 pupils with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) who are placed in out-of-authority special schools, and these are most often children with severe behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The Audit Commission report stated: ?Expenditure on these placements is high and has increased steeply in recent years, however the rate of increase has decreased since 2003-04. While the interests of the child must be the primary focus of a decision about placement, achieving value for money is also an important consideration.? Criticisms levelled at councils In particular, while councils have responded to the ?steeply increasing? costs of out-of-authority placements by developing in-house provision, they were criticised for the following: failing to base decisions on out-of-authority provision on a fully costed option appraisal; that budgets for out-of-authority provision for SEN were not yet jointly planned or managed; that budgets were rarely based on the full unit cost of forecast need and financial planning did not often extend beyond one year. Other criticisms levelled at councils included the following: Little progress is being made in developing and implementing pooled or aligned budgets with primary care trusts (PCTs), and contributions to the cost of placements by PCTs are not based on long-term assessed need. Contracts with out-of-authority providers failing to include details of the expected outcomes for a pupil and not being a satisfactory basis for monitoring or challenge. Inconsistent monitoring of the progress of individual pupils by their home councils. A lack of joint planning between agencies for the transfer of pupils from residential out-of-authority schools to post school provision, which created uncertainty for young people and parents alike. Not being in a position to know whether they and their partners were achieving value for money for their out-of-authority placements because they have not brought together the information needed to assess this. Not being aware of the full unit costs of either in house or out-of-authority packages of support and having insufficient understanding of out-of-authority providers? costs. The report?s recommendations for councils and their partners Recommendations for councils and their partners, including health trusts, outlined in the report urged them to: review the way they manage delivery of services to children with complex needs to integrate strategic planning, budget planning, commissioning and the management and monitoring of services better take a more strategic approach to the joint commissioning of support for pupils with complex needs. This commissioning strategy should take account of the costs and benefits of local and out-of-authority provision and seek to address the shortcomings in respite care, therapies and mental health support identified in this study and others align their budgets for children with complex SEN to underpin this joint commissioning process. As a basis for this, forecast likely demands on their out-of-authority placement budgets in education and social care over three years participate fully in the work of regional partnerships to maximise the opportunity to benefit from information sharing and joint working develop systems for recording cost-effectiveness of provision for individual pupils with complex needs. This should be done by linking the cross-agency resources used with the progress of individual pupils, wherever they are placed, against outcome-based targets such as their individual education plans (IEPs) or outcomes specified in contracts develop their financial information systems to ensure that they have accurate information about all the costs of meeting the needs of individual children and young people with complex special needs, whether in-house or in out-of-authority provision ensure that for each child placed in out-of-authority SEN provision there are clear targets and outcomes agreed and included as part of the contract with the provider and that placements are regularly monitored and assessed identify a lead professional or key worker for each pupil with severe and complex needs placed out of the authority, who would act as an advocate for his or her needs and monitor progress. How are local authorities responding? The message to local authorities, therefore, was quite clear. So, 18 months after the Audit Commission report was published, how are they responding to its findings and recommendations and, moreover, what are the implications for the independent and non-maintained special schools that have traditionally provided out-of-authority placements for children with complex SEN? Caroline Abrahams, programme director for children and young people at the Local Government Association (LGA), told Special Children: ?I think the picture here is a developing one ? local authorities are working towards integrating their services for disabled children across health, social care and education and inevitably some are doing it faster and more effectively than others, which is always the case given there are 150 local authorities across the country. ?The fact they are doing so may be partly in response to the Audit Commission report but probably even more so in response to the support of the Aiming High for Disabled Children initiative, which came out of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 and which is joint across the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health.? Caroline added: ?The other issue that needs taking into account here is that the population of children with very complex needs is not static, but known to be growing ? a happy consequence of advances in medical science. However, the fact is such children are extremely expensive and difficult to care for and in a small local authority you only need one or two such children to have a very significant impact on the Children?s Services budget. Such children are inevitably hard to plan for.? One local authority that is working hard towards the recommendations of the Audit Commission report and the Children?s Services Review is Hertfordshire County Council. At the start of 2008, the Council set up a Complex Care Panel, aiming to develop solutions across services for children with severe and complex special needs. Sheila Reynolds, a consultant for the Council brought in 18 months ago to help advise on how to improve services, explained: ?It?s aimed at developing a professional team around the child from the different services and we are looking at the impact of that. The panel meets fortnightly to discuss children?s services ? it?s a difficult area to measure but in practice this is quite a good tool. At the end of this year, we will be able to look at the impact on our county budget. ?We are also beginning to look at using one of our units to provide services for children with complex needs and extremely challenging behaviour ? it?s basically about pooling budgets and working together.? Allison Hope-West is director of special educational needs placements for the Cambian Group, which provides specialist residential education and care for young people with autistic spectrum disorders. Asked about changes in the number of out-of-authority placements since the Audit Commission report, she said: ?We have definitely seen some significant changes in this area. We certainly have not seen any reduction in the number of students placed with us, although we are asked much more frequently for cost breakdowns indicating what part of the package is education, social care and health ? this is not an exact science and the line is grey in terms of what constitutes particularly education and care as there are significant crossovers.? Regional partnership groups The Cambian Group has also been involved with regional partnership groups in putting forward pre-qualifying tenders to local authorities for provision. Allison explained: ?Once again these really do vary a lot from group to group ? some have requested reams of information about the schools, policies in place and fees, whereas others really appear to be preferred providers? lists. ?There has also been a huge amount of debate regarding the proximity of out-of-county placements and whether providers could offer solutions to authorities nearer to the county,? she continued. ?There is no easy answer to this and my guess is that this will be an ongoing debate.? With regard to the report?s recommendations that councils be aware of targets and planned outcomes for individual children, Allison told Special Children: ?All of our students have outcome-based targets set and we have also piloted a tiered funding system at one of our schools, based on a detailed breakdown of need and a clear focus on short-, medium- and long-term outcomes. While this is still in its early stages, indications are that this has been well received.? She concluded: ?All in all, there would seem to be a response to the Audit Commission and a move to more accountability regarding the cost and quality of out-of-county placements. There has also been significant information sharing and joint working to make this happen.? How is the report impacting LAs? Helen Hewitt is chair of the National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools, as well as director of education of The Together Trust. The Trust is a charitable organisation operating in the North of England and North Wales and runs three schools: two for children with autistic spectrum disorders and one for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Asked about the impact of the Audit Commission report, Helen said: ?It?s quite difficult to attribute changes specifically to the Audit Commission. Local authorities are looking at developing more flexible provision and value for money is a big focus and a driving force but this had actually already started to happen. These changes, however, may perhaps have been given a forward impetus by the Audit Commission report and have now gathered pace.? She continued: ?I think within local authorities there is a reconfiguration of provision. If you look at our schools, we run two schools for autistic children and one for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. In the 1990s, autistic spectrum disorders were quite a low-incidence condition and so local authorities were not setting things up themselves but buying into available external provision. The situation now is that an increasing number of children are being identified with autistic spectrum disorders ? it?s no longer a low-incidence issue and so local authorities are looking a lot at what provision they themselves can make. ?Children with Asperger?s syndrome, for instance, should be in mainstream schools whereas children with very complex needs still require specialised, external provision.? According to Helen, the changes taking place in local authority provision for children with complex special educational needs are not having an impact on the number of placements. She said: ?Rather than a reduction in the number of placements because local authorities are reconfiguring their provision, the change is really in referral patterns. Whereas in the past we had children from Year 1 and 2 being referred to us, it is now an older age group ? children from Year 5 and 6, for example, who wouldn?t be able to cope at secondary school or who have fallen out of the system in secondary school.? She added: ?I believe the main impact of local authority changes will be that long-distance placements will become increasingly rare ? if children cannot be provided for within the local authority, their provision will be within a relatively local area, so special schools that have traditionally had a national remit will begin to see a change in their referrals.? And in the long term, Helen believes special schools will always have a major role to play within the provision for children with SEN, whether within local authorities or in out-of-authority placements. She concluded: ?With local authorities looking to develop more flexible provision, special schools have a lot to offer in their areas of expertise in terms of outreach programmes, training teachers and as consultants to mainstream schools ? there?s an awful lot of knowledge and expertise that we can pass on to people.

HI Kathryn, It is good news about the Stat assessment, struggling with the schools teaching methods or should I say my son is..... He hates it Im afraid, dont rate them much, hes hanging on by the skin of his teeth until this SA is finished. Progress is slow but we will get there... ocg xx

Clare , puffin , hello ..... hows you clare did you get sorted ? Puffin your spot on with your remarks it is disgusting what we go through because we have asd children. Its a crisis for any family and leaves its mark with anyone unfortunate to have to go through it..... Im moving forward now slowly but I cannot let go of what they put us through, a lot of it I still cannot talk about as its under the Family Courts Disclosure Rules....Id be locked up, (THEY SAY ITS TO PROTECT THE CHILDS ID BUT ITS JUST TO COVER THEIR OWN COLLUDING BACKSIDES) great to see you lot are still around... OCG XX

Thank goodness for that lol..... thought I was alone there for a moment lol.... and thanks for replying smiley.

Thought I would pop my head in after such a long time, after the many years of drama and care proceedings the powers that be have finally granted permission for my son to have a statutory assessment. Still in limbo as far as diagnosis is concerned however as the independent specialist school he is attending is being paid by my LEA to teach my son. They refuse to have anything to do with a diagnosis, even though it is one of their services they offer children who attend. If the school diagnosed him however then this would open a whole corrupt rather slimy can of worms involving the previous so called state appointed child consultants. Whom I may add stated in front of many that children grow out of autism..... I know lol Anyway bye for now all.... ocg <'>

HI, just to say good luck with your son, i really do sympathise it can be the most difficult time for all... good luck OCG

My LA do not have provision for my sons needs, so professionals are recommending a therapeutic residential school.... He wont survive it....he doesnt need therapy, he just needs an assessment!! but ohhhhhhhh noooooooo!!! Ive fought too long and hard to give up now... OCG

hi all , sorry its been so long, its been three yrs now since C was in school, its disgusting the amount of professionals that have been in and out of my home trying to persuade/ pressure him to go to school like a good boy!!! course ive been their in the background trying to tell them their strategy was so very off the mark. They dont want to hear it as it interferes with there theory of fabrication no doubt But hey who am i to tell them, after all the state is a better parent than i am or so they keep saying.....sick an tired of the intervention and the negative impact they have on our lives... ITS A FARCE!!!!! But guess who has been ordered by the courts to do a second updated report, attending our home for the second time ?? Bring it on amigo!!!!--- lol Think he may be slightly prejudice as the G cough C are on his case. Question : Finally bypassed certain authorities and now C is having Speech & Language Assess, the thing is the sp& lan have said, that usually a full sp & lan assessment is done in one 45 min session, then they invite you back for next session to advise you as to what if anything was in their findings, if there is a problem they send you home with instructions on how best you may manage with your child. ...IM APPALLED is this common practice ? Isnt their a set num of tests they must conduct or a set time they must spend on a child ? Surely there must be... My fear is that this shortened version of a sp&lan assessment is down to money, thing is they may miss C s difficulties /complexities / subtleties etc. If that happens Thanks for letting me waffle OCG xxxxxxx Hi, OCG - I've taken a paragraph out of your post because the content was slanderous... While you've taken cares to hide express details in this post, many of the details of your case are public knowledge, and in that respect the individual concerned could be recognised. Not sure on S&LP, but i think it varies from place to place... 45 mins for an initial assessment doesn't seem unreasonable. Hope the updated report goes well. L&P BD (for an etc etc)...

my son has always had difficulty initiating action, he just sits there with his cards doing very little... he was the same as a small child, he would never play with toys alone i would always have to choose an activity for him and be involved in the play. Whenever he wants anything he shouts me from the livingroom, on the surface it seems hes just being lazy but i know theres more to it. He hates it when i make him get himself a drink/food wants me to do it all the time. he hates activity full stop....am i missing something here as i dont understand what is goiung on for him ??? thanks, OCG