lsuddick

To Cat: Have I upset you in some way, because you seem to have taken every opportunity of having a pop at me through this forum, or is there some hidden agenda? Also I phoned and e-mailed you prior to this meeting, but received no reply. Don't forget,you contacted me! I speak as I find regarding the organisations involved and will continue to do so. As far as the AOT is concerned I have found them excellent and have never criticised them in this forum or any other medium. The same goes for the one man band that is the PP. On the other hand I believe that I am more than justified in my criticism of our illustrious LEA, whose policies and provisions for the care and education of these children has done nothing but fail my son for 9 years This despite a continual dialogue with all the schools involved. How long should I have allowed this situation to continue?

If ours is one of the best then I pity the rest of the country

Hi Sally, Thought I would put some meat on the bones of the meeting with the school. 1. Asked to be supplied with all the reports pertaining to Mike's status. They agreed. 2. AOT manager attended the meeting with us and was fantastic. She is now in the loop for all shool actions. 3. Contacted parent partnerships. Only one girl works for them and she was on holiday at the time of the meeting. It was great and I cannot thank you enough! My Very Best Wishes

Hi, Just a quick note about your problems! DO THIS:- 1. Listen to Sally44. Follow her suggestions to the letter. She advised me last week and after nine years of this we appear to have won! 2. Contact the local Autism Outreach Team through the local council. They can help! 3. Contact the local Parent Partnerships office through local council. They can help. 4. Submit a claim for Disability Living Allowance & Carer's Allowance. To do this use the local Benefits Advice Office. It amounts to about £450 a month and if passed it will be back dated to the date of your first claim. It is not charity, it is your right. I use ours so Mike can follow his go-kart hobby/obsession. 5. Finally, you seem very nice and reasonable. Stop it and start kicking some ###### and banging some tables. The powers that be have the excuse of a six week break coming up. Get on your bike NOW!!!! DO AS SALLY SAYS AND DO IT NOW! Good Luck!

Well, well, well! Today we had a meeting with the school (Deputy Head & Senco). None of this just lots of this and this and . We got everything[/color] that we asked for. Modified timetable, mentor support, scribed exams, minimum exam pressure, extra ciricula motor engineering programme etc. ###### Fantastic!!!!! Many thanks once again to Sally, without who's input I would still have been howling at the moon. Hurrah Blackadder!!!!!

To All Poster's & Readers, Having taken on board all your thoughts and advice (THANKS, ESPECIALLY SALLY ), I today sent the below document to the school via email. I also copied the thing to the LEA, local Parent Partnership and local Autism Outreach Team. You will see that it is less emotional and more considered????? " Dear Sirs/Madam, I refer to my e-mail of 2nd July 2009 regarding the subject AER. You will note from the distribution of this correspondence that, in addition to Children’s Services I have also copied this message to Parent Partnerships and the Autism Outreach Team. I have done this in order that all agencies who should be involved in this matter are fully aware of the situation and can address the points contained below. AEN - General The Manual of Good Practice sets out the general principle that targets involving children with AEA should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed. A target should be worth achieving and if that is the case, it should be possible to judge whether or not it has been achieved. Parent Partnerships can help with Individual Education Plans and make sure they are SMART targeted. When that is correct the IEPs should record when progress is being made and when targets are not being met. When that is recorded it then becomes the school's duty to get advice from outside professionals such as the Educational Psychologist or Autism Outreach Team as to why the target is not being met and what they can do. · I do not have a copy of an IEP for Michael and would be obliged if you could forward me a copy. AEN -Training Most Local Education Authorities also have 'training days' about Autistic Spectrum Disorders. · Does your school send anyone who works with Michael to any of these training sessions? AEN –Education Path I find that that school have no idea of autism or how it affects my son. You seem totally unaware of what your responsibilities are and often do not seek outside help. I believe part of the reason is the fact that all schools have a 'budget' of EP input etc per term. So if my child is quietly falling behind but not causing any 'difficulties' for the whole class then they can be overlooked and the school tends not to use up their 'EP time' on such children. · Is this the case with Michael? AEN –School Action Plus Michael is on SA+. He should t have been seen by some professionals as that is part of SA+ process. They should have written a report or at least an explanatory letter giving details of Michael’s difficulties and needs and how the school should address and support those needs/difficulties in school. If this is not the case I require this point to be rectified. · I would be obliged if you could furnish me with copies of these documents. Michael – Difficulties Michael has difficulties in the following areas of education and behaviour: 1. Auditory Processing - he cannot take in lots of verbal instructions. I believe he needs frequent reminders from a TA to ensure he knows what he should be doing and all lessons should be printed out in bullet form. 2. Michael has difficulties asking for help or further explanations when he does not understand his work. SALT or EP should teach Michael and school explicitly in how to use 'help' cards. 3. Michael also needs a 'nominated' LSA/TA who will be his key worker and who will be the main contact between school and parents. They will also carry out the programmes put together by outside professionals and will then generalise these learnt skills out to other staff members and into other environments e.g. the playground. 4. Michael has difficulties with emotional regulation and gets very upset about change of routine and stressful situations. SALT or EP should put together a programme that should be carried out in school about recognising his emotional state and the emotions in others and this should be incorporated into his daily timetable. 5. Michael has difficulties with executive functions and finds it hard to plan, organise, prioritise, sequence tasks. He has difficulty understanding time and needs visual reminders so that he knows how much time he has to finish a task. 6. Michael has hand writing & reading difficulties which need to be assessed. Michael would benefit from a scribe during examinations or the use of a computer. Regarding the above I would like to find out what assessments have been carried out during Michael’s time at the school and what recommendations were and are going to be made in order to address these difficulties in his daily timetable. AEN – General I have two questions relating to Michael’s general education. · How do you intend to address the question of the subjects he will study for the next two years? · Are there any other mainstream schools in the LEA area that have many other children with ASDs and do things in a much more ASD friendly way? Conclusion I am both saddened and disappointed that I have found it necessary to resort to this course of action leading , I hope to propogate some soul searching and action on behalf of the people and organisations concerned."

A very big THANKYOU to all contributers up to now. Lots of great information and ideas. I would say that, although I agree that the contents of the letter are very emotional, I did wait for 6 hours after receipt of the summary before I wrote it. Knowing how I would have responded at the time of receipt I am veryglad that I did. Perhaps Monday may be a good time to supplement the original message with another to include many, if not all of the recommendations you have been kind enough to post. I will post my next contact when compiled. Thanks again!

This is my first visit and post on this or any other site about this matter. I hope I find myself in the right place fo some constructive advice, support or if you feel the need, criticism. The light of my life is my 13 year old son, Michael. He was diagnosed with Asperger's some 5 years ago and is about to enter year 10 of secondary school. He is being "supported" in his education with a School Action Plus assessment. I attended the subect meeting on 19th June 2009 and received the one paged summary of the meeting yesterday. Although I would love to post it I can't, short of retyping the whole thing. Suffice to say it was less than comprehensive! After 5 hours of delberation I decided to send an email to the school, a copy of which I have posted below. I also sent a copy to the local LEA. What I would like to know is has anyone else felt this need? Did you do it and what was the outcome? Should I have done it at all? What is my next course of action? THIS IS THE LETTER! "It has taken me some time to come to the computer tonight, in order not to pen my immediate response to the subject review. I have deliberated long and hard about the course of action I should take and I believe that after nine years of being patronised and ignored it is time for the worm to turn. Having read the summary of my comments during the meeting I find that many of my concerns are not recorded. However my indignation about this pales into insignificance when I read the thoughtful and considered action being proposed by the school to allay my concerns. You propose to, [indent]"Inform Mr Suddick and Michael about after school activities available in September."[/indent] Well I hate on rain on your parade but that is just not good enough and my wife and I find it unacceptable. I require you to address ALL of my concerns and make detailed proposals as to how your organisation plan to educate my son over the next two years. I am not prepared to sit back and accept the total lack of thought being administered in this matter. Much research has been carried out and many projects exist through which innovative, considered and proved programmes have been introduced, in order to develop the gifts and abilities of autistic children. Not in this case however. In this case all that I see, from all parties concerned, is a requirement to "tow the party line." Is there no free thinking from any of the parties involved? Please, do not come back to me with the argument of "government policy". I will rebut that argument with hundreds of cases throughout the country of children with AEN, who have been able to receive a meaningful and fruitful education as the result of some lateral thinking by educators and other specialists. I am obliged to again refer to the subject AEN review, this time under the "Overview of Progress" heading. The first sentence proves to me that the people responsible for educating my son have no concept or knowledge of Asperser’s Syndrome. You have taken a thirteen year old child, diagnosed with this condition, placed him in a environment totally alien to him and required him to take a written examination in isolation. You are then amazed and make note of his disappointing performance. I hear of a mathematics teacher making comment about Michael not showing his workings out. I must ask, what do you expect and how many aspects of Michael's condition do you intend to ignore in the two years of purgatory we have yet to experience? I will not accept any dalliance regarding this subject and expect to receive an expeditious reply. You will see that a copy of this document has been sent to the local authority and should there be no saisfactory outcome to this situation, I feel that I will have little alternative than to make public my concerns." THANKYOU FOR CARING ENOUGH TO READ MY RANTINGS AND PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS,