Canopus

LEAs serve themself and the interests of central government. They will do everything in their power not to issue statements or bend over backwards to accomodate SEN.

The numbers were at the root of the problem. Diophantine equations. I used to program computers to solve these maths puzzles but the programs often crashed because numbers were too big for integer variable types. Floating point variable types couldn't hold enough decimal places. Did Com write some code to come up with 81 digit integers?

A good website about bullying http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/index.htm

If a kid is statemented and attends a SEN school then can they leave the school if they don't want to be there, but their parents want them to attend the school? The procedure for leaving a SEN school is more complicated than for leaving a mainstream school and involves informing the LEA as well as the school. If a kid can deregister themself from the school without their parent's consent then how can it be achieved?

What was the significance of the number? Was it pi to 80 decimal places or was it an 81 digit prime like those used in encryption? Where did he get an 81 digit number from?

Including nobody to communicate with. The internet didn't exist back when I was a kid and young teenager and I used to feel isolated and helpless because there was nobody to turn to who could help with my problems or provide advice on things I wanted to know about. The internet came on the scene around the time I hit 18 and my alcohol consumption rapidly decreased. I'm sure schools don't tackle the issue of kids regularly drinking alcohol alone or secretly. They seem to approach alcohol from the social drinking or being in with the crowd viewpoint such as bingeing in pubs or gangs of kids swigging alcopops on street corners and park benches.

I think there are organisations for kids with AS to meet up and practice social skills. I don't know if any are in your part of the country but check with NAS as they are likely to know if one exists nearby.

It disgusts me how much CDs and DVDs cost in Britain compared to America and I think there is no excuse for such notable price differences. No wonder there is so much piracy going on.

Try this http://www.happychild.org.uk

Many kids with AS suffer from depression, especially if the AS isn't diagnosed. They often endure lots of stress and victimisation at school and sometimes from their parents as well. I am tempted to say that many turn to alcohol and end up drinking alone or secretly if their parents disprove of underage drinking. I used to drink alcohol regularly as a kid and young teenager. My parents don't drink and don't think highly of alcohol so there was no alcohol at home. It just so happened that I had friends who had access to alcohol and supplied me with it. Initially I consumed alcohol either at a friends house or at home. At secondary school I was drinking during the day to combat stress. I worked out the best way to conceal alcohol at home and school was to mix spirits in a bottle of a fizzy drink - in other words I invented alcopops. I would buy bottles of fizzy drinks then mix the spirits into them in advance so I would have a selection of alcopops to store until I was ready to drink them.

Finding employment is not my best skill and it is more a result of not knowing many people who work in my field than being bad at dealing with people. The old saying of "it's not what you know but who you know" really is true. The problem I have is that I don't come from an electronics or computer background and have never had an ounce of support in these areas or even known anyone who works in the industry before I was 18. After I graduated I worked as a computer programmer, but then went back into university research in electronics. It was probably a mistake doing so because it made me lose contact with the commercial world and I have ended up finding there are very few careers in my specialist area of expertise. Nowhere seems to be recruiting at the moment and my lack of insider contacts means I am on my own and effectively cut off from anyone from the electronics and computer community apart from a few enthusiasts that work in other types of businesses. It looks like I have two choices: emigration or a career change. There appears to be better career prospects in my area in America, but I don't know what the work culture is over there. Is it much different to that in Britain? Do American firms really grind you down and stress you beyond the limit? Changing career is quite difficult even for someone under 30. Most job vacancies want several years experience or expert knowledge in a specific area. If you don't have this experience then you will get rejected. In other words a career change often means having to compete for the same positions as those intended for a 21 year old straight out of uni. Stereotypically they are good at maths, science, and computers so work in these fields as engineers, university academics, computer programmers, and scientific researchers. In practice this probably isn't true.

http://625.uk.com/pdc/

Another technique is to attenuate the volume level of the programme but have the commercials at normal volume. The exact volume of the programme and the commercials doesn't really matter because TVs have a olume control. What matters is the difference in volume level between the programme and the commercials. I have noticed that most programmes on satellite and cable have a lower volume level than programmes on analogue terrestrial.

They always said the old things are the best. Digital video/TV technology is downright annoying at times. Just about every digital TV channel is blighted with on screen logos. You can never sit back an enjoy a programme without being nagged to press the red button. For some unexplainable reason the volume level of commercials on digital is about 100dB higher than the volume level of the programme although broadcasters deny it. There are times when I think that TV was best back when we had just 4 analogue terrestrial channels to choose from and record onto magnetic tape. Did you know that the analogue switch off is also the end of NICAM, teletext, and programme delivery control? NICAM isn't necessary with digital TV and for some reason teletext and programme delivery control aren't incorporated into the digital TV protocols.

Are kids with AS more likely to drink alcohol than NT kids? Are they also more likely to be a secret drinker or drink alone than NT kids?

I might be thinking things, but I'm sure Lego isn't as popular in Britain as it used to be. I don't think you can get the space series any more and technic seems to have almost vanished as well. Technic was my favourite and I had the set with the pneumatic pistons. Earlier this year I found a toy shop in Turkey that was full of Lego including loads of brilliant sets you can't get in Britain. They were very expensive and I doubt many parents could afford them.

I was informed by a local that this little fella http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.asp...rticleID=866475 has undiagnosed autism. His brother and sister are NT and cause no problems so it isn't a case of bad parenting or lack of discipline.

You also have to take friend's parents into account as well. There are a small minority of parents who take a dim view of their own kid being friends with someone who has AS or ASD because they think they are psychologically unstable, twisted in the head, or just plain dodgy and disreputable to deal with. Not everybody understands or wants to understand AS and ASD, so revealing information runs a chance of your kid losing their friends.

What sort of wires is he interested in? Mains cables, co-ax, multicore, audio? Consider getting him something electronics orientated such as books on electronics or electronics sets. Maplin sells electronics stuff for kids.

Should this statement be interpreted as I have lots of spare cash? Call me Ebeneezer Scrooge, but the way I look at Christmas is little more than a massive spending spree on all sorts of unnecessary stuff. If your kid isn't interested in anything then the best plan would be to save the money until the day comes when your kid finds something they want. I am a great believer in buying things for your kids as and when they are needed rather than waiting for birthdays and Christmas.

I think it's more a case of coming from the wrong background. Success in life is a function of several variable including who you know and what your parents occupation is, as well as what you know and what you have achieved. I am tempted to say that such a major discovery as an intact Pharaoh's tomb would mask issues like AS or excentricty, but in the eyes of the archaeology experts with PhDs, Carter was just a very lucky amateur. If one of Carter's parents was a recognised figure in archaeology or Egyptology then things could have been very different. Is anyone here or their kid interested in Egyptology? Schools seem to cover Egypt in their history lessons and it is probably the sort of thing that is attractive to people with AS. I have visited Egypt twice and seen most of the major antiquities. King Tut's solid gold mask is on display in the museum in Cairo.

Is the middle school aware of any problems that happened at the first school? If your son isn't statemented then effectively he will start middle school with a clean slate and the school will be unaware of any previous problems. This is about the right age. When I was 5 and 6 I thought my problems at school was a result of me being too clever and the work I was set was tedious and trivial. When I was 7 and 8 I thought my problems was a horses for courses issue where the school focussed on things that I wasn't good at such as handwriting and football rather than things I was good at like computers and physics. It was only when I reached 10 did I start thinking something was seriously wrong with me. Y5 was very difficult and painful even though I had a much better teacher than in Y4. By the time a kid reaches 10, they have to handle issues such as sarcasm and rhetorical questions and understand more complex jokes. Social etiquette also becomes more complicated as there are more unwritten rules that for younger kids. Failing to recognise certain social cues may have been tolerated at the age of 7 or 8, but is seen as unacceptable for a 10 year old. It would probably be best to get your son officially diagnosed with AS then statemented. That way the school will know something is wrong and it isn't just straightforward bad behaviour. Most statements contain a list of services the school must provide, so if you think the school should be providing something and they aren't then they will officially have to once it is listed in the statement. This is probably the result of frustration because you are not doing what he wants you to do. He sees the problems as completely insoluble and you are failing to tackle the root causes. I went through phases like this when I would attack my parents and threaten to kill them because they flatly refused to deal with problems I was facing and I couldn't understand why they were refusing to deal with them other than trying to make me fit in and comply when I didn't want to.

His name is Howard Carter. It has crossed my mind that he suffered from AS.

Right here http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=4168

Appears to be stress and depression. It has extraordinary powers to demotivate. I went through a phase of this at university when I would rarely turn up to lectures and would do the lab sessions accompanied only by the lab technician. If your son isn't enjoying the course at college then allow him to drop out and take something he is more interested in. It could be a different course at college or it could be done via distance learning.