fiorelli

Bagpuss, he certainly did come very near to wearing it (or something very close to it anyway!) Tally, I;ll have to remember that when he asks where his roast lamb is tomorrow night

Oh, and apologies for the naughty words in my original post. I was not a happy bunny! <slaps own wrists for swearing>

Thanks for replying smiley, Kazzen. I didn't know they weren't turning up. First I heard of it was when we were waiting in reception for the meeting, and the headteacher walks past and says 'I'm not going to be in the meeting, B will be taking it. Oh, and Louis's teacher isn't going to be there either' Smiley, I would love to throw a major strop, but I am treading very carefully with this school, not just because his teacher last year called social services on us twice, but also because the headteacher has told us he doesn't know why Louis is in that school! But also the resi part is actually quite good. Kazzen, Louis's resi keyworker is going to try and set up an 'informal' meeting with myself, class teacher, keyworker, and play therapist which will (hopefully) take place before Easter. One thing I hate about Louis being in resi is that I am now out of the loop with regards to his 'proper' schooling. I don't see his homework, I don't see his reading books, I don't get to find out about how his day has gone. I don't feel I can phone up and speak to the teacher, mostly because I feel like I shouldn't be taking her time away from teaching the very child I'm phoning up about! I don't know if they retested his spelling reading and number ages. in fact, I don't know if they tested anything. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they just put him up a level in everything to say to the LEA 'we are teaching him, he is improving', Cynical? Me? Never!

Well, it all got eaten and my husband has said to me (and his mum) that "I'll allow you to make that again!" I told him that for him 'allowing' me to make it again, I'll never do it for him. (now making it for myself is another matter )

Hi Mumble, sorry this has happened to you. I would echo what the others have said, but I would take screen prints as well as print out the actually post. That way, everyone can see fully what was said where and when etc.

Just found all his NC levels for the last three years. What do you think? NC levels 1b, p6, 1a for Reading, Writing and Maths at year 1, level 1 for reading and writing (although handwriting is marked as 'w'), and between 'w' and 1b for maths (when broken down into it's components) at year 2 1b for reading (reading age 6.7), writing 1c (spelling age 6.0), Maths, between 1 and 1b (number age of 6.4) for year 3 and then reading 1a (reading age 6.7), writing 1b (spelling age 6.0), Maths, between 1b and 2 (number age of 6.4) at halfway through year 4, Would you say that child is progressing enough to be at (or near) the 'required' level for Year 7. And would you say the progress is a 'satisfactory' amount for 3 years worth of work?

Teacher wasn't there, head teacher wasn't there. It was just myself, my husband, deputy head, and L's keyworker from Resi. What a complete and utter Farce is all I can say. We sat there, and first thing the deputy said was 'I can't really do much other than read what is in this report, as although I know Louis, I don't know his school work etc' We then spent the next hour with deputy bellowing word for word what was written in their report. We felt we couldn't ask questions, seek clarification on anything because he wasn't L's class teacher so wouldn't know the answers. We got to the most laughable bit. Louis is 9 and in Year 4. (year 2 juniors) He is 10 in September. Next year, he is supposed to be doing his transition review (I believe), ready to put into place in year 6. We got to the stage in the report where they tell us Louis's grades/levels. He has apparently gone up 1 third of a grade in everything (e.g. from 1b to 1a) in the last year, yet his Reading age has stayed at 6.7 yrs, Spelling age at 6yrs, and number age, at 6.4yrs since last year - at least - (they are the same ages as on his annual review form last year) he was out of school a year before that so I have no way of knowing what his levels were before that. And the best bit?! Apparently this is all ok. Because "as long as he is at level 4 by the time he goes into high school" (in 2.5 yrs time!), he will be fine. Oh, and even better? They want to try and integrate him into mainstream in Year 6, ready for high school at yr 7. But apparently, this is ok, because they will "be doing it slowly, like learning to swim, dunking him in, and pulling him back out again if it gets too much". Oh, and even better knews? I had a meeting with his keyworker in resi afterwards, and there she said she has had informal meetings with Louis's play therapist because 'there are aspects of his personality that concern me' (according to his playworker). Oh, and she has noticed that he does this thing with his tongue, and clicks it. Oh, and he has this thing where he will suddenly stand up, shake out his body and then sit down again, oh, and that he fell down the stairs, but because he didn't register any pain, they didn't think to check him out, and the next day they noticed he had a swollen ankle. I'VE ONLY ###### WRITTEN A REPORT ABOUT HOW HIS PAIN THRESHOLD IS TOTALLY SKEWED, BUT BECAUSE THEY 'WANT TO SEE THE CHILD AS THEY ARE, NOT AS REPORTS DICTATE THEM' THEY DON'T READ THE ###### REPORTS!!!!! Sorry, I am not happy, but because nothing is being changed in this ###### report, I can't do a think about it, as on paper he is seemingly doing well!

yeah, we still ate it. After I'd cut the top off it was fine.

I spend all afternoon making cheese and onion pasties (for my husband's lunch in the week), a beef casserole for tea, and a huge bakewell tart for pudding. Pasties go down well, and some get eaten for lunch. casserole was eaten up with everyone having seconds. Bakewell tart comes up for pudding. I start to cut it.... Then knock over a large glass of red wine all over it.

Mrs Phasmid, I am so, so sorry to hear this. Phasmid helped me a great deal when we were having problems with Louis and getting a Statement of SEN a few years ago. I will always remember him as a great giver, and a wonderful person. He was truly one of lifes good people. Rest in Peace Ken.

He did Bagpuss, I was so proud of him last weekend.

Hello! I forgot to say - I took Louis to the Cinema for the first time at the weekend! Not sure if I'd do it again though! His resi had taken them a month or so ago, and said Louis was really good, really enjoyed the cinema, so I thought I'd treat him to see the film about a rat and a touille. first 20 mins he was really good. Then he started with his sitting forward in his chair, sitting back in his chair, 'I want to go Mum', 'when can we go', 'I'm bored', sitting forward, sitting back 'it's too loud'. hmm, fine in a cinema? certainly not with me he wasn't - although to be fair, he did last out til the end, but was out of there faster than you could say 'boo!' to a goose! Ah well, at least the tickets only cost �1 each.

Well, I hope you are all coping well. A bit of an update on us. We have managed to fit into a sort of 'quiet' existence at the minute. Louis is constantly swaying between liking resi, and not liking it. His school are being just that - a school - nothing brilliant, but then nothing hugely bad either. I'm trying to do an Open University course in Health and Social Care, but it just isn't working. I'm doing the essays and getting decent marks, but the course just isn't what I thought it was going to be and doesn't hold my interest for very long. Add to that I've recently been told I have Otosclerosis which means I could lose my hearing to the point of having to wear a hearing aid, or have an operation to remove some of the tiny bones in my ear and replace with 'plastic' ones. I feel strangely detached from that at the minute though, as it seems a long way off. I have to have yearly hearing tests to keep an eye on the hearing loss. Louis - Well, he was a little star at the weekend! It was my birthday last Tuesday, and my sister threw a surprise party for me, which meant that I couldn't forwarn Louis, but he coped brilliantly. took everything in his stride as much as he could, he came to me when he was feeling stressed and out of his depth. We had a few tears, and a few close calls with bigger meltdowns, but we avoided them, and he went into school pleased as punch that he had a good weekend. We have his annual review tomorrow. I really have no idea what to expect. Last year's one was a case of myself and my husband sitting in a classroom with Louis's deputy head teacher, class teacher and LSA, with them reading us their report, telling us how good Louis was, and then telling us that they don't wish to change anything. I have a feeling this year is going to be the same, even though there is a new head teacher - a head teacher who doesn't know why Louis is in his Special School!!!! I have looked at his Statement over and over, yet I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be asking for or why! Oh well, hope you're all well. Speak soon, Fi x

Well, it seems like things are taking a turn for Louis in school. He started in his Special School in September 2006. For the last year, everything seemed to be hunkey-dory for him there. Teachers were happy, Louis was happy, we were happy in that Louis was actually in A school (even if it wasn't quite the one we wanted him in). This year, things seem to be starting to take a bit of a turn. When I had his IEP review before Christmas with his teacher, she was saying about how he was now starting to talk in class, answer questions etc. In his resi. home, they were saying how good he was. We are now a few weeks after Christmas. Louis has started to say to us that he doesn't want to go to school. He says to us that he has other children 'not being nice to me', 'calling me bad names'. Well, I mentioned this to his resi home, who said that he had started saying the same thing there! His behaviour at home has taken a turn for the worse in the last few weeks, and as his resi. home follow through with work on his behaviours at home, he has had a few weeks there where they have had lots of tears from him. He also says that the work is too hard, that he can't do it. The resi unit have admitted to me that Louis has 'limited speech in which to describe how he's feeling', 'he is apt at telling you what he thinks you want to hear and not what he really thinks' - this is true, somehow, Louis has the ability to know what answer you are expecting from him - a question he was asked recently - 'What do you want for your birthday Louis?' - answer? 'For my brothers to be happy, and for no fighting in the world.' (this was after a day where he had hurt one of his brothers) They may only be little things, but he is taking a similar path to that he did at mainstream school - he was generally ok during Year R. During Yr 1 things started to go downhill. End of Year 1 he'd had several exclusions, beginning of Yr 2, he was permanently excluded. This school, first year of being there, everything was generally hunky dory, second year, he is starting to have problems. He is having a week this week, where he is having somebody keeping an eye out on him, after resi. stepped in and spoke with school about how Louis is feeling and coping in school/resi/home. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. I wonder if his headteacher still thinks he shouldn't be there...

Suze - unfortunately, these were not from friends - had they been, I could understand why he recieved so many. No, these were from the 'merit shop', from teacher, and a couple of bits, apparently what he was allowed to buy with his allowance I send in for the resi school.

Louis came home with some gifts from school for Christmas... A couple of them fart noise making gooey things... 4 selection packs 10 mini wham bars a big bag of fizzy laces a bag of maltesers... And a nice gift of 3 fillings, 2 in his baby teeth and 1 in an adult tooth... His teeth were fine last time he went to the dentist, not long before he went boarding. Oh how I hate not having a say on his diet except at weekends and holidays! (we confiscated all but 1 of the selection packs which he had hidden and eaten everything out of before we realised he had 4 selection packs and not the 3 that we had found. They are all in a carrier bag ready to dump on the headmasters desk on Monday morning with a big lecture about how unsuitable it is for ANY child to be given this amount of sweets/chocolate, never mind one with Asperger Syndrome/ADHD)

My 7 year old is having some problems in school and is feeling really down at the moment. He is telling me that he can't keep up with the others in his class, that he isn't as good as them, that his teacher keeps telling him he needs to try harder, that he has to miss assembly to go to handwriting lessons. He finds reading difficult, and writing is really poor, he still reverses some letters and finds spelling the most basic words difficult. His confidence is shot to pieces and I am not sure how to help him. I spoke to his teacher about a month ago, and she said that she would 'keep an eye on him'. Someone mentioned he may be dyslexic to me, so we have just completed a couple of online tests, which he scored highly on, and both said to seek professional help. Now I don't fully trust online tests, but I would like to do what they suggest and get a 'proper' assessment done for him, but don't know where to start. Does anyone know where to go? Thanks.

Hi, sorry Karen, Louis is in a BE(S)D school. He has a statement of Special Needs with a Special School named. He has Autistic Spectrum Disorder (Aspergers Syndrome) (as written on his medical report), ADHD, Hypermobility, Mild Unilateral Hearing Loss, possible dyslexia (he came up with Very high markers when a DEST was taken back in Year R, I don't know how to go about getting a full test for him). The only person we are currently (haha!) involved with is the ADHD clinic at CAMHS. His originaly psychologist (who was brilliant, but only had a consultancy contract with the local PCT which ended) left. Leaving us with noone. We ended up going on the ADHD list - even though his psychologist was not sure he had full ADHD (thought he was more likely to be ADD), so now we see someone at the ADHD clinic who listen to what I have to say and then say 'try this medication instead. Goodbye'

We had Louis's IEP through a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn't happy with it so requested a meeting with the teacher regarding it. It had things on his BEST one like 'L needs to think before he speaks so he can explain himself clearly', and 'not be afraid to talk to staff if there is a problem, whether it be work or more personal' and on his ALT one he had 'be know and be able to recall 2, 5 and 10 times tables.' 'to be able to add up sums of money greater than 20p' 'to be able to compose and write rhyming verse' (Louis is Nine and in Year 4, being taught in a special school in a class of ning with everyone else at least 1 year younger than him - a couple are only 7 yrs old) My problems were mainly with the ALT IEP. For instance, Louis has a really poor short term memory, so learning all three x tables AND be able to recall them would be really difficult for him. With the adding up sums of money, there was no end amount, so as I put it to the teacher, would he have to work with �100's or �1000's? Her Answers? "We learn the x tables by rote, he only needs to be able to recite 2,4,6,8,10,12 etc and write that down, he doesn't have to do the 1x2=2, 2x2=4 etc and know them out of sequence etc." "He isn't very good with money is he! We'll do it up to 50p, so sums of money greater than 20p but less than 50p. "He's good at the rhyming isn't he! He can do this one!" He is 9. I have serious concerns about whether he is going to be ready to go up to highschool in a couple of years. Anyone know how I go about getting a thorough assessment done to find out exactly what he is capable of and what level he is learning at?

I remember a time when Louis was around 4/5 years old. He had gone quiet. I went to check where he was to find him in the kitchen. With a sharp knife in his hand trying to cut holes in a cardboard box - and chop his finger off. The kitchen was like a blood bath. Cleaned it all up, and took him to the Doctors surgery where the nurse cleaned the wound properly and steri-stripped the wound together (in the wrong place for a stitch apparently). He didn't cry once. He also took it upon himself around the same time to plug my iron in, and start ironing the carpet - and his hand. Again, no tears. I can assure you that since then, I looked at security in my house - knives are-were kept out of reach (he's too big, and climbs to get things now to keep totally out of his reach), as are other things he can hurt himself on. We also have regular learning lessons where I try and teach him how to use things correctly and safely. However, he can also be totally the opposite - if anyone so much as touches him with a little finger, he can go through the roof! Can't Win!

Hi Viper, I'm sorry, but I wouldn't say anything. Even if it was one of my NT children that had hurt me. My theory is that it is a bit late once the horse has bolted. I would have said something as soon as Louis had calmed down, if he had done it to me. Pointless bringing it to his attention when he is in the middle of being upset at not getting the game he wanted, but likewise, pointless bringing it to his attention hours later when he has no doubt forgotten about it. However, if I were you and getting unexplained bruising, I'd be making an appointment with the GP/Nurse to see if they could do a blood check to test all my levels. This is just my opinion mind. Hope I haven't caused offence. Fiorelli xx

Just off to bed, but quickly, message I got was that staff have called in sick with some sort of flu/bug. Quite funny really because if they really did have this, surely they wouldn't all be better again to take in the boys again tomorrow?! We'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

Update number 2. Been in contact with Transport, and it is true that they have advised resi that they need to tell parents to make their child's own way in to school (if that makes sense) until it reopens.

It is an LEA school. Bit of an update. They are bringing Louis home themselves tonight. He is coming home with some schoolwork (at my asking). Tomorrow he will be at home from school and be marked absent because of 'school closure' although I don't know how this will work as all the others in his class will be in. They are going to call me at lunchtime tomorrow for an update - i.e. whether there is going to be resi school tomorrow night. If there is, then they will see what staff there is, and if any of them are able to drive. If so, they will come and pick Louis up. If there is resi, and no staff to pick him up, they have asked if my husband can drive him there tomorrow night. If no resi, then your guess is as good as mine as to what happens. What a mess.

Louis goes to a Special School as a residential pupil from Monday - Friday. A taxi picks him up on a Monday morning and a taxi drops him off on a Friday morning. We have had a phonecall today to say that due to staff shortages, Louis is going to have to come home tonight. One of the staff will be bringing him home. Apparently the taxi firm will ONLY do one drop off and one pick up a week. So, we have to arrange to get Louis to school tomorrow. And if there still isn't enough staff for resi to open, then we will have to arrange to pick him up. ad infinitum until resi opens again. Before he was in resi, he used to have a taxi daily. I cannot pick him up/drop him off 1. because I have 2 other children in school, 2. because I can't drive at the moment because I have torn a muscle in my chest. My husband cannot pick him up/drop him off because he works from 8am-5pm I can't get a taxi because I can't afford it. This school is a 40 minute journey on a good clear run. This morning, it took the taxi 2 HOURS!!! to get from home to school because of an accident on the M3. This is one of the reasons we didn't want Louis to go to this school - the distance. Any ideas where we stand/what we can do? The lady at the school that my husband spoke to said that Louis would have to stay at home if we couldn't find a way of getting him there. Surely that would then be classed as unauthorised absence, and would go against us? HELP!!!!