UltraMum

We were told by the parent partnership that the hours on the statement would be implemented once it was finalised - even if we then decided to appeal. The NAS agreed with this and advised us (after the LEA had issued an amended statement) to ask them to finalise the statement, so that we could appeal. The statement can be amended at any time (with the agreement of both parties) but the issuing of the final statement, even if you don't agree with it, means that the LEA have to provide the resources, even if you are appealing to the tribunal. Hope that's clearer than mud!

Thank you for making me smile! My son was eating his pasta this evening, declining to use a spoon or knife and consequently chasing the pasta all round the plate and over the egdes. My husband said : "Be careful. Look at the big picture." meaning 'watch what's happening on the egde of the plate' - my son? Obediently stared at the largest picture on the wall!

Hope all your black and blue bits get green and yellow (and disappear completely) very soon. Blame the cat!

Thanks - that's good - we've just gone onto broadband so I shall have a listen - assuming it likes Macs!

I may be wrong but surely the head would be excluding Louis would be doing so on account of his disability - that is against the disability discrimination act and is grounds for action against the school/LEA. They are not allowed to exclude on the grounds that they do not have the resources nor in order to speed up the process of getting resources. from "From Exclusion to Inclusion" Final Report of the Disability Rights Task Force - Chapter 4 available from here There's a fairly easily understood commentary here that may help. Hope you get things sorted quickly for Louis' sake. <'> <'> <'>

Just discovered the DWP Bible on how they decide on who gets what re DLA! DWP link Use the above link and then go to Volume 10, Chapter 61 - you can download it as an adobe acrobat file to peruse at your leisure - over 100 pages! Might help us to know what we're dealing with!

Autism One 2005 The above site has lots of downloadable presentations on autism - worth a look.

We use a copy of the DLA award letter - we blanked out the bits for the amount of the award as we didn't want some nosey parker knowing what we got! We use the NAS card to 'explain' what Asperger's is, although J has HFA but no one can cope with that! By the by - we went to Chester Zoo on Sunday - �12 total for my husband and son with the DLA letter, while I got in for �13 with my NUS card!

Can you let us know the outcomes once you've done your analyses?

The following is from the blog of Brian Henson: The following is a poem that I wrote in my last year of high school, as an attempt to show how much I was looking for a friend at that time. I had no idea, then, that I was a person on the autistic spectrum. Friendship Please, give me a pathway that leads onto heaven; O, give me a faith that I'll always defend, And give me a hope that no evil will conquer, But most of all, give me a friend... A friend who is full of much hope and desire To live in a peaceful, bright land, Where war is not known and there is no destruction By anyone's envious hand.... A friend that I can trust with dignified honour, A friend who is deeply sincere, With whom everytime I may share my own feelings, Of fellowship, sorrow, or fear. This friend will be mine for so many long seasons; I'll help him the most and defend The fellowship, trust, and sincerity of him: My foremost and worthiest friend. -Brian Henson �1965

Churchgoers are human too! and as such will invariably get it wrong sometimes. As Carole said: Don't let one incident put you off - but do try and explain to one of the 'gentler' people how you felt about the incident - it will give you someone on your side who will then be looking out for you and yours. <'> <'>

Hi!

I wrote to them when J broke his Gameboy after 14 months - they said send it back and we'll let you know how much it costs to repair. They rang up two days later, said it was a fault and sent a brand new Gameboy by return of post!

Yes - the Argos catalogue is a favourite in our house too! ... and Playstation games! I positively hate the ones where you have to reach a special 'save point' ... Harry Potter being the worst culprit IMO.

Not much to add apart from - J hates the noise - especially on take off and landing - ask for seats well away from the engines and take some industrial ear defenders with you for wearing during the noisy times. Our first flight with J required his hands, his dad's hands and my hands over his ears!

Hi hev and witsend - I too love darker nights and rainy days but .... I also then have to amuse J myself!

J is constantly wanting food - we used to lock the larder door - now we lock the kitchen door - he has nearly pulled our enormous microwave off of the worktop in the search for food. My solution works so far but early days... I made a list of snacks, with limits on certain ones (like 2 bags of crisps per day) and also made a visual timetable showing meals and 'official' snack times. I added a proviso that Mum and Dad are allowed to alter the snack times to fit in with the day's activities! I added things to the list that he doesn't like at present in the hope of widening his choices of things to eat. On a separate chart we stick a velcro label for the snacks he has had and we fold up the flap on the visual timetable to show that that snack time is 'finished'. The next mealtime shows 'available' alongside the approximate time of that meal/snack. He is also allowed two treats such as chocolate/icecream in addition to the meals/snacks. Thank the Lord that he likes rules! I'm hoping to eventually colour code the choices of food as green, amber and red - a bit like the GI diet - and so introduce making healthy choices ... but that's in the future.

Same here - I used to sew name tags in but once J came home with the wrong trousers on, age 5-6 when he was in age7-8, and no name in. Washed them and took them in to the teacher but no-one came in with J's. I assumed good intent in that the other parent had not realised but privately thought how easy it would be to cut out a 'sewn in' label and get a new pair of trousers the next size up. I've used biro or thick black pen ever since.

Hope your dad is on the mend soon. Prayers for you and yours.

Ditto - I try to avoid anything that has "no added sugar" as it's usually full of the stuff.

Sorry not to get back to you sooner Waccoe - glad the trip to the pics went ok. Just name a time and place and I'll try and pitch up.

I've already done the questionnaire but I've posted it into the online community where I am also in my final year of a BA (Hons). Many of the other students are school based and they may be able to help - however this month is officially a 'holiday' so there may not be much response.

We've been pretty much out of circulation too - went to the athletics with J last Sunday in Sheffield - they were really helpful and we had end of row seats so that J could be up and down without disturbing people - turns out the people just inside us were in and out of the row more than us (pain in the b'side as they always seemed to choose to move when there was something interesting on!) We saw a school friend at the athletics but that's about all the main socialising we've done - to be honest, like Baddad, after a day of fielding questions and being 100% aware - I don't feel like socialising.

I think this may be the crux of the matter - the whole assessment and statementing process is so shortsighted - LEAs tend to think only in the short-term and don't have to pick up the consequences of their decisions once the child is past school age. More joined up thinking is required - hence 'Every Child Matters' - but it will take a long time for the ship to stop and change direction ... - sorry to hijack - that doesn't answer the original subject of the thread.

We've got one of those - one half day visit per half term to see 6/7 children in the school - that's 1/2 an hour each.