purplehaze

Thanks for the advice guys Good news the solicitors have said they will take on the case as a no win no fee case as they think it is a good case!!!

Hi everyone, just thought I would up date hat was happening!!! The solicitor has told me this is direct discrimination and I have a case but for these kind of cases-legal aid is rare so I would have to pay for a solicitor or represent myself!!! Does anyone know of anyone that has represented themself during a case like this?????

Thanks Matzoball, this is how I feel about it really-I'm going to go to the CAB Friday when I'm not at work and see what they said really. I will also contact connections and see what they say. Thanks for the advice

Kathryn thank you for looking and finding that piece about work experience and I agree her prejudice led to an act of discrimination-direct discrimination-and she knew it once I had explained it was the same as turning a black person away. Although-yes I was upset and angry-I handled it very well and even told her that I understood how it could be scary if you don't understand anything about special needs-however, it's wrong!!! The company need to know this as well as the lady! They should take responsibility! Sally that's exactly what I'm going to do-contact the head office etc! Thanks for all the comments-I do really appreciate them and it helps to hear it from someone that isn't involved

Thanks guys I would never let my son go back there even if they said sorry & fortunately the school have asked the first garage he went to last year to have him again and they have said yes-so good news. I still can't get it out of my head though-so I'm going to see if I can take it further???? I have also been looking and your right by saying about if it would come under education or employment-so I have e-mailed a few people to find out if there is anything I could do???? I don't want to get he lady in trouble but I feel I just have to do something because I feel like if no one stood up and said this is wrong then things like this will always deffinately happen-IYKWIM. Thanks for your comments they have been very helpful xxx

Hello everyone My son has been doing basic mechanics for the last few years and has done work experience in 2 garages. Another garage had agreed to take him for the next few months and met him and everything. Then connections went in to update there paperwork and mentioned he comes from a special school and that was it the service manager said she didnt want him because she didnt know anything about special schools. I went to visit her to discuss it and she just couldn't give me a reason when I asked what she was worried about apart from she doesnt know anything about special needs. I told her I understand the term 'special needs' can be scary and it obviously has scared her but if she had phoned me to discuss her concerns or given him a chance etc I would understand it. She also said if connections hadn't come in she wouldnt have known my son had special needs-so he would have started?????? So basically I said to her you would have said no straight away if my sons special needs were more visual. Geeze it's 2011!!!!! What I need to know is this discrimination and how can I take this further! Thanks

Hi Bee, If I were you I would ask the school for a meeting to plan what support your son will have or needs. The autism advisory group in Northamptonshire might also be able to help you and the your son. I hink there are groups in the Northamptonshire area-also there is a parent group that might be able to help you with support and advice (name FACT). My son is in yr 12-hopefully going in to yr 13 but he is in a special outreach school-so the support is small grups or 1:1 so I'm not sure of the support in 6th form but I assume it is the same if your son needs support then he should get it?????

Hi everyone, a group of parents called Autism Angels are walking for autism and looking for donations so if anyone would like to donate then they can here http://www.justgiving.com/Autism-Angels/ There is alsoa facebook event you can find here http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=lf#!/event.php?eid=142022379198878 Thanks xxx

Hi all, thought some might like this-it is a printable powerpoint to help older children become more aware of their autism-it is similar to something the autism family advisory group did with my son! Hope it helps someone! http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=3013241&s_cid=16

Hello Buffy welcome to the site! Are you a buffy the vampire slayer fan?????? Or is the name Buffy just a favourite name???? I love Buffy the vampire slayer-I'm a little nerdy Any way I am a mother of a 16 yr old with Autism-who also works with children who have Autism and I also keep getting told I have lots of autisic traits or OCD's but hey ho that's my life! Look forward to chatting or should I say typing

Hi, my son was in a mainstream secondary school but it just wasn't working so he started to go to a SEN school for one lesson-it was such a slow gradual process. First he just sat in the reception area, then he walked down the corridor, then to look at the chickens, then to sit in the class etc etc until he particiapted with the lesson and made my a book stand! He then stayed on role with the mainstream school but went full time in to the SEN's outreach group and is going to go to there 6th form in September. An LSA use to meet me at the SEN school and I would drop my son off-it was very hard but I knew it was going to get better as the teachers at the SEN school just understood him so much more than the mainstream. The mainstream school wouldn't have let him just sit in reception until he was comfortable to go to the class. It is so difficult-I know-but it was the best thing ever for my son-he is such a different boy!

I bought this book a while ago but haven't had time to start it yet-I am hoping to get going in the summer hols. Hope I'm not asking too much

[quote but it the ones who didn't create it, who have to foot the bill again.

Hi, from what they told me you can just sign to take money out but if your son does start to sign his name he can then do it with your support-at the moment I use my sons pin number for him. Although he can sign his name, it is all a bit much for him-so if he has ever had money in his bank account (I opened one for him to try & help him become more independent) I have to get it out so I asked them what would be the best thing as he would be getting EMA and they said a joint account!

I have recently talked to our local Nationwide and they told me I could open a joint account in my son's and my name-hope this helps!

Welcome to the group XXX

. Hi, the authority will decide children need statements if they do not make progress with support under SAP (school action plus) or if children need a lot of extra help i.e SALT, OT, socialising etc yes they also look at the child's IQ and learning but it isn't a deffinate no on that basis. I work with children (pre-school) and have just put in a RSA for a child with autism who happens to come across as a high achiever e.g. he knows the alphabet, numbers, can read some words etc but this doesn't mean he can cope in a school without the right support due to communication and his lack of social ability etc So children can be failing with social interaction or behaviour expectations and have a statement-so write about all the difficulties your son has with things like that as well also understanding, communication etc, the way he needs teaching (is it visual etc)-hope that helps X

Hi Fieldmouse-my son always does things 'without' thinking-he also finds it very difficult to read people so often doesn't know why peopling are saying something or acting a certain way (like the shop keeper moaning at you) and sometimes his anxiety or even stress about his lack of understanding or even ackwardness due to his social ability or lack of it can be displayed in his behaviour (whether right or wrong-it happens). Your also right sometimes it seems like it is too late-but it isn't you have realised you could have done things differently and have now posted this-so well done for making the effort-you should be proud of yourself for being brave enough to type this and realising you could have handled the situation in a different way!

Hello fieldmouse, I have to say my son may have left his bike up against a sign without realising it might offend the shop owner-he would have just left his bike in the obvious place for him and if there wasn't any bike stands he would have stood it up against anything-it doesn't make you a bad person for doing something like that! When the shop owner came out to complain etc then that was your chance to say sorry I wasn't sure where I could leave my bike!!!!!! However if it were my son and the owner came out complaining he wouldn't have had the emotional, social or language ability to have said any of that and would have probably stood and listened and then rode off very stressed/confused and would have never wanted to go back to the shop again just incase it happened again! So probably my son would have looked rude! What you did also looked rude and made the situation worse-did you kick the sign over because you didn't know how to react or was you just annoyed????? Which doesn't make it ok but now you have thought about it you could go back and say sorry or write a little note and pop it on the counter next time you're there-this is what I would do with my son! Well done for picking up the litter!

Good luck, I hope you get the answers you need!

Hello Pinkpig, welcome to the site, I have a 16 year old with autism and my ex also has aspergers so can relate with you there :0]

Hello, welcome to the site! The early bird is a course that runs for a couple of months (I think) for pre-school children and it can involve training sessions, home visits and video feed back. You will probably discuss things like understanding autism, behaviours, PECS, TEACCH etc Hopefully it should help you to understand how to support your daughter!

Hi, My son who is now 16 had a lot (and still does) of organisation difficulties at school and always lost things which we never got back! My son would have loved being taken away from P.E. but the school should see that it is a positive experience for your son and tried to do the test on another ocassion-unless this wasn't possible of course! May be if they had used a visual prompt to let him know he would be leaving P.E. Also a schedule like Sally has suggested would support your son to remember what he needs to do or take home etc How did your son respond when they did this??? Would it have affected the test results etc

I have also had a lady come around to my house I prepared my son but then she turned up hours earlier and my son was in bed as he was up loads in the night. She was very understanding about autism and the whole thing and said although she was supose to see him-she just accepted documents as it was clear that he had lots of difficulties & wouldn't be able to manage his own fianances etc and I then had to sign a form.

Hi, My daughter who is 19 and at uni always had problems with spelling tests and getting letters muddled when writing, she has always been disorganised and clumsy etc. She coped ok in primary apart from being told to pay more attention to silly spelling mistakes, but in secondary particularly in 6th form she struggled and her English teacher suggested she may be dyslexic and that I should talk to the SENCO. When I mentioned it to the SENCO she told me as my daughter was in 6th form they wouldn't get funding to test her and that she would have been tested in the past. Well she is in her first year of uni and has been diagnosed with dyslexia and they are offering her support. My daughter has always loved reading and has never had a problem with reading. It can be hard on their self-esteem even when my daughter had to have a spelling test as part of the DX she was so worried and was nearly sick and this is due to her past tests at school and teachers using the word silly (even lecturers have said silly spelling mistakes etc). You and the school will need to be positive and praise your daughter lots (which i'm sure you are)-use her strengths which is reading which can help with spelling! Make it fun by taking her shopping and writing her own shopping list or think out of the box rather than just practicing a spelling list, break words up (when my daughter had the days of the week spellings I had to break the syllables up for her and she found that easier) etc. I also find my daughter still spells better if a word is spelt the way it sounds-so phonic was good for her but anything else was/is a struggle. Could you tell your daughter that she might be able to help others in the new group with their reading as she was so good at it?????? It sounds like the school are doing good to support your daughter and you which is a really good base fro things to work really well