KezT

to really play the system, he should go in for registration then bunk off. the gov't only monitors registration atendance (although the school and EMA monitor the whole lot)

The really hilarious thing is, it was the school that asked us to make the applicaton. They have not done one before, and said that as it can be initiated by parents or school, they would rather be spending their time teaching & such like than compliling reports and files of paperwork. Considering how much time its taken us, I don't blame them!

Thought I'd share my silver lining story Apparently, some **** of a neighbour reported DH to social services for child abuse when he pulled DS out of the car kicking & screaming last month So the duty SW phoned us up & arranged a visit last week - only 20 days after the reported abuse I wasn't to worried because I knew we hadn't done anything, but it's still a bit scary when social services send a duty SW out to your house without giving any information as to what it is about SW went through what happened with us, and with DS (who didn't remember anything about the incident other than he had been naughty - when I asked who had been hurt, he suggested the car or daddy, but not himself <'> ) and obvously wasn't at all concerned about the report Then she asked about what support we're getting. I pointed out that I'd tried to get SS to contact us on several occaisions, as had the school, all to no avail. I mentioned that not only was DS disabled, but he & his sisters were all young carers too, yet we still had no joy from any of the agencies because everyone in our area required SS referals (I have self referred to a number, unsuccessfully). I said I had given up trying She shook her head and arranged an immediate apointment to come and do a proper assessment. She came back today and did it. At last we are officially on SS books! As I said, even if all we get is a referral to Bernardos, they run lots of outings in the school holidays etc which would be so helpful to let all the kids have fun! And hopefully, we will at last get a named contact to put on forms etc I'll wait and see what actally happens, but considering how hard it was to get SS to talk to us by myself, I have to thank the busy body neighbour for providing the necessary shove

As a School Attndance Oficer, I can shed some light on the issues Schools are required to send details of all students below 85% to the gov't - and they don't like doing that So they try hard to keep attendance above that figure whenever possible. From the Gov't PoV there is no diference between authorised and unauthorised attendance. That is just for the school to keep track beter I would DEFINITELY recommend going to your GP. At the meeting they will want as much info as poss and it is true that a lot of parents lie The meeting is to guage the parents as much as anything. If you work with the school & keep them informed they are unlikely to take any further action. As Ben has a dx, and if you can get all medical stuff documented,it might be worth asking about a reduced timetable or dual learning - these mean that he would be scheduled out of school for specific lessons, but still recieve a present mark as it is all agreed in advance (he does have to do school work during that time - or at least keep up with his studies to their satisfation ) This is useful for example if he gets very tired and therefore prone to pick up viruses or have problems. Its not much good if it is just ththe picks things up as that is not really foreseeable.

As some of you may remember, we tried to get a Statement for DS in readiness for his transfer to secondary school next September. As usual, the LEA refused to asess, and we had to appeal to get the assessment done, wasting 5 months! The assessment has now been completed, and surprise, surprise, they have not agreed to a Statement, giving a Note-in-Leiu instead. This is pretty much what I expected TBH. I am reasonably confident that if we did go to Tribunal over this, we would get the Statement - the main reason it was not given seems to be that his academic work is not too far behind his peers (although they accept that he is falling further behind day by day due to his social interaction & comunication problems). However, I assume an appeal will take several more months. By which time he will only be weeks away from moving schools. I would expect his support needs to be substantially different in secondary school to primary school. His curent school has no experience of the Statementing process, the new school is very experienced. Our LEA has said, off the record, that they will never accept a parent initiated Statement process..... Is it worth appealing this one, or would I be better off waiting 6 months and re-aplying/the school applying if they feel it necessary once he has started there? Is there any time limit from having one Statement refused before I can reapply? what do people think? Thanks

Re the nephew being clingy and naugty round mum - iyt is very common for older children to "revert" when a new baby comes along. Its a kind of jealousy, even though the child may not feel at all jelous of the baby and may be quite brilliant with it! The classic advice is to allow the child to be as babyish as they want to when they want to - if that involves carrying him around/going back into nappies for a while or giving him a dummy etc, while at the same time highlighting all the things he can do because he is a big boy that the baby can not do, because they are too small. It also helps if mum tries to find some big child time without baby. In most cases the behaviour onlylasts a few weeks - it feels like a long time when going through it, but looking back its not too bad

Apart from the fact that we are playing with our brains in the same way as the 18th & 19th century quacks played with their patients bodies (ie: they have very little idea o9f wat they are doing and are just poking and prodding to see what happens, without any real understanding of what they are doing to the person as a whole ), the problem I see with this particular study is the temporary nature of the improvement

LOL - I eat far too many calories My circulatio is OK - all in wrking order, I'm just a cold person (in that I feel cold pretty much all the time). It doesn't help that DH is a ver hot person, and happily wears shorts and Tshirt in the snow so we never agre on temperature! But I think my current freezyness is because I am so tired. Baby doesn't understand the clocks going back, and wheres 5,30 every morning was tough, 4.30am is a killer....

AFAIK, immno-suppresents shouldn't have a neurological effect - although the risks of taking them shouldn't be taken lightly either - you're seriously mucking around with your body if you go on any of them! The risk/benefit has to be indivivual to each person and take into account the severity of their Psoriases, the disabling effect it has on their life, their general lifestyle (IIRC you can't take Ciclo if there is any possiblity of getting pregnant),etc etc..... I assume you have been through all the topical and non-invasive treatments already? In my experiance, alternantive therapies rarely have much impact on severe psoriases -if you read carefuly all the good stories come from people who had a small patch on their left elbow once althuogh things like acupuncture/massage certainly help with stress levels, which can help a little wih the P (and the ASD). Light treatment works for most people - have you had your quota of that? Do you have a specialist ASD doctor? If so they sould be involved in a case conference with your Derm before deciding on any treatment regime.

That's it really I'm feezing! Sitting in the front room with the heating on, under a blanket, with two jumpers on and still shivering Wish I could go get some winter sun.....

DLA is not a means tested or work related benefit. You can work full time and earn £100k and still qualify for it. The 16 hour thing is in regard to incapacity benefit/ESA or whatever they call it next year

They all have side effects that affect people to a lesser or greater degree. My OH has tried all three over the years. He's back on a low dose MTX atm, alongside the infliximab. MTX makes him feel very sick for a day or two. When he was on a full MTX dose it started killing his liver However, I know some poe-le have used it sucessfully for years. I can't remember specifics about the other two, other than he had to come off them I strongly recommend you look on a specialised Psoriasis forum such as in my ink above for detailed info

I DID put a comment on one friend's, saying it just trivilises ASD. They came back that it raises awareness and so is a good thing. I'm torn betwen blocking it so I don't get annoyed, and keeping it so I can make comments to each of my idiotic "friends" who do it. I wonder if I should put a Blindness Quotient test up - after all we're all a `little bit on the "blind" spectrum, and it would be fun nd noit at all patronising to see how like real blind people we are

The girl who sits next to me at work told me she has "managed to get her christmas card list down to 150 this year" I have never sent a christmas card in my adult life, and my OH hasn't since he met me, which is 18 years ago this Xmas - yet we still get 20-30 sent to us each year - some from people we don't know/can't work out (if you sign your card "John", with no further info, it makes things difficult ) The Indian take away I used once, several years ago still sends a card each xmas, which actuall rather annoys me.... My kids usually send one to each classmate and each teacher. I am going to suggest to the school that in the interest of the environment they should encourage kids to send one card to the whole class - it could be stuck up on the wall or something. Save the trees, and stop all the "I got more Xmas cards that you did" bullying

get yourself down CAB/DIAL or somewhere similar and see if they cn sort you out yourown place - soundslike you'd be better off eotionally and financially as you could claim housing benefit for the rent.

many mental health issues do have a genetic element - if a parent suffers the child has a statistically higher chnce of suffering, but it's not guaranteed. And we know s little about what causes most MH issues - genetically identical people (twins) may have completely different mental health, so there is more toit than genes...

I think most of us would be healthier if we cut down our gluten (and dairy) intake. We just eat too much of the wrong stuff, and then act surprised that our digestive system doesn't work perfectly! No gluten intolerance or coeliac in my famly although there is a long history of weirdness and social disfunction (IMO undiagnosed ASD) and some diagnosed allergies - my uncle (as aspie as they come) is allergic to alcohol and an undisclosed family member(as NT they come) is allergic to cocaine I thinkit's just as likely in the NT and ASD population TBH. Of course, my ASD son examines himself minutely for any small spot or mark on a daily basis, has hypersensitivity to pain and is convinced that anything wrong with him is terminal, so it could be that ASD people who have intolerances/allergies just notice/feel it more

DS is 10 now and eats most meats happily He also hated to chew when he was younger,but basicaly we just kept presenting him with meat every couple of days and insisted he "try one mouthful". We've used the same prinicple on all foods, and he even eats some fruit and veg now (although I don't think he will ever bite an apple - although he will eat it cut up). We also did quite a lot of nutrution education with him, as he is able to understand the theory well. A terrible bout of constipation was always a good moment to comment on his lack f fruit & veg intake. We have also informed ALL of the kids that their tastes will change over time, and that even if they don't like food A, they have to kep trying it as they might like it later. DS took a lot longer to get there than the NT kids, but the same prinicple works with all children. Just keep trying

there are a numb er of things I want to write in response to this post.... Breast cancer does not mean you're going to die (well, not imminently). there is over 80% survival rate. Many people argue with their parents, and, especially in times of stress, things are said that they don't mean. please don't cut them out of your life over one stupid threat. But a simple answer to your actual question is: make a Will. Considering you are in dx process atm, I would suggest using a solicitor - they usually offer a fixed fee, so phone around and get quotes. you can leave your collection to another collector, a friend, a museum etc.....

The full review BBCs "At A Glance" Summary I doubt that any of my kids will be able to go to uni The concept that we should start all our best and brightest off in life with a debt the size of a mortgage is just absolutely bonkers IMO

God, there is no way I could cope with all that unless there was really obvious reason to make that kind of effort I'm the laziest chef in the world, and never really plan out my meals in advance. Each day its a matter of what have we got and what do I fancy To cut all that out of your diet you must have to be really careful about getting the right nutrients.... TBH, there is absolutely no indication of digestive problems or coeliacs - I just thought it wouldn't hurt to drop the gluten a bit for all of us. Going gluten free is more for my DH than my DS. DH already has two autoimmune diseases, and takes drugs which muck around with his digestion, so droping the gluton seems sensible. The kids won't really do it properly anyway, because there is no way I'm stopping their freshly cooked, healthy school dinners for £1.90 a day unless someone provides some very convincing evidence that I should - so they will be on low gluton in term time, and pretty much gluton free in the hoidays, while hubby has a bash at totally gluton free for a while.

We thought we'd have a try at a gluten free diet for a while and see if it helps at all. Does anyone have any helpful tips or advice? I think it's going to basically mean cutting out all bread and pasta, and increasing rice & potato intake to compensate. Are there any other products I need to be specifically aware of? We're on a tight budget, so can't really afford to buy "gluten free" products thanks

My son also will not dress up for any reason. Simple and obvious solution to that one is that he doesn't have to! Its certainly a reasonable adjustment. My son just wears his normal uniform when everyone else is being a WW2 evacuee/Tudor servant/furutre career etc... As to support on the actual trips, we have found that a lot of discussion and leaflets/internet research as to exactly where he will be going/what he will be doing, what it will look like, how long he will stay there etc etc etc all helps reduce anxiety about the trip. as for school support, well, he needs 1:1 on any trip out of school. My school is great and provides an ASD qualified LSA for him, but you could do it, or get a NAS buddy or something like that.

a generous average statistic is approx 1/3 of income should go towards rent. At 16 yrs old tho, I assume you are still feeding her? Doing her washing? Buying household goods (toilet roll etc)? In reality, is there ANY way the money she recieves will cover what is spent on her - taking into account clothes, socialising, transport etc? Perhaps sitting down and doing a budget on paper would help her understand what money is needed for? I expect she thinks you are "stealing" her money because she just doesn't realise what it all gets spent on.

TBH it all seemed a bit pointless! The paed looked through his notes, asked all the normal questions about what he does/doesn't do, and I repeated pretty much exactly what I had written in letters, the statement request, and my parental report. The pead faithfully wrote it all down again. I'm sure she will write a good report based on what we said, but did we really need to go there and say it? She didn't speak to DS at all (I hope they behave differently with physically disabled children applying for statements!). The whole thing could've been done by reading/submitting my original letter requesting a statement DS did his usual splendid job of acting incredibly autistic for the dr tho He always does....