chris54

As it a special school all the children will be statemented. Academies are funded direct from central government. This is on the Education Department's web sit:- LA services The following items do not become the responsibility of the academy and continue to rest with the LA. These are:　 home to school transport (including SEN) education psychology, SEN statementing and assessment monitoring of SEN provision, parent partnerships, etc. prosecution of parents for non-attendance individually assigned SEN resources for pupils with rare conditions needing expensive tailored provision (this is usually a top-up to formula funding) provision of pupil referral units or education otherwise for a pupil who is no longer registered at an academy. LACSEG for special schools For special schools converting to become academies, LACSEG will be calculated on the same basis as that for mainstream schools. However, some adjustments have been made to recognise the differences between special schools and mainstream schools. This will ensure the additional responsibilities special schools acquire on becoming academies, are reflected adequately in their funding.

It is the same for all academies, that there will be an agenda driving the change to academy status. It realy depends on where you stand as to how you view this change, if you view it as good or bad. I can see a time in the future were academy school and free school are taken back under LA control because there doing such an poor job. Its a shame politicians have to play games with our children's futures.

http://www.education...cademies#faq9it Quote. "How will the characteristics of the special academy, including pupil numbers and types of needs the academy will provide for, be agreed? Maintained special schools wishing to convert to academy status will not be able to change their characteristics, including the number of places for which they are funded and the types of special educational needs they provide for, as part of the conversion process. The number of pupil places for which the academy will be funded will be based on the number of places for which the special school is funded currently. Likewise, the types of special educational needs the special academy will provide for will be based on the types of needs provided for currently by the special school. There will be scope to change the characteristics of the special academy in the future, so as to ensure that provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities remains flexible and responsive to local need and parent choice. In such instances, the Young People’s Learning Agency would consider the case for the change(s), with the final decision resting with the Secretary of State."

To a large extent this is uncharted water. I don't think anyone has realy thought this one through. This might help. http://www.academyne...an-academy.html

If you looking for a carer for your child, council funded or self funded then it may be worth having a look at this company. http://www.cool2care.co.uk

Hi, My wife who is on incapacity benefit, applied for and was awarded cares allowance, but as you cant get both at the same time she doesn't actually get any payment. (She has what is known as an "Underlying entitlement" to cares allowance).(In some cases, not ours, this has the effect of increases other benefits) Thanks for that information, she is just at the starting point of being transferred to ESA.

Cant remember where I first heard Tubular Bells but I still got the LP. You would expect some one of my age to say they don't like "Modern music" and you would not be far wrong. The Play list that LancsLad has doesn't sound to bad. If I had to pick out one instrument that stops me in my tracks it would be Northumbrian Pipes.

This is not anything to do with direct payment. It is a one of grant. It came out of the Short Breaks budget. (I think it was to use up what was left in this years budget) You had to say what you wanted the money for and why you thought you were deserving. I had got a letter from the school senco to back my bid for the grant. It was open to anyone (Disabled children) who was not already in receipt of any funding from the council. It could have been for anything that would be of benefit to the child and their family. I asked for funding to allow him to spend some time away from us, in the form of day trips out. To give both him and us a break. I have no problem (Not much) in finding people how would do regular care its the taking out on one of trips that is the stumbling block.

If that's the case, I want a big drinks cupboard.

Oh, now I understand what the "little drinks cupboard" is all about.

The main cost of the Internet is at the moment being met by the American government. The sat nav system which is now relied on so much is once again something that was developed and payed for by the American government for military purposes. European government are looking to establish an alternative sat nav system in case the US decide to turn theirs off, or go back to the restricted use that we use to have.

If you look back over human existence you will see that technological advances have gone in big steps, but the steps are separated by long periods of no advancement. 50 years ago no one foresaw the advancement in communication technology that have happened over the last couple of decades. But what happened to those house hold robots we were all going to have to do our house work. When was the internal combustion engine invented? About 150 years ago. The car? 100 years ago. The design of both have been tweaked a bit over the years but we are still using the same planet destroying basic design. It is very hard to predict which way technological development will go. What drove the advance in technology that led to the development of the Internet and what has followed was the need to develop a communication system that would continue to function in the event of a nuclear war. In terms of the earths existence we have only been around for a very short time, and at the rate we are going, the earth will be around for a very long time after we have gone.

Try to make it seem you are interested when they are going on about some mind numbing subject and your trying to concentrate.

When I was young, I remember a time when we were all being told we were heading for utopia. A world in which energy would be so plentiful that we would not have to pay for it. One of our biggest problems for the human race would be trying to find things to occupy our leisure time as we would all only need to work one or to days a week. It doesn't look much like it will ever be like that. I tend not to spent to much time thinking about the distant future. I find it all to depressing. As I see it we will end up extinct because we have used up all the earths resources, or we will blow the place up either by accident or on purpose. The real challenge as I see it is how long we can put this off. As for the idea of establishing a colony on some distant planet, well we got to the moon and found there was nothing of use there. Next stop Mars. But how much of the worlds dwindling resources does a future generation spend sending a few people off in an ark hoping to find a new world. Will we have the intelligence, Our intelligence has not increase much for hundreds of thousands of years, we just have more knowledge.

A problem I have is we can never know if these "Talents" are "because of",or "in spite of".

I know from my time at school if not doing PE had been a punishment, I would have been the naughtiest boy there was.

At my sons school they use red, yellow and green cards. All the children have them, the idea is that the child had the relevant card on display all the time. I must admit they are probably not used as much as they should be. In maths at least it could be that the work is too difficult but it could also be that it is too easy. I don't think exclusion from PE for not doing other lessons is at all helpful. Any form of sanctions may need to be immediate, the idea of a consequence some time in the future may not seem at all relavent to the now. Reward charts never worked with my son, rewards of any sort never work(ed). Nor do consequences. His main motivation for doing the work (Anything) is the satisfaction of doing it. But 10 minuets later he may have lost all interest. For my son that is one of the problems with homework, the reward, if you like, doesn't come untill the next day, or even the next week. I realy think that someone needs to do some work with your son to sort out what is going on, to find what the best approach would be.

Today I have received a cheque from the council, a bit more than I asked for, £700, to be spent by the end of the summer.This money is part of the Short Break scheme. It is to pay for son to have days out, (To provide us with respite care) to cover the cost of employing someone, travel costs, admissions act. Not having a lot of luck finding anyone suitable who is able/willing to provide what I want/need. I have asked my adult stepson if he is interested, he will be able to take my son out a few times. I have to keep records of what the money is spent on and to put together a record of the days out with photos etc. (for use by the council to publicise what a good job they are doing.)

My wife has got the letter today saying she will be moving off Incapacity Benefit and on to ESA. It will be interesting if this leads to a job. In the time she has been on Incapacity Benefit she has not stopped looking for a job, been on numerous schemes that where supposed to lead to employment, but 12 years down the road she is still without work. My wife being the eternal pessimist is expecting the worst.

You either believe that the haves should look after the have nots, that the able should look after the non able, or that it should be every one for themselves. We as a society swing between these to points, At the present time me are heading for the latter.

Well it looks like my son has a lot of hard work ahead of him. He has set himself a very high standard to start with. I don't think any of the teachers had much that was negative to say. Even in PE that he doesn't like and find difficult, he is improving and impressing the PE teacher. It was the maths teacher who actually ask if he could be moved up into her class. (I think she is a bit of a maths geek so they will go together well.) It was all a bit nauseating realy. Teacher after teacher saying the same thing. In music and art, not things he has much natural talent in but the message was, he tries and does his best. And that is all you can ask of anyone. I realy think for the first time he is, in general, enjoying school. Only hiccup was homework, but that is more or less sorted now. And of course his handwriting which is improving but has a long way to go.

To treat your child just like any other child.

Seeker

Bit of a sad mothers day for us, My mother who is in her 90s, after a resent stay in hospital, is refusing all offers of help. She is on the SS list as putting her self at risk. We are just waiting for the phone call to say she is back in hospital or worse.

Just like to dispel the myth that having Aspergers equals frequent meltdowns. It obviously doesn't. Nor are meltdowns exclusive to those with Asperger. I do not know, I don't think any one does, how the frequency of meltdowns amongst people with Aspergers differs from the general population. As (Has been stated here) what a meltdown is is subjective it would be an extremely hard thing to measure. My son who has a diagnosis for Aspergers/HFA has never had a meltdown, or at least what I would call a meltdown. My Father who, if he was alive today may well have been diagnosed with Aspergers, in my memory had one meltdown at work that led to him being sent home with a week off to recover. If he had less severe meltdown, I do not know, there were never any signs that I can recall. One last point, that I sometimes think is forgotten, this is a public forum, and what is put on here will enter into the public perception of what Autism is all about.