chris54

They all have a school diary, which has a place for the home work to be written down. Some subjects are better than others, Often the subject TA will write an explanation of what is required, and the senco is fairly good at getting across to the teachers what is required. But to put it bluntly, some of the teachers just don't get it. Its no good just telling him, you have to make sure, first that it actually registered that you were speaking to him, that he heard what you said, that he understood what you said, and that he will remember what you said for more than 5 seconds. I get him to repeat anything of significance back to me. And test him a sort time later to see if he has remembered it. Now I don't expect teachers to do this but what they need to do is make sure that the instructions for homework etc are fool proof. The sencon is good at emailing us with anything that is going on at school that we need to know about.

Know the feeling well, we do lots of training at work, and that's the bit I dread. Cant say I'm affected quite as much as I use to be, but I know the feeling inside. And of course I know to varying degrees the other people there. And they know me. I ever end up taking charge or sitting there and not contributing. Depends on the make up of the group. As most of the time we have the same instructors, they now seem to expect that I may just sit there and say nothing. One way to over come to some degree the unannounced bit is to have it in you mind that there will be included at some point this sort of thing, but then that in itself could lead to a panic attack. My way of dealing with panic attacks is a form of meditation, I will focus my mind on one point to the exclusion of all else. It may be what we're doing at the time but it may be some abstract thought.

Well as one or two of you know, homework can be a bit of problem. My latest gripe is lack of clarity as to what is actually required. Today it said "Design a cover for geography project." But do they mean to just design or to actually make, but what size is it to be. The other day he had to drew an animal and plant cell and label them. I thought it was a fantastic bit of work but apparently it was supposed to have included a description of what the parts did. I reread the homework and it said nothing about that. For DT they have been set a homework booklet, with the whole terms homework in it. In the covering letter it said each piece will take no more than 30 minuets and only require a pen or pencil to complete. but then there are 2 pieces which will take much longer than this and require the making of things needing glue, card and coloured paper, not a problem , I queried this and, apparently the letter was only a guide, but why say something that's not correct. A point I will be raising at the parent evening next week, more clarity about homework. On the plus side son now goes to homework after school club once a week which apparently he is enjoying, It run by his science TA, he has science homework on that day so no excuse for not getting top marks for that homework. We do have a computer and Internet access, it is surprising how often there is a piece of work is set to be completed by the next day, which without them would be very hard to do.

If I think back to when I was in my 20s, pay was at a level and property prices were such that it was relatively easy to get onto the property ladder. Only today I was talking to a work college, a team leader, who wants to get out of rented and buy. Problem is that on their wages they can only get a mortgage of £70,000. when a small house round here cast £120,000. That leaves them a bit short. At the moment their rent is more than they can realy afford, which leaves very little room to save.

A stay at home generation. Depends who far you go back. Non of my fathers siblings left home untill they got marred. His youngest sister live the first few years of marred life in the "family" front room. There were four adult brothers sharing one 14ft x 10ft bedroom, you walked through this room to get to the girls room 8ft x 10ft that his two sisters shared. I remember the house as my dads parents lived there untill they died both aged in their nineties. Point I am making is the scenario of children moving out of the family home as soon as the are 18 is a very recent idea. Other than if work dictated. But then at 14 my dad started work and was treated as an adult, As the oldest he was expected to put most of his earning into the family pot to help support his younger siblings. Had his first cigarette and first drink in the pub (Officially). Even I at 16, was treated as an adult, Expected to pay my own way and make my own life decisions. As an adult I had my own small business, owned a few houses that I rented out, but I still lived at home. Maybe this was because when I got home at night, there would always be dinner on the table, and someone to talk to. Maybe I just got on with my parent and there was no conflict. Seem to remember we lived as equals. I did end up moving round the country so spent little time at home, It was only when I got marred that I finally cut the cord. None of my siblings left home untill they Marred or cohabited. But then maybe that's just my family.

I presently work as a night support worker in a residential home, caring for 7 residents, 5 of whom have autism. These are all people who could not, would not survivor for 5 minuets living independently. There have no prospect of ever working. This does not stop the Local Authority continually looking to move them on into less intensely staffed, cheaper, types of residency. Not surprising when the coast per resident is in the region of £2000 a week. I have also worked as a night support worker in the type of setting, LancsLad spoke of earlier, 24 residents, Drugs and drink were not allowed, but I wasn't going to be the one to take it of them, I valued my own health to much for that. My theory was, don't step to far out of line on my watch, and well get by, only had to call the police out about once a month, who always turned up mob handed. This was a halfway house, there the resident were learning how to survive independently. A lot were young people how had moved out from their parents home. It was surprised how many, after a few months of living there went back to their parents, tail between legs. The girls would often get pregnant and move on to a mother and baby unit, This surprisingly, was deemed as a success, a positive move on. A few ended up on the local park bench. Some did succeed get jobs and go on to better things.

Just a little point, Free School are not allowed to build new building, they have to be in existing structures, but can be altered and adapted. The Nottingham group at present do not have a building, and even if they get approval, if they cant find a building their plans will be scuppered. The free school does not own its premises they are owned by a government body (Cant of the top of my head think of the name) and are leased to the school. Any premises have to be available to be purchased free hold by this body.

Apart from crying, what else is he doing. Have you ever seen sports people in tears when they have achieved. Is that what is going on.

For me, my son, it is not so much the education being provided by his school, it is the whole school environment that is the problem. If he could just parachute into each lesson and leave the same way, life would be better. You could say that attending school is damaging his education. Yes the school are doing there best to address his educational needs but there is very little they can do about the school environment. This for me was the attraction of the Free School. If it had gone ahead and if I had decided to apply, there is no guarantee that he would have been deemed a suitable candidate for the school, especially as it looked like the school was likely to be 3 times oversubscribed. But that will never happen now, we are where we are and have to make the best of it. If you read the target group the the proposed Special Free School was/is aimed at, it does not say it is exclusively for children with ASD, but in reality it is likely that the majority of its candidates would be in this category.

Is support for a school, the same as need? We do not need church school, independent school, private schools. We may want but do we need. Choice, if the next nearest school is an hours drive away do you realy have choice. When people talk about have a choice of school, they assume we all have 2 or 3 school withing 5 minuets of our home, that for most people is simply not true.

But if a free school were set up that your child didn't fit in to, you would not send them there in the first place?? If I was a parent who was against the teaching of religion at school, I would not send my child to a newly set up Catholic free school, so there wouldn't be a problem. One of the criteria for setting up a free school is that there is real demand, you have to prove that there are sufficient parents in the area that want the school, who would send their children there. One of the problems of a new Free School setting up is that this could leave existing schools in the area under subscribed, and even lead to the LA having to close schools. It is only Special Free Schools that have to have the backing the the LA. As it stands at the present time only children with a statement of special educational need can go to a Special Free School, the AL have to agree to the school being names on their statement, If the LA are opposed to the school, this wont happen. And of course the school have to agree that it is the right school for that child. As I have previously stated I am not in general in favor of Free Schools. If all existing school met all the regiments of all the children we would not be having this discussion in the first place, Why would we expect a Free School to be any different in this respect, they are aimed at particular groups of children, if your not in that group you wont fit in.

When I was about 2 or 3 whiles helping my dad I stuck a screwdriver where a screwdriver shouldn't go. I ended up electrocuting myself and was unconscious for about 12 hours. I sometimes wander if any permanent damage was done to my noodle. Went on many years later to be an electrician. (Can not recall how many times I have had electric shock in the course of my work)

Funding, It was explained to me, it all seemed a bit complicated, the government has a set funding formula which the free school has to work with. For special free schools the funding is not attached to an individual child, but the level of provision in place. The formula has changed recently. All I can tell you is the numbers seemed to add up. But as the bid for a Special Free School that would be accessible to us was blocked, I have not investigated this or other maters in to much detail.. I'm not sure if you are aware that The National Autistic Society has been invited to help set up Free school Reading. http://www.autism.org.uk/news/

Surly though that is the very purpose of such a school. that it will benefit the children that fit in well, the children that it is intended for. Free school of all types are set up by people who. for whatever reason don't like what is already provided. They want something that fits their ideal of what a school should be. My own life principles tell my they are wrong, they split communities, It is one of my fundamental beliefs that all and I mean all children should go to their local school. But when it comes to my own child things don't look that simple. Schools become academies to get a bigger share of school funding, and autonomy from the LA. They don't have to take SENs children if they choose not to. Our local secondary school has never been under the control of the AL, It was founded over 100 years ago, it is now an academy school. the nearest alternative school is about an hours drive away. In reality it is run by one person, the Principle. Fortunately he has a positive approach to SEN.

If you were to move to be nearer a particular school you have to remember that there is no guarantee that you would get a place at that school anyway. If you are prepared to move, then you would be able to cast your net wider in search of the right school, hopefully secure a place then move to be nearer. But any school would, in the short term, have to be within a realistic travel distance of were you are now, or that you could make some sort of immediate alternative arrangements. A former work college of mine, found that the nearest suitable special school to him would mean over 3 hours traveling for his son each day. He did just that, got a place at the school, then moved. Fortunately he was in a housing association house and they agreed to move him. But it meant giving up his job. Lost touch with him so don't know how it turned out.

What if you couldn't find a school, or you were not in a position to take you child to your chosen school. What would you have done. If I was to impose my principals on my son it would be detrimental to him. am I prepared to live with that.

I am in principal, against any segregation in education. That would include free school, academy schools and grammar schools, as well as faith schools and private schools. Where we live, my son went to the local church primary school. If he had passed the 11plus, he could have gone to grammar school, he currently goes to an academy school. Despite what we get told about choice, there is no real chose. These are the schools that serve the area, and that's that. I am told by my local council that there is adequate SENs provision, but there is no SENs provision (out side of mainstream) for academically able children with SEN. My son is just about getting by in mainstream, I am grateful to the school (An academy which in principal I am against) in that they are providing more resources for son that the LA say he needs. If my AL had not opposed the setting up of a SEN free school, and knowing what I do about the team behind it, It would have been a strong candidate for my son. Even though in principal I am against Free Schools.

That a good point, if the school are saying there are doing XYZ under school action plus, but not doing it, that is not a reason to get a statement. It is if they are doing (Or say they are doing) XYZ and he is still not making satisfactory progress that a statement may be forthcoming. To a certain extent it is not where a child is on the scale, it is how they are moving along that scale that is important.

As said it is important to show that his needs are not being met under school action/action plus. Ultimately, if the school are saying he is OK, it will be up to you to prove them wrong. We must remember by the very nature of things, in any classroom half of the children will always be below the average.

Yesterday while cooking tea my son came up to me and said, "Iv been looking at the lock and handle to the bathroom door and Iv figured out how the go back on" (I had taken them off a few days before to paint the door) To which I replied, "Good you can help me put them back on later", "No I can do it on my own", "well all right then". I ventured up stares a bit later to find that said lock and handle where fitted perfectly.(Screws just needed a final tightening) I was quite astounded. Shame he cant put as much skill into doing things like home work projects. But then it is because he wanted to do it, which always makes a difference. Told him hes got a job from now on.

I'm usually so exhausted when my head hits the pillow, that I'm asleep in minuets. But I will often wake a few hours later, My wife called it night wanders. Ill get up and go and do something like listen to the radio, (BBC Radio4/World service)(some interesting things on at that time of night). After an hour or two, Ill go back to bed and usually sleep the rest of the night, only to find the morning comes to soon. Its not at all unusual for us to pass on the stares in the middle of the night, I just of back to bed and my wife is setting off on her night wander, She always sits and reads. I work night, which doesn't help sleep pattens, But I can sleep in the day with all the normal house noise going on. They say that your hearing never turns off, but your brain filters out the unimportant things. This is why you cans (I can) sleep though a thunderstorm, the phone ringing, someone banging on the door. But that little buss from the alarm clock wakes you up. Or as any parent knows the tiniest cry from a baby. Ultimately, I think it is best just to go with what your body is telling you, if in the middle of the night you cant sleep stop trying. Of course the problem with this is you (I) will find you (I) need to sleep at other, inconvenient times.

My first experience of computers was doing a course, were we worked on a main frame, It hard to believe now, but monitors were seen as a novelty, up untill then you communicated with the computer using the printout. The print command was printprint, Print on its own was the monitor. The main frame lived in its own air conditioned room. I owned a Sinclare Spectrum. Plugged into the telly, and programs were recorded on cassette tape. I wrote a few programs by today's standards extremely basic. Basic, the name of the machine code used. We later had a PC at home but they were little more than glorified word processors. And then along came the Internet.

Funny you should mention McDonalds, my son has no particular liking for that sort of food or that sort of location, so not a problem for us. He would much prefer to go for a pub meal. Maybe that because that is what he was exposed to from a baby, if we were going out for a meal, that's were we went, one of our then, local pub/restaurants. Both me and my wife frequenters pubs as one of our main places of recreation in our younger like so that, maybe set the scene. Trying not to go to far off topic, we do, or maybe that's, should have a big influence over our children's experiences in life. If maybe I was a few years younger (more that a few) I would have had different experiences and would be passing them on to my son. Maybe I'm viewed as old fashioned by some. I know at work I'm seen as odd that I don't have a mobile phone permanently glued to my ear. Got one in the car for emergencies, but seldom switch it on. "What if someone want to get hold of you at work" well the works number is by the phone at home, in case of emergencies. Will my son be out of step with his friends, maybe, but then it is likely that his real friends in life, will be out of step with the world anyway. He is on his laptop right now, investigating how all the operating systems work, what are all the different ways to do things, trying things out. Playing on his computer? If I want to know how to do something I ask him. I intend to buy him a "Raspberry Pi". See how he gets on with it.

Perhaps my view are a bit simplistic. They are the views of someone who does not play computer games, or at least the sort that are being talked about here. They were not around when I was a child.( You only had 2 TV channels to choose from, 1 hour of children's TV a day 5-6 pm. and telly shut down by midnight.) You realy did make you own entertainment as there was nothing else. I was just about OK with the first generation of computer games, but as they got faster and more complex I just could not keep up. My son who will be 12 in a few weeks, has never shown any interest in computer games. Of course he has had very little exposure to them. Do I think he is missing out? It was only when given a secondhand laptop a year or two ago, that he found a few online games that he plays. As I said before, these are not the action type games but constructive games. What would I prefer him to be doing, reading a book, playing in the garden, (What hes doing right now) playing with one of his construction kits, or playing a computer game?

There is a group who are bidding to open a Free school in Nottingham. It will be a special school catering for children aged 7-16 with HFA/Aspergers. If you live in Nottingham, or surrounding area, and your child is currently in primary school, worth a look. (If you child is older than due to the lead in time scale they will probably miss out) http://tlordschool.c...nsultation.html http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Mum-plans-free-school-help-autistic-children/story-14045088-detail/story.html ( had to get my son to put these link on as I had no idea how to do it)