Unaltronome

Hello Helen, Sorry to hear about your troubles. The legal field in regards to behaviour, discipline and SENs is a minefield. I would suggest to call IPSEA. Their telephone lines are consistently busy but keep persevering. Good luck on Monday. http://www.ipsea.org.uk/

Hi Julie, making decisions on GCSEs is not easy at the best of times. Sitting exams for GCSEs is not obligatory for children, equally is not obligatory for the school to put children forward for any GCSEs, however your child has the right to an education suitable to his age,aptitude, and SENs. When you enroll a child into the school system you (parent) delegate the responsability to the LA. So has the LA proposed a suitable alternative? I find it rather irritating the attitude from your son's school! It sounds a rather childish attitude: your child has only these results and he can't join us! (chant) If you were to HE, do you think you could/would do worse than the 'system' has in the last 3 years? Could you re-adjust to having ds 24/7? http://www.he-special.org.uk/ is a website specifically dedicated to children and carers who are or are thinking about HE. It also has a support list, which might be able to answer a few of your questions/fears/worries. Education Otherwise has a helpline http://www.education-otherwise.org/

Perhaps I should rephrase: you don't need to read that much between the lines to reach the conclusion of the solution is for an AS child to be removed from his family, rather than for some parents the desperation is such or the need of a AS child are so complex as to require a specialist residential school. Dan says: ''I thought autism was like everything else I had. I felt it hard to listen. I was obnoxious...'' ''My parents found out about this place...I felt hurt. I felt betrayed of being left there...I sat alone in my room. I was really upset. But then after a few months, about a year of being there, got a bit more steadier, started being a bit more friendlier with people'' ''My carers and my teachers, I think they're great company, great people. I feel homesick when I'm away from school'' I'll add to this that some of these aspects happen for real. My son was labelled naughty (and on occasions obnoxious). Whilst I know that my ds is capable of naughty actions, just as any NT child, he is not inherently naughty, no child is. Isolation, whether in the form of stay in at break-times or otherwise, is an acceptable punishment applied by most institutions (isolation even get a special section in the education inspection act 2006). In fact, my child was so 'naughty' he endured this virtually every day, as a way to keep the bullies away but the bullies carried on playing outside. My son has fine motor skills problems and coordinations problems, so he can't write very fast and PE is hard, the solution was once again isolation: skip PE to finish the work. So when he was frustrated because he still couldn't finish his work and he had missed PE and his friends teased about it and called him names and on the rare times he made it to break time he would get pushed into bushes or down the step, his lunch spat in or his head down the toilet and he eventually either shouted or worse....guess what? He would get told ''You been told a 1000 times not to shout or kick..go to the HT''....Isolation again. I appreciate I might be reading too much into what this advert says. (2) plus I have also worked for this organisation. (2)

Hi Karen, Any request of records has to be in writing, specifying that you are requesting on behalf of your child. If a child requests the records the time for response is extended to 40 days of compliance rather than 15. You also need to state you want a copy- otherwise the school might offer you a viewing- and that you wish to receive a copy of all records, help both on paper and on electronic format. There are so many different names for the same type of record across the different LAs, that if you were to request specific ones you're bound to miss some. The request has to be addressed to either the Head-teacher or the Chair of Governors, depending on the LA. I would ring your LA to find out to whom it needs to be addressed. You're entitled to the records under the Education (pupil information) regulations 2005, the Freedom of infomation Act 2000 and the Data protection act 1998. I would add this to your letter. Also, I would offer that you understand that there might be a charge to cover the photocopying costs and that you are happy to pay for this. You could ask LA what their guidelines in regards to these charges are, so that you are prepared but as a rule of thumb they shouldn't exceed �50. A letter might look like this: Dear HT, I, Mr/Mrs A Blog, parent of B Blog (D.O.B. 12/12/12), hereby request on behalf of B Blog, premitted under the Education (pupil information) regulation 2005, the Freddom of info act 2000 and Data protection act 1998, a copy of all records pertaining B Blog, held on both paper and electronic format. I understand that due to the need to contact all parties involved, it might take you up to 15 days to comply with my request, above specified. I shall expect a copy of all records held on B Blog by the (put date=17 days from posting the letter by recorded delivery). I also appreciate that you may incur photocopying costs, which I am happy to pay for. May I take this oppurtunity to thank you in advance. Yours .....

I much prefer this version. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8RnuQqJBmoE When looking at the vignette campaign ( http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/galler....aspx?albumid=1 ), The last image is 'Dan' with a wooden spoon: Does Action for children beat his demons out? The most poignant points I read in the vignettes are that Dan felt betrayed by his parents, he was obnoxious, he was removed from his family and he now feels homesick when he leave the school. So between the lines one can assume the message Action for children is sending is that AS makes you obnoxious, it can be treated by removing the child from is family into an institute and beating the monster. Given the 'charity' (who has large govermental grants!) boasts 140 yrs years worth of experience the advert is truely representative of their arcaic knowledge.

I also used to pencil hyphen between words, so he could recognise where a word would end and the next began. ds also found easier to use a ruler above the line he was reading, I guess it's easier to hide the line you just read rather than finding the one below.

Oh the famous lack of parental skills, grrrrrrrrrr! Reading. I had been told that asd children learn by the shape of the words and in context.....but ds was not managing at all even the high frequency words (that was easily read what). Also in Italy, where I grew up, reading is taught by putting letters together and blend them (easy-peasy). So I looked for materials that would allow me to do just that, jolly phonic was the closest. 1)I started from scratch and taught him vowels a, e, i, o, u (without using the examples but the sounds as in apple, elephant, igloo, got, umbrella), 2) then we blended basic sounds:Ba, be, bi bo bu, da,de, di, do, du......so forth down the alphabeth. 3) Now we were ready to blend 3 letters (bat....) and to start read the first few pages of J.phonic word book. I only used the first 2 pages for quite a while but started to ask to read in book only 2 and 3 letter word that phonetically were right. Once he got the hang and confidence with these, we progrssed to 4 and 5 letters. 4)We then moved onto blending consonants (Br, st,...) and for a while I used to circle the 2 consonants so he could see it as a 'sound'. We developed a sign code for the difficult sounds (such as bring a finger to your nose for 'sh', touch your temple for 'th' as in think...) 5) Once he could read these without circles, although he still signs to himself occasionally, we moved onto other phonetic sounds. ae, a-e, ... These were the ones that needed circling now. I think he just couldn't recognise the shapes of words because they didn't always look the same. It seems that by 'chunking' his words and enabling him to decode them, he could then start even recognising them in context. His writing is a different story. He can now hold a pencil so it is functional, he can form letters correctly, can spell a few words and as long as he has guided paper the words don't go round in a spiral.

If is any consolation ds,same age as your dd, was still reading stage2 and 3 oxford tree at the end of yr1 and could not even form any letters-he was still tracing mmmmmm and uuuuuuu. I took it in my own hands. I ignored as much as possible the school books (we still read a few to show co-operation) and started on the jolly phonics word book, which is organised in simple and sequential sound. I purchased big squared exercise books from the school supply shop to practice letter formation and writing in general. The schools seem not to like them but as a dyslexic person myself, I feel they help with tracking (i.e. no need to track horizontally and vertically) and help with sizing letters (removing the need to struggle with spatial awareness). More than happy to write reams about this if you wish. If dd is already been assessed for sensory dysfunction, is she been seen by a developmental audiologist and an orthoptist/behavioural optometrist?

Right! Thank you, can you tell is late? I have to agree with other suggestion, that the school should investigate further. It's not uncommon to have dyslexia as a co-morbid condition. Is dd seeing a SALT for her speech and language? It might also be worthwhile to ask for an OT (occupational therapist). Often language delays (which extends to reading, comprehension and writing) can be a problem of sensory impairments (auditory, visual and motor). If the school is not proactive in the referrals you can ask for them yourself via the GP and/or paediatrician-be insistent as they tend to fob you off.

Hi hedders, I'm a bit confused. This is first time that I hear about having to wait for a SENco 'til age 10- my ds had a SENco in nursery- and I don't know about Isa. In England a level 2b would be the average results at yr2 SATs, and 4b in yr6. So if dd is going back and forth between level3 and 4 she is doing fab. Last yr SATs were still in place and a piece of paper with attainment results levels in different components (reading and comprehension, writing, maths, science)would have been handed out at the end of the yr. Is the level1 you also mention in the writing?

Thank you. For a moment there, I thought it was a review I've missed. You might enjoy this article, of course you might have already. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1755-8794/1/50

Just wanted to add an extra complication or two. The same gene A could produce different phenotypes. Different genes (singly or in combination) can give rise to the same phenotype. And that's before using the extra terminology! I followed your link for the Nature article,but I'm not a subscriber and the abstract is a bit skimp, do you know whether it's published elsewhere? I'd really like to know the 20 genes mapped, I'll be happy with just their names (but chromosomal location would be a bonus). Thank you.

The first question I would have in regard to this case is : what happened to the other embryos and in particular to the embryo(s) carrying the defective gene? Donated to research, frozen or discarded? Secondly, having watched my granmother dying of breast cancer but my mother-in-law beating the cancer 10 yrs later, could early detection and further advances in medicine not have spared the suffering/difficulties by the time this child would have been (if at all) affected? Thirdly, now that the mother of this child knows to have the gene, will she be able to get life insurance (or private medical insurance)? Afterall, if the mum develops breast cancer it would be classified as a pre-existing condition that she would need to disclose (let's remember that some mortages will require life insurance). I don't think the pre-natal tests are a problem per se, as they would have the potential of early 'help', but it's how the results are going to be used. Just as a basic example: sex determination via scan. When I was expecting dd (15yo), the county I was in had a policy of not disclosing the sex of the child because in the past they encountered high abortion rate of girls!

SBC has been researching the 'correlation' of testosterone in the amniotic fluid and autism. Up until a year ago he stated that 20% of babies exposed to high levels of testosterone would show autistic traits by the age of 8 yrs. Since he was going to look at a amnio samples databank from Denmark. So if his research were to prove conclusive, the test would check specific levels ( I think he said 20 times higher than normal) of this hormone via amniocentisis. Now, that would be a relative cheap test, even if only applicable to 1 in 5! There is also a different camp that has been looking at 'unusual' head growth- really don't know how that lot is getting on. There are already a few genetic conditions that will also present with autistic symptoms, that can be tested (fragile X the best known). Deletions on chromosome 16 apparently account for 1% of autistic people. Other chromosomes that are strong candidates are 19 and 17. The technology is there but the chances are that a prenatal screen would only be applicable to a small portion of children on the ASD spectrum. However, I agree with prof. BC that a debate should take place as the most active investestors in searching for a prenatal test are also advocates of eradication of autism-I'll refrain from mentioning names. Personally, I would not have wanted my son eradicated!

Hello JeanneA, Although I would certainly agree that puberty does not make easy for children and tend perhaps at times be more volatile and at times aggressive, I would be more propense to say that the wetting, stripping off is a sign of distress. My experience in wetting, etc is though in regard to my 7 yo AS boy rather than in the teens and it was occurring as soon as we left the school and/or whilst falling asleep rather than in school. We eventually discovered the reasons to be a combination of his 1 to1 been taken away, the SENco had retired, the expectations in class were above his physical ability, the expectations in the dinner hall had changed and above all the bullying had escalated. In the last couple of days I had a thought in regards to Glens behaviour and I might be clutching at straws but....even minor physical changes can make a difference to the sensory perceptions. When I was ~ 13yrs old my visual perception went 'funny' again and noises became painful again and I started to have a lot of headaches again for about a year. It certainly was irritating and weird but I was able to express myself. My eyesight and hearing were perfect. However, it has all started again in the last couple of yrs as my eye sight has deteriorated (only marginally). I honestly thought I had gone deaf too, but the audiologist says my hearing is perfect I just have to retune (learn to refocus). My dd (15) has found school rather more stressfull in the last year, I initially thought 'hormone', we recently found out to be she has Sensory integration dysfunction and mild motor dyskenesia. Just a thought as to why school might no longer (or temporarily) unappealing. I hope it all goes well next week.