jen

If DLA goes to tribunal you can either go through a written appeal or in present. More DLA are won by people going to the tribunal than through written. This is because you can explain you childs difficulties more clearly orally than written Jen

I have been using enzymes since Easter. I decided to try them after another parent used them with her daughter with good results. My sons teacher said his concentration was better, he was producing more work and appeared less fidity. You can buy them from Scotland My son uses them before eating protein, so he takes them prior to his lunch and evening meal. School are fantastic about giving him his enzymes but they have seen the good results with them. There is a good book called ?Enzymes for Autisim and other neurological conditions its worth reading. Jen

Will say a pray for you tonight Jen

A small amount of vics under your nose stops your smelling anything. Jen

After looking at our first senior school for transfering up from secondary school I have decided not to keep quiet and question the senior schools that we visit that are not ASD friendly. The people on this forum are very good at checking information and giving advice. Is there anything that is missing from my letter. My aim is to get the headteacher and senco thinking ASD friendly. I have found out that if an LSA is employed to work with your child by the the LEA they can transfer up to senior school. However, if the LSA contract is with the school than they do not transfer up with the child. This is the letter I am planning on sending:- We would like to thank Mrs???.. and some of your pupils for recently showing us round your school. We were looking at your school to assess if it is a suitable school for our son who has a diagnosis of ASD and Sensory Integration Dysfunction with Sensory Modulation Difficulties. We were please to see and hear how successful you have been at integrating children with special needs. However, we were very disappointed to learn that the school has a policy that does not allow the Childs current LSA to transfer up to senior school. The school encourages special needs pupils to work with a variety of LSA due to various reasons. We understand that if a child works with one LSA than when this person is off sick long term than this can cause difficulties for the child and the school. However, our son?s successful integration has always been dependent upon him building up a relationship with a key worker. Our sons Sensory Integration Dysfunction further complicate his problems. From our child past experience September always brings many difficulties for our son, moving to a new school with a new layout, new teachers new class routine only complicate this further. Having an LSA trained and experienced to handle our sons difficulties actually promote him being included in mainstream school. Change for children with ASD causes them so many problems. Removing our sons LSA on transfer to secondary school can only be detrimental to his well-being. This will jeopardise his chance of being included in a mainstream secondary school. This school policy of not allowing LSA to transfer up with the child (if the LSA wants to) is not ASD friendly. Jen

My son doe not like PE because of the sensory issues. Occasionly he will do the lesson, other times he will just curl into a ball in the hall and not move, look or listen. Sports day are a big no. On these days he just does not go into school at all. The school have seen how anxious he gets with PE and sports days so we came to the decision for him to be kept at home to reduce his distress and anxiety. Jen

They should use there observation with additional information from the teacher and parents. The main point of diagnosis has to be observation not the teachers opinion. They are trained to see what the normal eye can not see. Jen

A lady I know is going through the same difficulties as you are. It appears in her case because she is disabled and confirned to a wheel chair they treat her like a person with out no brain. At the moment her son is still not diagnosed. Jen

you can normally send in late evidence up to 5 weeks before the hearing providing you send the LEA there copies and their solicitor. You also need to send in 3 to SENDIST. Jen

You can also normally claim for tights and one pair of shoes per year on the same form. Also if you have professional fees to pay you get tax relief on these too.

In our LEA they do not like TA to supervise dinner breaks, they prefer to employ a dinner lady because this is a cheaper option. However, my childs TA supports my child at lunch time and then goes to eat her dinner when my child is eating his dinner. Jen

When your child transfers to secoundary school did their LSA transfere up to the new school. Was you told by the secondary school that your childs LSA was not allowed to transfere up to senior school. My childs LSA is trained in ASD and sensory which is essential to support my child. The school we have just visited does not like SEN children to have one LSA but have several. This is so the child does not become dependent on one person. I can understand this because if the LSA is off sick the child will not be dependent on just one person. However, my childs integration as always been dependent on him building up a relationship with a key person. Taking away this key person at the time of transfer to secondary school can only cause additional problems. Jen

The majority of children do use fowl language on the computer when I challenged my normal son he said that all the boys and girls used it. It appears to be part of their culture and of course the parents can not hear them. On the way home today I was listening to a raido station that said a lot of the employees had been reprimmanded for sending and receiveing rude images via their emails. The benefits of information technology!! I my self do not like fowl language Jen

you need to ask the school how ASD friendly they are. How can the child leave the classroom when they are distressed, is there a card system they use. Is there a quiet area the child can retreat to and is it available to be used at any time of day. What structure is in place for class room change over, going out to play etc. What is there experience of ASD children. Go and look at the school at change over times in the day e.g. going out to play etc so you get a real idea of how much confusion your child will have to cope with. Phasid has also given some very good ideas on looking at schools in previous threads. Jen

In the mean time you could ask the LEA for a copy of all the information on your child under the Data protection laws. Have you got any of the informaiton in wiritng that he was not succeeding in school. Exam results etc. This information will be essential to back up your appeal. When you receive your final statement you will be able to appeal. It normally takes 6 months to go through the appeal. The statement needs to describle all your sons problems in part 2 and than what educational resources are going to be provided in part 3. Jen

The ASD team will interview your childs teacher and find out what problems there are, when they happen and how are they dealt with. He will assess the child in the classroom in a group session and also on a one to one session and document the results. He will observe the childs communication, sensory responses, eye tracking etc. He will interview the parents and ask about past medical history. What was the child like as a baby,toddler etc. What difficulties the parents think the child. The ASD team are FANTASTIC they work with the child and give the teacher and LSA stratergies to use with the children. Jen

my ASD son and my friend ASD son can not use the toilets when everyone else is using them. Both these children are taken into the toilets when there is silence hence avoiding all the problem with soiling etc. Jen

If my child watches lots of cartoons before going to school in the morning than I know he will not have agood day. He goes in hyperstimulated. So I can understand part of what the headteacher says. The school have an excellent offstead so I presume the papers have miss quoted what the headmaster really said it states he gives them back as a reward. So I would presume the headmaster thinks they have there place as long as time is restricted on them. Jen

if the school refuses the ASD team to come in and give advice than this is discrminating against the child and the parent has very good case to go to tribunal. I am sure if the parents starts the process of tribunal the head teacher will soon change her mind because the LEA solicitors will advise the school they are discriminatiing. This is what we had to do in my sons previous school to get the head teacher and other teachers to change their attitudes. Jen

It sounds like you child was oversensitised but I do not think it would be from the trampolining. As pressure and pushing actions are normal ways to calm people down. With a trampoline they have to press to make them jump and do different movements. My son can get oversensitised by heat noise spinnings touch but never from trampoling Jen

Canopus our main concern is the happiness of our children. If our children are supported correctly than this means they can achieve their potential. For some this could be as simple as dressing themselves for others it could mean achieveing A grades in GCSE or A levels going on to college or university. As parents we do the best we can. Bring up children is one of the most difficult jobs you can do, it is a job where there are no courses to show you the correct way. Bring up a special needs child is even more complex and difficult and there will be mistakes made. If you look back at your grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts and uncles I am sure you will find high blood pressure and diabetes in the family. Yes stress can bring on high blood pressure but that means when the stress is removed it will go done. If you father has had consistantly high blood pressure than you are not the cause of it. Stress does not bring on diabetes. If parents do not fight for their child than they can get depressed by seeing their child constantly suffering so as you see being a parent means you never win. Jen

If you read the study Andrew Wakefield states that there needs to be further studies into the area and autism. If the GMC were going to review him and strick him off they would of done it by now. The GMC will only bring the study to light again and affect the MMR take up hence I do not think they will investigate him. Jen

remember good things come to those who wait, write,challenge, write and complain. My years of writing got my son a statment straight away. we won the tribunals using the letters we had written to the school. We than appealed to SENDIST re support in statement and description and the LEA settled before going to tribunal, so now we have a statement which accurately describes our child and his difficulties, support which he needs 33 hours all by continually writing letters. Jen

They are running one in Birmingham in June or July Jen

I think there is also a CRISIS loan you can apply for if you have financial problems in supporting him. With this loan you do not have to pay it back. I know a women who use to work in this area so I can ask her for more details if you want. Jen