kevilou

Hi there, Just thought you may be interested to know that the CEO of ********* CC has advised all funding to be cut yet again for SEN students. Their ethos of 'every child matters' doesn't seem to ring true at all, infact quite the opposite for SEN kids. My son has just had his hours cut yet again at the unit he attends and now I feel after all my battles in securing him hours before Christmas have been wasted and I am back to square one. We are going through the statementing process - which after 7 years of battling for, the LEA finally decided (after my son was excluded from school) he did actually need one to access the education he needs. I don't know about anyone else but I am sick and tired of having to constantly be on the LEA's case and taking 3 steps forward and 4 back. Is anyone else interested in taking direct action? Perhaps we could protest outside parliment or something as clearly we are not the only parents in this situation and surely for the future of our kids we can't allow this to continue. Edited to remove name of LEA - Kathryn

Hi all, I went to see CAMH yesterday and they recommended we look at purchasing a programme for the pc to write speech for my son, who has immense trouble with writting and to a large extent this holds him back. He is ASD with Dyspraxia and is nearly 13. I was wondering if anyone had tried this type of software and had any recommendations? Any help you could offer would be good, even if it is just pointing me in the right direction. Many thanks for taking the time to read this - look forward to hearing from anyone.

Got a phone call at work today about 2pm to inform me R was not in school. He had been to this mornings lessons and decided not to go to English A couple of girls he associates with, who had been caught out of bounds down the shop at lunch time said he had also been there, but no-one had seen him since. Rang my parents who went off to see if they could find him at his favourite bunking off location. The school then phoned 45 mins later to say he had attended his last lesson Since he has been home he admitted seeing my parents on the common and aparently made his way back for the final lesson. What really gets me is that we managed to get him to do his English homework over the weekend, so there didn't seem to be any plausible explanation as to why he felt the need to bunk off? Since then he said he doesn't like being late for lessons and did not hear the bell and rather than being late he decided to bunk off. I also had a pastoral meeting scheduled for 4pm at the school today. He now has a detention for Wednesday and I have told him no pc until after he has done his detention. Arrangements have been made for him to be escorted to the detention otherwise he is likely to have a memory lapse - bit like the one today - he forgot about the meeting! Just when I thought I was winning a little Sorry just one of those days and I needed a moan!

hi there, thanks for the info Might try contacting OH again, as she only see him once and signed him off. There wasn't any mention of exercises so I will pick that one up again. As for Becta I have never heard of them - the school kept telling us that there isn't any funding to be able to provide Rhys with any assistance. Consequently, we have now gone and purchased a psion 5 from ebay. I just seemed like the easier option - time will tell I'm sure. Anyway thanks again

<'> Here's the link to the site http://www.wrongplanet.net/forums.html Good luck

<'> Hi My son is 12yr old Asd, dyspraxic and his hands hurt after writting for a very short period of time. Just wondered what other people's experience had been getting their kids to use something like a PDA or Alpha smart instead of convential pen and paper? Have been advised he uses one and just bought PDA - just wondered if anyone has had similar experiences or some good stratergies to get him to use it? All comments greatly received

hi there, My 12 yr old Asd son has this problem too, although he normally lashes out when he has withdrawn and people try to approach him. The school has been great, he now has his 'own space' in all lessson and it seems to be helping him to relax more in class. We still have the occassional out burst however - he punch a teacher squarely in the face last term because the teacher didn't know R and inadvertantly shouted in his ear. Don't know if this is possible for your son to have his own safe space in infants due to the size of the class room, but it maybe something to be considered later on. Good luck

I ticked no We have attended CAMH since 1998 with R. Up until resently it was felt more important that we found stratergies to deal with behaviour etc and no importance was placed on dx, don't really think they knew at the time what label to give him My 12 yr old son was dx with dyspraxia in 2000 and apparently last year with asd - only we were not told I am pretty certain if they had of mentioned asd dx to us last year, we wouldn't have felt the need to go again last week and demand a label for our son. Shock really wasn't the word when we were told we already had one We received no info on the diagnosis let alone any follow up info I have found out more by surfing the net and this forum In fact I think the forum is great for help and support Seems to me you have to become the expert yourself to get anyone in authority to listen.

<'> <'> <'> I agree with Jen You have made a really big step by admitting how you feel, please take it the next step and see your gp Sometimes were so busy running round after everyone else we forget how to love and value ourselves Boost your self astem Treat yourself because YOU ARE worth it Even if that means just having a bath and pampering yourself Or leave hubby home alone with the kids and take a long walk and clear your head Alternatively, if you have the means try an Indian head massage (I really do recommend that one) or other treatment, hair do etc What I am trying to say is take some time out just for you You could try writting hubby a letter explaining how you feel, it might give you a starting point to work from together? Men Remember we have kids, which means we always deal with it in end and come through the other side eh! Good luck - keep posted <'> <'> <'>

<'> A view from the other side of the coin We have asd 12yr old boy For years I blamed myself because I could not bond with R and although I did not know what was wrong, I knew something wasn't right. However, trying to tell professionals I just felt like I was being an over anxious mother and my fears were all in my head However, in some respects we were fortunate that he displayed the same traits at school as at home, melt downs etc. Anyway due to concerns at school we were refered to CAMH when he was 5. From there we were helped by the clinical psych to draw up stratergies at home with R and also attended parenting classes. We learnt so much and did not believe the impact positive re-inforcement among a lot of other useful tools would and still has on our family life. I would recommend going to one of the classes, they changed the way we approached things and they made a difference Things at home are a lot calmer, however at school R frequently has melt downs and were still working on that So reading all your posts I just thought I would throw it in the pot for you all

I know exactly what you are saying - I have ASD son and I think both my husband and I have traits. 'dog with a bone' lol I have been described as that or more than one occassion

I am sorry to hear you have had such a rough day of it. I can't offer any practical solutions for you other than to say keep your chin up It does get easier as they get older in many ways, although I still find myself having bad ones too - so my heart really goes out to you. <'> <'> <'> Hope things improve soon

Pleased to help - good luck let me know how you get on Kevilou

Hi there, Thanks for the info it was really helpful. An alphasmart is like a laptop only it functions more like a note pad, is smaller, lighter and cheaper. It does not have the functions of a laptop such as games etc so there is less chance of distraction. They are compatable with pcs and the files can be downloaded and printed off. I have attached this link which will give you more technical info - it is the info I received from Occupational health http://www.inclusive.co.uk/products/index.shtml - look for the alpasmart corner There are some other products on there too, although I have not personally looked at them Anyway hope the info helps you too

Hi Shona, I am really pleased you have found something that works. Keep pushing for the dx it helps everyone have a better understanding. Good luck and hope things keep going well for you.