julieann

Hi Phasmid, xxxxx is the first diagnosed and statemented AS pupil the school has had. xxxx has severe developmental dyspraxia and has no body awareness which means she is not aware of the parts of her body that she cannot see. Staff members are not allowed to go into the toilet with pupils. I tried to speak to her mum about it yesterday and she doesn't want to discuss it!!!!

Need advice with role of LSA to 11 year old girl at secondary school. She started her periods on the only day I had had off since September ( On a course). She became extremely distressed as her mother had told her it was very personnel and she musn't discuss it with anyone.School have told mother she must keep her at home each month. Feel this is rather drastic. Can't use own experiences as my Aspie is 16 and male.

Hi Bid, My son has dx AS and Dyslexia. He will be 16 on Monday. He rides a bike, motorbike, doesn't have fine motor skills difficulties. The form seemed to be issues like dressing,washing,walking, eating all of which he doesn't have a problem with.I didn't think we would be eligable for it and so haven't applied.

Hi Annie, Verbally we were told by Education Advisor xxxxxxx that she was going to recommend in her report that S is not educated in school and also he does not follow the curriculum as he is highly intelligent and his learning stratergies aren't suited to the inflexibility of mainstream teaching.He had slipped through the system because his learning and behavioural difficulties were not caused by his ASD but as a result of narrow mindedness within mainstream teaching system. In her opinion S hadn't received the education he was entitled to by law and had been treated abysmally by the system. She recommended I contacted Director Education - councillor- media. The report we actually received stated background information provided by parents: None of which is our own wording. S was deregistered in June 2003. He experienced learning difficulties and these were inadequately catered for at school. this caused S to feel disenchanted with the school system. he found it too stressful to attend school and lost all confidence in the process. according to his parents S became traumatised by his experiences and he distrusts most adults. His parents were under the impression that S had a statement of Educational needs. It became apparent that the SEN department had never heard of their son.The best option for S was to educate him at home in order to restore his distressed condition and his confidence. His parents have researched into home education opportunities and have devoted their energies to supporting S. S's SATs results were as follows - Science level 5, English level 4, Maths level 3. The SAT's results suprised us as S had never completed any tests despite being sat at a desk with the papers for three days. The report then lost the plot completely and started calling me Paul's mother and talking about Paul's reading age and spelling.Then in the same paragraph it called him S again We never heard from this lady again and when I inquired about her I was told she had taken a post in another area.

Hi Canopus, The issue with year 8 is that the school ignore inappropriate behaviour in year 7 because of the big transition to secondary school and then expect the pupils to behave more appropriately in year 8 and lunchtime and after school detentions are set in place for late handing in of homework, missing homework, lateness to lessons, inappropriate behaviour etc. which was ok at the end of year 7 but is not ok at the start of year 8.Suddenly having to sit at a desk and do schoolwork at lunchtime messes up the lunchtime routine and as AS pupils often don't understand what they have done wrong in the first place this becomes a very confusing time for them and many can't cope.Our pupils have to take 12 GCSE's with French,Italian,Spanish,German being compulsory and additional Japanese and Russian as options. Re: The homework issue some pupils with Asperger's will only do schoolwork at school and believe that home is the place to relax and recharge their batteries for the next school day.

Hi Tez, No apology and no financial settlement. In fact because I took my son out of school after a suicide attempt in June 2003 I was told that as I had chosen to home educate him I was not to expect any financial help with his education both then or in the future.

Hi Phasmid, Thank-you for your offer of help with my son. Unfortunately he was not able to cope in mainstream school and has been home educated since June 2003.he will be 16 on Monday and we were advised by the LEA in 2003 never to try to put him back into mainstream school or to follow a school curriculum as he has been too traumatised by his experiences. I was asking my question as I am a LSA for two year 7 girls with AS. One of which is coping extremely well. The other girl who has difficulties with any kind of accurate drawings due to quite severe dyspraxia will not let me help her at all. I don't know if her problem is due to vision or fine motor skills. She keeps saying I can do it. We have explained to her that she can do it but not accurately enough and that in an exam all diagrams and charts will be drawn for her ,which quite frankly doesn't mean a thing to her, but she still wants to do it herself and then becomes very distressed when it doesn't look like everyone elses in the class and starts to flap with her hands. She has only been given 10 hours resources a week. The school have made them up to 20 hrs and she has 5 sixth form lunchtime buddies a week but even this is not enough.Instead of going to lessons she puts her face on any window that has music coming from it usually in the PE department.In technology she hangs out of the window or heads for the door because she can smell food in the cookery department two doors down.She spends the Art lessons saying she hates Art and when is lunchtime. She is refusing to have any kind of help in English because she says she is good at it and doesn't need my help although her statement says she does.If you explain that this isn't what you do she just looks at you and gives one of her beaming smiles. She is really cute but cute doesn't get you through exams which seems to be the schools main aim in life. I hope she does stay at the school but at this rate I can't see her getting to year 8.

Hi, In my area I don't know of any Asperger's children who have successfully stayed in mainstream secondary school after year 8. They manage to cope with year 7 with support but when the schoolwork/homework workload starts to increase they can't cope and end up being taken out of mainstream and home educated. Any comments welcome.

Hi Daisy, I have son AS 16yrs and support two year7 girls with AS + Dyspraxia in Secondary school. As children with AS tend to view school as the place to work, and home as the place to relax. Any suggestion to do work at home can cause great stress. Why should he be working at his place of rest? Most AS children require more down time than their peers to recover from the day at school as they have been working twice as hard as the other students.By the time school ends they are often physically and mentally exhausted. On top of all this, the child will often still be processing events from the day and will need time to wind down. Lunchtime is surely the only time M can recharge his batteries for the afternoon. It would be very unfair for the school to use any of M's lunchtime. In our school doing schoolwork at lunchtime is used as a punishment for inappropriate behaviour. Julieann

Hi all, Spotted your postings on Pyloric Stenosis. I had surgery for Pyloric Stenosis at 6 weeks in 1957. My weight dropped from 6lb at birth to 4lbs at 6 weeks. My condition was almost overlooked because in those days they weren't looking for Pyloric Stenosis in females. It's interesting as my son was dx Asperger's Syndrome at 14 and know that we understand his behaviour and ways my husband often says "You do that". Did anyone find any connection between Pyloric Stenosis and A/S? Julieann.

Hi LizK, My son 16 in November has dx ASD + Dyslexia in 2003. He has been home educated since June 2003. Whilst in the school environment he had classic symptoms of ADHD/ ASD. The school were adamant that he had ADHD alone. He was on the point of being expelled as he was totally unteachable. The LEA recommended "that S was not educated in school and did not follow the school curriculum as he was highly intelligent and his learning strategies weren't suited to the inflexibility of mainstream teaching".The first six months were no picnic but gradually as he realised he was not going back to school EVER unless he chose to he began to relax. His ADHD symptoms became less and less and I know have back the calm, polite, kind helpful son I trusted the education system with 10 long and stressful years ago. <'>

Hi Sara, Since DDAT was exposed on TV this year it is marketing under the name of Learning Breakthrough Program LLC. In the F.A.Q's page it states: QUESTION: What are the relationships,similarities and differences between DDAT (Dore Achievement Center) and the Learning Breakthrough Program? ANSWER: DDAT (Dore Achievement Centers) developed balance and sensory exercise methods and techniques based on the Learning Breakthrough Program presented on this website. A DDAT/Dore client visits a center, receives medical and educational testing, and takes home equipment and an exercise plan. They return in approximately 6 weeks for follow up testing and the next set of exercises to take home. This pattern continues for up to 12 months. The program?s benefits come from the daily exercises performed at home. The cost is approximately $3000US (�1500). The Learning Breakthrough Program is easy to use by the average parent or teacher. It is securely ordered on this website and delivered to your home or school via FEDEX. The program comes complete with detailed instructions, benchmarking tests and all equipment. The total cost is $379 in the US, �350 in the UK, and �499 in Europe. QUESTION: Is the Learning Breakthrough Program a cure for Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, other Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD)? ANSWER: To call this a �cure� would be highly inappropriate. The Learning Breakthrough Program is a non-medical balance and sensory integration exercise program aimed at helping to better organize brain processing. People with learning and attention difficulties stand to benefit the most from proper use of the program. The average or gifted person who desires better performance may benefit as well. We like to think of the Learning Breakthrough Program as basic brain fitness. The child has to balance on a wooden balancing board whilst completing several tasks which are described in the accompanying DVD.The exercises need to be repeated for 15 mins twice a day. You need to make at least 6 to 9 months commitment of daily use. As the parent of an Aspie boy 16 in November and L.S.A. of two year 7 girls with Asperger's and Dyspraxia- 20 hours total resources. I would say that stimulating the brain with these exercises can't do any physical harm as long as the child doesn't think they are going to be cured. One the girls I support in mainstream school is starting the program in December and already thinks that she will no longer need my help. As she has difficulties with stairs,walking, hopping skipping etc I am wondering how she will be able to balance sucessfully on the wooden balancing board provided. Hope this is helpful Julieann.

Thank-you to those of you who commented on my post of 10th August " A chance to make a difference or so I thought". My new L.S.A. position starts on Monday. On Friday of last week we had an inset day meeting of all the teachers who would be teaching the two new year 7 girls with ASD's. One of the girls has major problems with stairs. The school is on three levels. The staff wanted to know if they were still able to give the girl detention if she was late for lesson UNBELIEVEABLE

Hi all, I'm from Herts and yes the L.E.A. is xxxp!!

Hi all, My son has Asperger's Syndrome, H.F.A. and Dyslexia. He is 16 in November and has been educated at home since June 2003. We were advised by the education authorities not to try to put him back into mainstream school as he is too traumatised by his experiences. Although it is too late for my sons education I spend hours studying, researching and finding out about the different behaviours and learning styles that would make a difference to our children.I am at present doing a dyslexia teaching course. I really thought I had finely got the chance to make a big difference to at least some of our special children.When out of the blue I was offered the post of L.D.A. working with two new year 7 girls who will be starting in September. One has a dx Asperger's Syndrome and one has the label Autistic type tendencies.[ Which means she only gets basic resources and saves the LEA money.] I work in a large all girls secondary school as a member of the support staff. I have always helped in schools with children. They seem to take to me. Probably because I take the time to actually listen to what they are saying and I don't judge them no matter what they have done. Children behave the way they do for a reason. Not to deliberately wind us up, although it usually does. They are trying to communicate their needs to us in the only way they know how. Sorry got on my soap box again. Used to conversing with educational professionals or should that be converting educational professionals. not parents who are the real professionals. I observed both girls on year 6 induction day. I had already seen their statements and had some knowledge of their needs. One of the girls has quite obvious problems going upstairs. Her statement advises help on the stairs. As the school is on three levels I asked the senco what help she would be having on the stairs. I was told that she had managed on induction day so she wouldn't need help initially. We would have to see how it goes. The other girl has a statement which says that she cannot write for longer than 5 minutes at a time. I asked the senco will she need a scribe. I was told that on induction day a member of staff had seen her write for 20 minutes and so it has been decide that she is probably trying it on and just doesn't want to write. Need I go on? Do they know how hard our children try to keep up and fit in? My son managed for a full two weeks at the start of his new secondary school term. He slept all weekend and often all day Thursday and Friday of his school week. The school are going to find that they have made a big mistake taking me on as I am determined get these girls the help they deserve.

I was interested to read your section on light sensitivity. My son will be 15yrs in November and has been out of the school system since last June (2003). Whenever he does anything involving a tv monitor he is always in the dark. He shuts the blinds when using the computer and his bedroom curtains are always shut whilst on his play station. His bedroom walls are all deep blue and his bedding and curtains are Navy and deep blue ( his choice ). When he first came out of school he was so distressed and depressed that I thought this was why he was always in the dark. He is a lot happier person know and his " unaceptable behaviour" that he displayed at school has gone completely. His biggest obstacle at school was reading. He told me only this week that when he reads, the bottom line jumps up to the top of the page and he cannot find his place. It therefore takes him such a long time to read that he would rather not bother at all. He has worn glasses since the age of 6yrs. I'm wandering if tinted glasses would help him.