elainem

Hi, can you tell me what the stabilo pens are called, so I buy the right one. Thanks Elaine

the program mailed me back and said can do at home only need 10 mins a day. I want to know if it will be a problem to do this at home, alongside traditional methods of teaching. I am going to ask the OT when she comes on 12th May. I don't mind buying the stuff so long as it has a chance of success. I will try anything Matthew (4.5 y) is on the 0.1 centile for spatial skills. They stopped trying to teach him to write his name and concentrated on letter M, we are now on A . Elaine

Hi Bid, It was just mentioned by the private OT in our first phone call. She would recommend this especially for the level of difficuly my ds has (scored 0.1 centile on spatial skills). It is a US program and I had a look at the website, there seems to be quite a lot of resources you need to buy and also it seems to be a whole different way of teaching so not sure how this would fit in in the classroom. She did also say that some teachers don't like it as it teaches capital letters first. The website is www.hwtears.com. I have emailed the program to ask is it something that can be taught alongside traditional methods, say if I wanted to do it at home but not had reply yet. Elaine

Hi, has anyone any experience of using the handwriting without tears program? Any info most welcome. Thanks Elaine

Thank you all for your replies. I have now booked a private OT to come and assess Matthew (our waiting list 2.5 years ). Purely by chance I seem to have picked well from the list given to me by CAMS. The lady has special interest in ASD and does some work at an ASD school. Reason for posting is that it is such a coincidence that she mentioned this issue of having OT on statement. Although not in my LEA, she has a few kids in other areas whos LEA pay for her to go into school and give OT to kids who have it on their statement. She also mentioned about it needing to be in the right section of the statement. I have also followed Helen's advice and asked our LEA for their policy (nothing heard yet!) Anyway we are very lucky and dh parents have offered to pay for the assessement, it is expensive due to the hours - 3 to assess, 3 to report and further 1 hour to meet at school if we would like. As we were going to foot the bill anyway, this means we can now use our budget to pay for some actual therapy - which we originally thought we would not be able to do. Elaine

Hi, my ds undx ASD age 4.5, but sure to be soon dx as somewhere on spectrum. We are starting stat ass process, he is mainstream and doing very well, no major issues, has settled well and making good progress. When he goes into Reception he will need some level of support especially to keep him focussed on task. He would seem almost definately to also have dyspraxia, our OT waiting time is 2.5 years . We are going to go private for an assessment but would not be able to fund therapy as that would be ongoing. Just wondered is it possible for OT to be part of statement in the same way as SALT, then it becomes a legal requirement? Thanks for any advice. Elaine

this won't help at all, sorry, but is a subject that perplexes me too. First, I would say def get Ed Psych on your case. My 4.5 yr old undx ds had congnitve tests by Ed Psych. Now, up to date I always thought he was a bright fella and so does everyone else. But there is something about abstract concepts, reasoning, receptive language, spatial concepts and he is really poor. It is to do with his thinking style and thought processes and they have to find appropriate ways to teach him. When I find out more I will tell you! Good luck with your ds. Elaine

Hi, not drawing from experience (my kids are 4! - but we are looking at transition from nursery to reception!) but I would say if you /your son/the school have concerns about the transition then there should be a plan in place irrespective of whether there is statment. I would have said the earlier the better. Don't worry about it now in the holidays. Just ask the school to get one in place when you go back. Elaine

Hi although the meeting was interesting it was more about teachers and teaching assistants sharing their experiences rather than lots of ideas/strategies. That said I did pick up one or two ideas that might help M. Passing them on here, some of you may already be doing these things already so sorry if some seem basic. - talked about breaking down tasks into chunks. i.e. story writing - allowing the child to write the beginning, have a break then write the middle and another break then write the end. - for child with handwriting difficulty using phonics cubes for spelling instead of writing - for child who needed prompting to remember previous work, a book of work of main ideas that went with her everywhere so she could refer to it with help from TA - transition book, for new classes or new schools. visits, and then photos and descriptions, esp of favourite areas - and then regular referral to it leading to transition date - for child who couldn't/wouldn't discuss his day with his parents - memory problems?? - all children used to have 15 minutes at end of every Friday where they would write down the main themes of each subject and their activities - this was then a prompt to talk about school with his parents. There were lots of teachers and TA's at this group and I thought it was great that it was so well supported. The group meet regularly so I will be going in June. Hope this helps someone Elaine

hi thanks for this, I checked - the foolish wise ones is 10.30pm - looking at the talents of 3 people with autism. Its Sky Channel 592 Elaine

I'll see what I can pick up. Must admit I'm more of listener so I don't think I'll be standing up there asking the question. I know I'm a right chicken, just hate those kinds of in the limelight situations!! Elaine

Hi, going to the meeting tonight with M's teacher (also she is SENCO)about strategies for ASD children in mainstream. It was lovely to hear that other teachers from the school are attending too. Will let you know if I pick up anything that might be useful. Elaine

feel free to use anything I have posted. Unfortunately?? in terms of your campaign all my experiences have so far been good. Long may they continue Elaine

Hi have you tried to get any support from your parent partnership? Do your kids have any support at school/have a statement? sorry for more questions, was wondering what the background is. This must a really stressful time for you all. <'> <'> Elaine

Not quite the same but we are having what I would deem to be a pre-assessment to statutory assessment. The Ed Psych is coming to assess my ds and then decide whether a stat ass needs to be requested. I think it is do with the constitution(right word?) of the stat ass panel/process. The school (or me) asks for the ass then the panel ask for reports from the various parties involved. I thought it was just the Ed Psych but apparently not. TBH mostly I feel I haven't a clue about the process most of the time. It sounds a positive step if the ASD team are going in and hopefully they will recommend request for stat assessment. If for any reasons they didn;t then you would have to request it yourself. Hopefully they will. The team leader of our Ed Psych team told me its better if the school requests it rather than the parent - not sure why but I guess I had to take it on board. Elaine

Hi, sorry you are having such a hard time. have you tried to get some back up/support from Parent Partnership. Is is wees and poos or just poo (sorry) my ds will wee on the loo but not poo. Luckily we have a routine where he poos in a nappy either early am or in bedtime nappy. How old is your ds? My ds was very late to toilet train (about just turned 3) for wees and even now he has a lot of accidents. Your sons pre-school sound very obstructive and unhelpful. When my kids (twins) were starting pre-school I looked into their rights and found it terribly confusing. Its seems b4 statutory school age the school have no obligation to make provision for their addtional needs but they SHOULD - eh?? I use another parenting site too and I am just soooo p*ssed off reading about unhelpful, "in their comfort zone", compacent nursery teachers. We are lucky with ours but I feel despair when I read of others who have such bad luck to come across such lazy ignorant people. Ooops I have a bee in me bonnet tonight. Have you also tried the LEA or Disability Rights Commission. Also try the LEA website they often have loads of info about all the wonderful things they aspire to do, but never tell any of their employees! Elaine

Hi, thats good news. Could anyone tell me what Wisc is please? Thanks Elaine

There probably is such a thing as too much wine and chocolate for my ever expanding waistline Elaine

Hi, I?ve been looking around the site for a couple of weeks now, so busy reading that I?ve only just go round to introducing myself. I?m Elaine live with dh and twin sons 3.5 years. Matthew is due have an ADOS assessment for possible ASD early July. We have seen Paediatrician many times who has always thought he isn?t ASD but she has been very helpful and finally referred us to Consultant Psychiatrist so we can get a formal assessment. Matthew has been by the Psych ? she said there was lots of indicactors that it?s not ASD, but nor did she rule it out. The child mental worker also came to observe him at home and playgroup. Main issues are his lack of interaction with kids and some unusual speech patterns. He has some echolia but it appears to be not too much at the expense of his developing ?normal? language. He started to speak at 2yrs 2 months and at 3.5 yrs can hold a reasonable conversation. He has excellent imaginative play, no obsession or routines. He seems quite bright colours counting can also recognise numbers and tell me the first letter (phoentic) of any word). He is sociable and loving with the adults he knows and trusts. The psych and the child worker have mentioned and are going to discuss further with us the benefits or not of having an actual diagnosis. They have also warned me that even if they identify some traits they may prefer to keep on monitoring until he is a little older. I think they will be testing for both HFA and AS. In a way, and I don?t wish to be controversial with my first post, I feel if there is a diagnosis I would prefer it to be AS. I feel really bad for thinking this but it is based on my belief that many people don?t really understand the autistic spectrum and only ?think? they know what ASD is. Anyway, the uncertainty continues, that is what I have found hardest in the 2 years it has taken to get us to this stage. Always examining every behaviour and thinking is it or isn?t it. When I?m not being a mum I work as an employment law consultant part time in the evenings and have lovely employers who are very accommodating with my hours. When I?m doing neither of those I drink too much wine and eat too much chocolate and sometimes try to remember what was like to have sex LOL!! I have read many informative posts and everyone seems really friendly. Oh well, I managed to waffle on as usual, never have quite got the hang of a short post. Hope to join in some discussions soon. Elaine