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My children's mainsteam school in Sweden has several awards that are for non-academic/sporting achievements - although these are not reserved for children with special needs they have a better chance of being awarded these - for example one in particular was "Fighter/Battler of the Year" for someone who had overcome some sort of adversity - although this does not have to be disability related

DD - when she was younger - used to really struggle with the "fun" end of term activities - she found the general excitment of the other kids very stressful as well as having problems with the lack of predictability when they were not following the usual timetable

Office Christmas meals always suck

Congrats But don't do out and see the baby untill you have been without vomiting symptoms for 2 days as winter vomiting virus remains infectious

Winter vomiting virus is infectious for up to 48 hours after your last bout of vomiting so do not be tempted to go out and risk spreading it until your have been symptom free for 2 days - especially to a newborn baby who could get very ill Hope you feel better soon

Obviously support may become a sensitive issue in teenage years as kids do not wish to be perceived as "different" I think a lot depends on how it is going for him without support? Is he really benefiting from support or would he benefit more from a different type of support. It sounds from your post that being singled out for support is actually a source of problems rather than a solution at the moment. Is it worth taking a step back rather than force the issue? What is he gaining? Your child is obviously highly intelligent as you mention on another thread that you wish him to move to a competitive entry independent school – so possibly your aim would be that in the long term he would manage without support? So perhaps now is a good time to review the support he is getting and how it is delivered. We have been through this with DD (16 AS/ADHD). She became increasingly resistant to any support forms that involved withdrawing her from class and friends and being “different” – so this type of support was gradually reduced after she was 14. We replaced it with good briefings to staff on the language they used, agreements that she would get additional briefings on what was required and how to break down on discursive subjects rather than essay titles such as “explain the French revolution”, she also had part time LSA assistance for organizational issues. DD has become more aware of her own capabilities and has shown a greater willingness to be independent and has managed things that would have been impossible 2-3 years ago. But only you can judge whether your son is ready for a different form of support.

Are these special schools or competitative entry independent schools that offer ASD support ?

I think that you should contact ipsea and find out whether the school are allowed to refuse support needed with toileting http://www.ipsea.org.uk/ It might be a breach of the disability act

Has she given any ideas of what she intends to do when she leaves? Does she have a plan?

DD (AS/ADHD) used to be very opposed to typing (I think she didn't want to appear to be different) - in her case an OT assessment showed that motor skills problems made it harder to write by hand than to type. She gripped the pen too hard and pressed too hard making handwriting very tireing - and eventually she started using a laptop when she realised it was faster for her However recently she has started at 6th form college at a Swedish mainstream free-school where all pupils receive laptops from the school so she doesn't even appear unusual any more

You need to personally appeal the decision not to assess - this will not be dealt with by th LGO or other agencies

My brother (AS but undiagnosed) died of acute alcoholic poisoning - someone gave him a bottle of whiskey for Christmas so he drank the lot there and then, fell asleep in a park and died So be careful

Have you tried getting the grandparents to come to your home? dd was always much better if she had her own room and familiar stuff around her

My daughter went to the Winter Ball at Christmas we armed her with a mobile in case she wanted early pcik up - but she loved it - and did the entire 6pm-midnight- and did stuff that she would normally never have considered such as dancing She could not stop talking about it until 2 am and then crashed and slept the entire next day!

As someone who lives in Sweden- the home of free schools I would have some concerns about stability especially for smaller schools My local free school went bankrupt last year when a couple of pupils moved school - parents were given 10 days notice to find a new school

I expect they are quoting the average cost to the school rather than merely the salary costs - the full cost would include employers NI, overheads training costs etc

Not been here for a few weeks - but what a great result - you have really fought for your son - lets hope this gets him the support he needs

Do you feel that this is a psychological issue of how to formulate what he wants to write or is it a physical issue of how to hold the pen aand write efficiently? Or is it both My DD1 had the latter problem - she had a physio and OT assessment and the found poor coordination and the tendency to press very hard when writing which led to writing become and exhaustingf and slow process for her as she was using much more effort. We had difficulty getting the first school to take the issue seriously but when she moved to an SEN unit they developed a special hand-training programme for her in conjuction with the OT - the programme had many different elements: - a letter formulation programme to improve her letters - a general programme to improve dexterity which included ~ computer programmes ~ colouring in using mandalas - highly complex patterns ~ craft activities including sewing, crochet and baking ~ physio exercises for her hands and wrists It worked really well - nowadays she writes for fun and carries her story notebooks everywhere she goes

I'm not sure what your SALT really means - I agree with the others that you should ask for clarification My own DD with AS has always been highly verbal - don't understand the concept of "not wanting to talk" at all - however where she was limited was in her use and understanding of social and emotional langauge - she had a lot of testing as well - well in excess of 20 hours and also a billigual assessment as she attends school in Sweden I also have a cousin whose daughter was diagnosed with AS and attends school in Australia where they have had very good support in contrast to the UK where her difficulties were not fully recognised

Is this not an illegal exclusion?Perhaps you should contact IPSEA and get some advice on this? make sure that the school have involved the autism outreach worker from the Local Authority

Hi You friend needs to make an appointment with a specialist employment lawyer as soon as possible to discuss options - personally I would be very wary of going down the constructive disamissal route unless it is the final resort as it is notoriously difficult to prove and the vvast majority of claims are unsuccessful I am not sure why your friend is objecting to occupational health as this is normal procedure - occupational health are usually brought in to assess disabled and sick employees and make recommendations about the types of support, adaptations and adjustments that are needed. It may harm any legal case if the person does not cooperate with normal disability procedures - but the lawyer would be better able to advise on this Mostly it will come down to what adjustments your friend will need to be able to function in the job and whether the type and level of adjustments would be reasonable. Employers are not required to completely reorganise and make adjustments beyond what is necessary Your friend should also start to consider whether the "incompetencies" at work are a signal that a change of career should be considered - even with small adjustments will they be able to cope? Are they in the wrong job?? If reatraining for a new career is needed then perhaps this can be negotiated with the current employer. This happened to someone I know whose disability meant they could no longer continue with their career as a solicitor

My 13 year old NT daughter has hyperacusis The best help that she has had was actually from a physio who taught her various relaxation exercises as her stress and tension at the perceived loud noises made the situation a lot worse We have bought some of our own equipment that has been useful - from a DIY department we got some of those big headphones that people wear when operating machinery - these are very useful when she has to be in high-noise situations - however she finds them embarassing - from a specialist music store we got some special ear plugs that are designed for rock musicians with hearing problems - they are designed to partially block noise so you can still hear but softer - the ones we have have 3 different levels - she wears these in school as they are less obstrusive than the headphones However I won't pretend that it does not affext her life as it does - she is not able to join in if her friends go to the cinema and has had to drop out of school orchestra etc - we have also noticed that she has developed travel sickness since she had hyperacusia

Thinking about it from another perspective I wonder if the whole thing built on a misunderstanding - that by suddenly revealing that he had AS - the police thought in error that this was some sort of confession and that AS was a compulsive disorder that made you compulsively steal or hoard stuff? Worth a thought

What do they do then? Are they browsing?

Personally I would print out stuff about autism from NAS or similar and drop in and give it to the teacher and say that you didn't want her taking things personally that were a part of ASD and thought she needed some more information ;-)