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Kathryn

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Everything posted by Kathryn

  1. There are lots of us out there. If you spot me it's probably because I've done something wrong - so I hope you don't. I'm in the first segment which starts just after after 9 and goes on for about 15 mins. Enjoy. Go London!!!! :first:
  2. ... but probably briefly. Apologies for being away for so long. Reasons: IT letting me down, busy with full time work, and for the last 3 months, rehearsals every weekend for the Olympics opening ceremony. Yes, I'm really in it, and it's going to be really really good. Do watch. K x
  3. Sorry to hear that. Going off on a trip is a big undertaking for most children his age - no shame to him that he couldn't manage it this time. Maybe one day he will. <'> K x
  4. And criticism has often been levelled at us for not reacting enough.... Probably means we have got it about right most of the time. Anyway, do I care? Nope. :whistle: K x
  5. Hi Julieanne, Good to see you back, and glad to hear that you have been able to move on - hope the college job is working out OK.. You have a lot of guts for standing up for this student and I'm sorry it hasn't worked out well for her. As I'm sure you're aware, her paents should never have allowed the statement to end and should have appealed the decision to cease to maintain. However, what's done is done. It will be a hard battle getting it back - perhaps worth a go if she's staying on another year - but even then, as she will have to go through the whole process again, statutory assessment etc, with the possibility of an appeal at every stage, she is unlikely to get anything before she leaves school. My be worth it just to get the LA off their backside and doing something for this young lady, but parents will really need to be up for it - if not - then she would need very good legal support to navigate through this. Interesting what you say about the college not supporting "non statemented" students - they simply cannot have such a blanket policy, it would surely fall foul of the Equality Act. It would be worth parents getting hold of their equality policy and possibly challenging them via judicial review for not following it. Again, good legal support essential. What the LA should do is a section 139A Learning Difficulty Assessment to determine what her needs are in further education, they don't have to do this for a pupil without a statement, but they can. As she has had a statement, a case could be made that she needs one, based on the criteria in the Code of Practice. In answer to your last question - there are many tricky issues regarding Academies and the law, but as far as this statementing issue is concerned, it doesn't make any difference - same duties apply. Check the Funding Agreement to be absolutely sure. K x
  6. Kathryn

    Yay!

    Sounds like a great idea, Tally. K x
  7. As others have said, the incident is good evidence that school isn't working out for your son and he needs more help. However, in answer to your original question, the exclusion of a disabled child is not necessarily discrimination if the school can show justification. The head might exclude if s/he considers the pupil to be a risk to themselves or others- for exple if they are so wound up they might lash out at anybody- including the next child who upsets them. Having spent a long time advising on exclusions, I have to say that one day exclusion for a physical assault on an adult is very lenient indeed. Normally a much longer term would be imposed, and many schools would permanently exclude for this. It would appear that the school has already taken your son's disability into account in imposing the punishment, even if events leading up to it could have been handled better. K x
  8. Hi, I remember you. You've obviously been through a lot in the meantime- well done for coping with it all. Good to hear your health is better and that your family are more stable and settled now. Welcome back. K x
  9. Apology accepted LancsLad, and I'm sorry for diverting this discussion down a somewhat different path! K x.
  10. Kathryn

    Facebook

    So true, as my daughter found. She hated facebook and decided to erase her account but when she went to uni she soon found that not being on facebook was a major disadvantage, not just socially but academically as well. She was forced to rejoin. I find as many have said, that the world of facebook is often banal and irritating and most of its offerings are instantly forgettable. However it has its moments. Through facebook I have made contact with an old and close friend I thought I had lost contact with forever. I would never have plucked up courage to ring her but found her on facebook and sent her a friend request and the friendship resumed from there. Through facebook I have also discovered that one of my most influential teachers from junior school , whom I assumed had long since passed on, is alive and well at 88 and I am composing an email to her. On balance, I think it's a good thing. K x
  11. Sorry to hear this - it's a difficult enough situation without the added confusion and uncertainty. Thinking of you tomorrow and over the coming week, Mandapanda, keep us posted as to what happens, K x
  12. Hi Lizziesfolks I hope you find what you are looking for. There are a couple of blog based sites recommended by my own daughter: Live Journal has many communities catering for all kinds of people so you might find something there. Dreamwidth is another similar site but smaller. The question of whether there should be a section of the forum for teens has come up before - see below for one such discussion: http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/19323-kids-forum-board/page__p__237298__hl__+forum%20+teenagers__fromsearch__1#entry237298 I would still hold the same view as I did back then. The problem is that such a forum is always going to have to be tightly and constantly moderated - by somebody - and that's going to require a huge commitment - from somebody. It's not surprising that no one has volunteered to do it. There have been teens on this forum, but not many stick around and there is no indication that many young people are desperate to post here - it's the adults who tend to think it's a good idea. There are probably more interesting places on the web for young people to be. K x
  13. This show isn't connected with a particular movement or organisation, there are a large number of exhibitors at the event representing a wide number of approaches. More here: http://www.autismshow.co.uk/ Probably most useful for parents of newly diagnosed children, but I wouldn't recommend that parents take their children. K x
  14. Thankyou Darkshine for responding to what I actually wrote and not attacking me for something I didn't say. I think the negative responses below illustrate very well what I was saying. We have the "NT view" and even the "NT parent view" and the "AS view" - is it possible on this forum any more just to have a view as an individual, I wonder? I still maintain the programme - or series- is designed to be a freakshow, and I'm looking at the whole of it, not just the part showing the autistic individual. That's how it was advertised - did anyone see the newspaper ads showing 6 people with various disfigurements? Can anyone be in any doubt that the hoped for public response would be "eeugh"! followed by curiosity? I may be wrong about the actual programme. I chose not to watch this, but that was an individual decision about what I choose to entertain me in the evenings, and I don't see why I should be attacked for it - I don't condemn anyone else for making a different choice and I don't see why this should become an NT vs AS issue . A few people with AS liked the programme - what does that prove? My daughter, who has an AS diagnosis, had a similar reaction to me and refused to watch it. And no, not all programmes with autistic people in them could be described as freakshows - there have been some wonderful and sensitively made programmes over the years, featuring individuals with autism. Happy to engage in debate but please don't ascribe views to me I haven't expressed. Before throwing a wobbly, Lyndalou, maybe you should have gone back and looked at what I actually said? Where did I say that this forum was mainly for "parents who believe themselves to be non autistics". ?? What I said was, as Darkshine pointed out, was that this forum was set up by a parent. That's a fact. It was never intended to be exclusively for parents, as the front page blurb, which has remained the same over the years, indicates, and it never has been. There was a time when most of the active posters appeared to be parents, that's just the way things were. However what everyone liked about the forum was the way adults with AS, and parents who may or may not have AS, joined in discussions and respected each others' very different perspectives. As a parent with a newly diagnosed teenager who had trouble expressing how things were for her, I valued the chance to learn from adults who had AS. We also had a lot of fun at one time - there were lots of wacky light hearted off topic threads. Now the balance seems to have shifted a bit and the majoriy of active posters appear to be adults with AS or seeking an AS diagnosis . Many of the general discussions I feel I can't contribute to because it appears that the poster is seeking contributions only from people with AS. In addition, some of the views expressed about "NT's" and "NT behaviour" are intolerant and even offensive and that never used to be the case. I am perhaps in a minority as I do not have AS and my child is now an adult, but I have been here 7 years and in the last few months I have begun to feel almost like an outsider when I read some of the threads. This is just an observation so please don't attack me for it. All forums change over time and maybe this one is evolving into something different to what it used to be. Would be interested to hear other people's views. K x
  15. I helped out on IPSEA's stand last year - think there is a thread about last year's event somewhere here. One of the members of this forum also spoke very well about being a univrrsity student with AS. It was an interesting event but I think a lot of people with autistic children found it a bit busy and noisy. Don't think I'll be there this year as there's too much going on for me around that time. K x
  16. Well done Gorby! Grest news! Make sure the LA stick to the timescales. K x
  17. I refuse to watch it. The title was enough to put me off. Voyeuristic and freakshow were two of the words which came to mind. Amazing what now passes for entertainment in this country. That's the only comment I'm making. On your last point on the nature of this forum, Lancslad, you may be right about the separation However this forum, originally set up by a parent mainly for parents, used to be a place where so called NT's and those with AS, or who like to identify as having AS, freely contributed to all discussions and nobody really questioned which camp you were in. Increasingly that's not the case. Probably a topic for another discussion though. K x
  18. Kathryn

    I'm back

    Sorry to hear about your dad. Welcome back- we're still here as you can see! Hope things are going ok with your son. K x
  19. Welcome back Zosmum. It's always good to hear of things turning out well. Hope the GCSE's go well - good luck to your daughter. K x
  20. Kathryn

    Old member

    Hi adamsmum, welcome back! I can't imagine what it's like to have 7 children. K x
  21. Kathryn

    Mothers Day

    She does indeed sound amazing in so many ways. Not sure I can even begin to match that as a parent. My daughter once said I was "awesome"- a compliment that meant more than any gift could have done. K x
  22. Welcome to the forum- again! Hope you stay around this time. K x
  23. Well done to both of you, that must have been the hardest thing you've ever had to do, Tally. No wonder you feel exhausted. Take care of yourself. K x
  24. umm... Sally I think the poster is in Scotland? Different country - different law. K x
  25. With mod hat on for a minute: This is a really interesting topic is a fairly emotive one so can I ask people to avoid getting pesonal and to respect each others' opinions even if you don't agree with them. Thanks. mod hat off again cos I want to join in! Going back to the original free school topic, I would agree with a lot of what Lancs Lad has said, particularly the bit below: I notice that this particular school will incorporate Neorolingustic programming as one of its key strategies. As a parent seriously considering this school I would want to know: what is it? Does it work? Does it work for ASD kids? What evidence is there for this? Are other schools using it and if not why not? My fear is that parents are so desperate they may take any lifeline thrown to them without seriously considering what they are signing up to.Are parents so desparate for any alternative to mainstream that they would sign their children up to something they didn't fully understand, in the hands of someone with no proven track record, in an institution which is allowed to float free of many of the checks and balances which maintained and even independent fee paying schools are subject to? I'm not saying that free schools are all bad. Some of them may be the immediate answer to a dire shortage of provision. Too early yet to tell. What needs to be understood very clearly however is that in both academies and free schools, parents have very little influence, and few rights, particularly if things go wrong. Fee paying independent schools are accountable to the parents with whom they have a contract. Free schoolsacademies have a contract (funding agreement) with the secretary of state and are not directly accountable to parents, or of course, the LA. They don't have to abide by education law either - only by the terms of their funding agreement which can be altered any time, and the terms of which may allow them to depart from the law and guidance as it applies to maintained schools, for example, exclusions guidance and the admissions code. I understand how desperate paents are to get their child into the right school - I was too. I once met a very interesting lady who "collected" children who for one reason or another had dropped out the school system, and gave them an education of sorts, mainly based on going for long walks and making gardens. I've no doubt she helped a lot of children. I wanted to believe she could help my own daughter who was then severely damaged by school, and out of education. She was a nutritionist by profession and believed all my daugher's problems could be cured by diet and also by several interesting therapies - including hopi ear candles (I think they're called). I disagreed with her analysis and didn't pursue it further. I've no doubt she is even now attempting to set up her own school and no doubt there will be many takers. Worried? I am. . K x
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