bookwyrm

I have a big purple bruise and fingernail marks on my forearm. The strange thing is it was actually a great weekend I also have loads of scratches, but those are from the rabbits. Don't believe that rabbits are soft and cute and cuddly, they really are very very sharp at both ends. Totally unsuitable as children's pets.

Buying a car is something I have on my list of things I can't possibly do. The way you are being helped sounds absolutely fantastic. Maybe a diagnosis would be useful. But as talking to someone about my problems is also on my I can't possibly do that list, I would need the help first Never mind, I will just keep blowing the tyres up on my Mum's car every other day and climbing in through the boot

That is a very interesting article. I find the different kinds of thinkers a bit perplexing though. I am definitely a visual learner, and have a partially photographic memory, but when things get more complex, such as attemting to visualise quantum mechanics say, my thinking can't really be called visual, and definitely not verbal. Almost diagramatic is the only way I can describe it, and sort of twisty turny until it feels right, and then it *feels* as if the concept has clicked. There seems to be a tactile element to it almost, sort of smoothe and satisfying. But when you say dog I get a picture of a dog, or a car or whatever. And I find things by picturing what I was doing when I lost it. I also picture words when I hear them if they do not have a picture associated with them. And words like convex generate a picture of a curved surface, bulging towards me. So am I a visual thinker or the other kind? Or a combination? I thought it interesting that there is a correlation between mathmatical ability and allergies and being short sighted. I am short sighted and have allergies, and I am pretty darn good at maths.

I scored 41.

I bought two of these too Now I can have my memory stick back from ms

Last year my son threw the tree across the room on boxing day:~ It is still standing this year So things are definitely better. We had a nice calm day yesterday. My Mum came round but no one else so it was very quiet. The boys were all pleased with their presents, and the younger ones were even patient while I got es up and ready, and while I got him to eat as we would have had trouble if he hadn't had something inside him before he got at his sweets. Things do get better as they get older:) I never try to go anywhere at Christmas - there are just too many people around, I can't cope let alone the boys. Things aren't perfect -I think es has damaged my finger ( he grabs and tries to make you do things for him) and he gave me a good bashing last night as he didn't want to go to bed But as bashings go it was relatively mild. I got annoyed though and shouted, which wasn't good:( Luckily he didn't respond by getting more upset as he would have done a few months ago, just contented himself with hitting the mirror, which luckily didn't break. He saw himself in it and got distracted, thank goodness.

I have a lot of problems with my vision, blurry patches moving, shadows and coloured areas that interfere with what I am seeing. I drove the opthamologist mad the last time I had my eyes tested but she could find nothing wrong with my eyes. I get migraines too, but the daily patterns are quite different than the zig zag migraine aura, although there is a phase where the two seem to blend and I realise that one side of my vision is just about useless. That is sort of the preaura aura Migraines amplify my hearing and make any light intolerable. I get ones that make me feel sick, and sometimes get auras that paralyse one side of my face. Even without this feeling I get tongue tied and have word finding problems. Luckily I don't seem to have as much pain as I did when I was younger. I used to sit in the semidark alot when I was a child and watch the patterns. I would try and manipulate them too. I have also done this at times of extreme stress when I can't do anything else. I used to get dreadful dreams where the shapes would morph into horroble images. My son has had these too. Some of the daytime stuff is afterimages, and there are certain places I can't stand to be because of the light. My mothers kitchen for one. It is a long dark room, but with a big window at one end, so it is dark with one end bright. I can barely see anything in there. Flourescent lights give me head aches too, and my night vision is appalling. I have to drive so slowly at night I drive people behind me mad, but I just can't see well enough to drive faster, and every car dazzles me rendering me temporarily blind.

This report actually came out several months ago and had nothing to do with the BNP. If those sad stupid people are trying to use it for their own ends it is a shame, but should not distract from the point that someone at last is doing something to save the option of special schools for children for whom they will provide the best environment. Inclusion is a very nice idea, but the reality is that schools in general are not the happy welcoming places that they would need to be to make that nice idea come to fruition. It would cost more money not less to make it work, but it is being supported as the powers that be think it would save money. A balance needs to be available so every child can have access to a suitable placement whether mainstream or special school - and don't forget home education, that is often the best option, although not in every case.

My son had 15 hours of one-to-one support written into his statement. But he got more than that as the classroom couldn't function unless someone was sitting with him.

I hope your funding ap goes well. I am not looking forward to that bit. I haven't heard of a section 140, and I thought statements were only for children. He'll be 19 before he moves. Something to insist on the fact that he needs further education would be great though. I have totally drawn a blank on residential colleges. There are so few 52 week ones. He had an assessment booked at one but then then they changed to only 38 week provision and social services refuse to consider respite care for him in the holidays. And anyway the place was so far away It is very important to him to be able to come home, even though he gets bored after a day or two and needs to go away again.

The trouble with cleaning is that it doesn't work - it just gets messed up again Between ys and the house rabbits and the guineas there is just isn't a hope of a clean house Even if there were as many places to put things as there are things

I think it must be very boring having perfect children, so you feel compeled to write about them and show off trying to wring some interest out of life

I know what it is like to get battered like that Poor you. <'> And your poor daughter all wound up like that I would just try to keep her calm and not try to do too much. School this week is a bit pointless anyway. The holidays just have to be endured, they will be over soon <'> I hope things settle down for you afterwards.

The school is great, he loves it, and it is close so he comes home alot, but I can take him back if things get too fraught. But it was the hardest time ever when it became apparent I couldn't keep him at home anymore And now he has to leave that wonderful place I hope you don't have transition looming too large. It is almost as bad as their going in the first place Does your son like it? I am very lucky that mine has been so happy at his.

I certainly do love him but he needs more than that Which is why he is at residential school, and needs somewhere to go when he is 19. But he just came home for the weekend and we had a nice time He was very very affectionate and only thumped me a few times. We put the Christmas tree up and decorated and he stuck his arm down his stocking when we found it looking for a present And he managed to say rabbits it came out Rugby at first but he corrected himself

My only regret about home educating was that I didn't do it sooner. Ms suffered a huge loss of confidence while he was at school - and he is the one without special needs

My youngest was dry at night from the age of 2 but absolutely wouldn't use the toilet or a potty. He wouldn't tell me when his nappy was dirty either so this great big child would be charging about with a heavy disgusting nappy banging about between his legs He announced one day (age about 3 and a half) 'I will use the toilet when I am 4' and he did almost to the day This was proably exacerbated by the fact that his oldest brother didn't use the toilet either. But he is 18 and still doesn't poo on the toilet It isn't fun when they have hairy bums I could hardly tell ys that big boys use the toilet when that was so clearly not a universal rule

I home educate my youngest son - used to be my two youngest, but ms is 16 and at college now. Ys has AS. I can not imagine how he could have coped with school. At home he can follow his interests where ever they lead. He can stay up all night reading - as long as he is quiet He can talk like an encyclopedia without people teasing him. He can draw map after map after map. He can build monster engineering projects and take over the house - until I can't cope with it anymore, when we negotiate a time for me to clean the house. He can have a science lab set up in the kitchen - he can learn negitiating skills as he convinces me to let it stay there. He can go to group meetings if he wants to - there are lots available, far more than he wants. The LEA leave us alone mostly. I sent them a report three years ago and they want another one, which I will have to write soon I suppose. I did have a run in with them early on, but once I had reminded them of the law - you have to, they tend to regard their policies as the same as law. Their policies have nothing to do with us, those are their problem. We only have to educate our children not make the LEA happy. As long as there is no appearance that we are failing to educate they have no hold over us. So all we have to do is answer their informal enquiries in a reasonable fashion. They don't like people to know that And education is whatever you want it to be, you get measured against your own desired outcomes. For me the desired outcome is that my children should emerge from childhood with their love of learning intact, confident in their ability to learn whatever they should want to learn in their adult life. Ms has already got there Ys has flourished. (Ms did too but he doesn't have AS) He loves learning, he is interested in many things, he has friends who accept him the way he is. He is happy with the way he is and has developed strategies to cope with the way he gets when things upset him. It is not exhausting. It is far easier than school. All the pressure is off. You do what you and your child want to do. I have found having cable TV invaluable. My son loves documentaries and science programs and wildlife programs and cartoons. The internet is very useful too, of course, but still can't compete with a good documentary. The online library catalog is a life saver - keeping up with my sons voracious appetite for books would be impossible otherwise. And they took my suggestion of no reservation fees for children too The local home ed group is great. There are meetings weekly at least. Often there is a choice of what to do on a given day. My son usually chooses activity based ones. He loved the sailing and canoeing we did earlier in the year, and we regularly go to the swimming group. We are booked to use the longest zip wire in the UK in January. But there are also lots of sessions offering craft activities. But he would rather do that sort of thing at home with just me. There are also trips to the theatre, to museums, to parks etc. Again he would rather we did those things alone, but that is his choice. Some meetings are just so the children can socialise, and until you know lots of other home educators those are probably the most valuable. HTH bookwyrm

Not just me and phones then Caller ID would be a good idea. If I get too stressed I have to turn the wretched thing off. Hasn't happened for a while though But I still have a reputation for being hard to get hold of If anyone else is at home I leave it for them to answer, except my ms yells at me for doing that - hormones And ys has AS too and also ignores it, or answers and is really rude I was asked if I had a bossy babysitter the other day - I am sure it was him who answered the phone I have spent ages researching about AS online - it definitely was an obsession for a while there. I can feel it drawing a bit again, but I have so many other things going at the moment, hopefully it won't grab so hard this time. The actual process of getting assessed would be very stressful. I have enough professionals to deal with with my es going through transition, although it would be helpful to be able to explain to them why I am not cut out to advocate well for him During meetings I am fighting down waves of nausea and trying not to cry, usually haven't slept for days before hand, and will need to spend several days recovering afterwards. I was not the right parent for him God knows where he will end up. Deepbreath, one step at a time, don't panic. Deepbreath, one step at a time, don't panic.

I went to my GP to ask for a referral. I found it very difficult as I get so emotional about, well about lots of things. I explained how difficult I find using a telephone (My mum had to make the GP appointment for me as I simply couldn't - I am 40 ) So the referral came and it wasn't with a specialist but was an invitation to talk to some one and I had to phone to explain and make an appointment. So that didn't happen. I couldn't even bring myself to phone my mum and ask her to do it But then I ask myself why I want a referral - the process would only upset me, and I would worry that someone would want to intefere in my life. A letter did come from the GP later, but I couldn't bring myself to open it I would like to have a definite diagnosis just to quell my self doubt. And it would be useful to stop my Dad making idiotic comments about what I ought to do. My Mum is far more understanding these days since I talked to her about it. She doesn't keep pressuring me to join in social situations for example.