call me jaded

Good to see this Bluesbreaker. It was a subject that evokes strong feelings.

DS has oromotor dyspraxia which is why he doesn't have expressive (spoken) language.

One of the good things my LA does is a travel training/travel buddy system. It carries on until the person really is ready to go it alone. Maybe you can find something locally?

Nearly warm enough for me to want an icecream. This is the first day nobody has bounced on the trampolene since we got it:)

Well now you've worked it out, can you solve my wireless connectivity problem! What is your local Parent Partnership Service like? Or is there a parents support group that can come with you to a meeting?

You're right Kez. They starting again according to EDCM

Me too Kathryn! He was very thorough.

Hope you don't mind my little edit It was Malteasers and all!

Not appropriate, I agree. You could take it up with whoever commissioned the service. If it was Aiming High there's a Co-ordinator or maybe you have a specialist play team manager.

SEN Code of Practice says twice a year, plus the annual review, so most schools do it termly. If push comes to shove you can make a formal complaint to the HT following the school's Complaints Policy. I would try to catch the HT and say I don't really have to make a complaint about this do I?

Is he able to express what's making him anxious about the college placement? Despite what connexions say it is parents that retain responsibility until age 18, so you could name the college if that was the best fit. Get your skates on though. Does the college do outreach? Can they get to the bottom of his anxiety? Also contact NAS Prospects (?) for some discussions on what other options there are.

That's fantastic! One very proud mum

It seems everyone got it except for the mods. As we don't have access to PMs all you can do is delete it.

S/he has been banned. It seems to have been a very thorough mass mailing, except for mods.

GP prescribed Phenergan for DS which is a very mild sedative. Worked fine on the ground but sent him mega-hyer at 42,000 feet. Have travelled sedative-free ever since as I have visions of the straightjacket coming out. Meditation or hypnosis?

Technically they're right, they have to be at this review. If they turn up at the end of Y6 there wouldn't be any scope for appeal. I know there has been some new directives regarding transition as central government realises how poorly local authorities handled the process and it could be that the LA has decided that it needs to have a representative at all transition reviews. You could search your local authority's website to find out if they have plans for their own autism-specific secondary. Just a tip, but my LA has a separate 'Council and Democracy' subsite. If you type in the main page search engine nothing comes up. You have to be in the subsite to get anything.

Doesn't the Autism Act only apply to adults? Not ever looked at it.

Well we talked loads and didn't leave until 3pm to pick up our kids. She said why are we not funding you, can you come on the scrutiny panel, to email her formally with some questions and took on board that the LA were not thinking strategically about ASD provision, that there was a real demand for secondary placements and lots of other things, that academies are not good for SEN. She said we confirmed some thoughts she'd been having and she's now in the position to get officers to answer those questions. So very positive!

Arrrghhh transport. When it works it's really good, when it doesn't it's awful. Is there any chance of arranging transport yourself until the end of term and then claiming the costs?

Glad you enjoyed the Petrie and weren't arrested for kidnapping!

I would use the term 'schmaltz' to describe the tone of the reporting (I've worked with loads of Jewish people). It means very sentimental. Just waiting for a Jewish person to tell me that's not what it means at all, lol. That and a huge advert for the therapists.

My son has huge sensory issues. If I was trying to convey what I perceive those to be to someone who'd never met him swimming underwater might be a useful phrase. I would be loathe to generalise or presume that is how other people are. By prompting I also meant suggesting what to write about and that would include emotions, so I'm saying the therapists have taught her that she is whatever it was she said. The process is prompt and response, and even for the first two words the therapist said she pushed her to finish. So in other words you're saying she couldn't have done it, I'm saying she was prompted to do it. In the hours and hours of therapy. Either way there's a young girl pretty pleased with herself as she's now off to mainstream high school.

Sorry did anyone say they'd done it without prompting? They're therapists, that's what they do (my son's sessions come back with notes on whether physical, gestural or verbal prompts have been used) and I thought they said that a lot of hard work went into every word.

Would dearly love Baddad's powers of perception. I've not been able to discern from a 10 minute film whether what has been reported as being written by Carly actually has. From doing a little further research I see it is obviously a much-doubted ability, so much so that the family have put a film of Carly typing on her website. The inference is that people with LFA couldn't possibly have such NT thought processes. It seems slightly presumptious to dismiss such a concept on the basis that it's not how LFA people think. I'm willing to suspend disbelief and be open to the possibility that maybe she can type. After all she's had hours and hours of therapy and if therapists have been telling her she's cute and funny etc, why wouldn't she believe it?

Not in the least convinced that this is any different from 'you too can have a child that can type if you spend lots of money on therapy'. Semantics or pragmatics?