call me jaded

I find my 'classic' son very easy now as he rarely behaves in a way that surprises me and I know how to deal with his most challenging behaviours. He went to a new day care place a couple of weeks ago for a couple of hours and he ran them ragged, lol! Their mistake? Trying to engage with him! He's rarely in shutdown or meltdown though. We have a very calm house most of the time. My son's social worker calls me the chillaxed mum.

We have a non verbal 16 year old. We took advice and frankly wish we hadn't followed it, but what can you do when faced with a huge learning curve and 'experts' telling you something that went against your instincts? I think you need to take the decision that suits you best as a family. That may not be perceived best practice, but if experts have shown no progress they can hardly criticise.

Local paper with an email address where people can contact you. 'Google websites' are a no cost way of sharing info. I'm sure you could start an online petition. Our parents group started over a similar campaign ten years ago.

No offence taken! Nice to have someone with AS saying living with classic autism would be difficult. I found it extremely challenging until I understood it.

I'm seriously thinking of Camphill for my son when he's older. A darn site more appealing than the local day centre - nothing enabling or enriching about that.

There are advantages and disadvantages to either diagnosis. BTW the PPS might be saying that a health need has no bearing on the statement, which is more or less accurate. What you need to ensure is that the need is classified as an educational one.

I would keep a note of when and if there's a pattern. Oh, and get his eyes checked.

No other words needed!!!!

Put it this way, a tribunal would look at the recommendations from the consultant. Double check what PPS are saying - ask them to put it in writing.

I'm not defending this CP at all but it does sound like he has you confused with another family and that maybe the other family meet the criteria for services and you don't. That would be one explanation anyway. Hope you start to get some answers soon - the waiting is very frustrating even when you don't have some berk changing their minds every time they speak to you. The normal route is through EP and SLT so you are on the right track there.

I think if you got a solicitor involved it would go to judicial review and you'd get whatever you asked for. The problem is knowing what to ask for and whether your son would stay in hard fought-for provision. Such a waste if he doesn't. Is there anything in the life skills course that will grab his attention?

I went to the open day today. It's a lovely building and will have only 40 pupils in total, six to start in September. They are keen that those who can take GCSEs will.

You really need a social work assessment.

The NHS are very keen to use evidence-based practice. There's very little funding to carry out the research needed to provide the evidence. It does seem to improve, or we learn coping techniques, over time.

You need to read 'The Out of Sync Child' which has loads of information on proprioception and everything sensory. Most of what was needed for my son was done by us at home - the swing and now the trampolene, joint compressions and our power shower keep him very much switched on. It's an OT thing. Not all OTs have sensory integration training, but don't be afraid to just try things out.

It's normal when there's a change of government for everything to be held back whilst the new ministers review. This time there are going to be massive cuts to services, so just about everything is coming under the microscope. We'll find out a bit more after Tuesday's budget. I predict that SEN will come under the hammer, with schools being told to meet needs at SA and SA+ from their own budgets. This will impact on the numbers of TAs in the classroom. the number of academies will mean that LA Inclusion departments will be scaled back massively.

Does bad at misinterpretation mean you're good at interpretation? My brain's too fried to work it out!

You can't get transport specified in the statement except if there's something very unusual - it falls outside the scope in most cases. However evry LA must have a policy that deals with SEN transport. Have a look at IPSEA.

Transport should be provided for a placement over 3 miles away if that is the school named in the statement. It's a bit more complicated than that, but your LA should have a Transport Policy that should explain what is provided. There is also statutory guidance on the teachernet website.

What you need to do is identify what the differences are in the two placements, and why the MLD school would not be suitable. It can be done without commissioning reports by looking very closely at what has already been written and what needs have been identified and then showing that the MLD school cannot meet those needs. If you go over the reports (and it's usually the final couple of paragraphs where you find this) you'll find some very helpful sentences. I have also gone back to Ed Psychs and SLTs and asked them to clarify comments and they've been very supportive, especially with off the record advice. I'd try this first before commissioning new. My experience is that if the needs are there the report will reflect them, but possibly without it being highlighted in any way.

In your long list of attendees you need to make sure there is someone from CAMHS or an Ed Psych who has an autism specialism. If not you can request someone attend.

Don't worry, half the people invited won't show up and half again will show up once and then never be seen again. My guess is that the MP or Chief Exec has asked questions and somebody along the line thinks they ought to be covering their backs. My experience with supporting families is that they create a lot of paperwork and not a lot else except a list of things for the family to 'achieve' before the next meeting. On one I've managed to get the school to do some things a little differently but it has taken an awful lot of patience and diplomacy, as they didn't think there was anything wrong with what they were doing. They'd given the pupil someone else's medication and felt the mother was being over-protective when she was keeping him off when he needed Calpol (for hypermobility). Between mother and son they's had 22 hospital appointments plus two week-long stays during school holidays and still the school sent in the EWO without telling her they were both disabled. You could really do to have someone there to support you through it - a local charity or Parent Partnership or even just a friend who can be another pair of ears. It's going to be a little bit stressful but LAs are thinking of their budgets more than ever so don't expect anything much to change as a result. You will however get to ask for better communication and more meaningful strategies and those should be forthcoming.

My 10 year old would love to go to the cinema to watch anything in 3D or go to the IMAX at Waterloo. There is a street dance movie she really wants to see. She also likes 10-pin bowling and swimming pools with water slides, inflatables or discos. She also likes to read a lot, so a good secondhand book shop is a real treat. Just round the corner from the British Museum there's a really good playground suitable for older children too called Coram's Fields. Then you could go to the Petrie museum, which is more Egyptian stuff but tiny and they give you torches to look at things to protect the exhibits. All free, I think.

Our school kept us fully informed of the process, my LA just didn't follow the guidelines AT ALL. Now that the placement hs been agreed I'm going to let the Aiming High manager (who has responsibility) have a detailed account of exactly what they're doing that's unlawful. Ria hopefully will get her PPS on the case.

A vote of sympathy from me, after we had a week of nail biting to hear whether the SEN panel would 'accept' that DS's post 16 placement would continue. Never mind that they were totally disregarding the SEN Code of Practice which says that decisions on placements should be made by 15 Feb at the latest to allow scope for appeal and the minor fact that college application deadlines had been and gone. It was the complete and utter casualness of it all that's had me steaming and ready to take them to judicial review at any hint of nonsense. Has Connexions been involved? Our Connexions worker has been hopeless. You can some good information from the Transition Information Network although they're not a helpline as such.