lisa

I've read a few times recently about schools not allowing the parents to see copies of test papers. I can't understand this attitude. You'd think the school would be grateful that the parents are showing an interest in the child's education and are prepared to spend the time going through the test with their child, helping them to see where they went wrong and how they could improve. Surely it's in the school's interest for the kids to get the best results possible. We had parents evening last night and my son's science teacher had even taken the time to do bar charts showing how well the child performed in the practice tests for each topic. It was really useful because it shows straight away his strengths and weaknesses, and what he needs to work on to improve. It seems to me that it boils down to an 'us and them' attitude some schools adopt. They are almost affronted and appear to take offense as if the parent is suggesting they're not doing their job and you're checking up on them. If you don't take an interest, it's bad parenting, if you do, it's interfering, overbearing parent. Damned if you do and damned if you don't!

I've just wasted more money on Omega 3, this time the bassetts jelly sweet ones, bought 3 for 2 but the kids don't like them. I've tried loads but can't get my kids to take them. We've tried the berry burst things, the orange ones, the normal eye q ones. They all seem to leave an after taste. I'm sure they'd really benefit from taking them. My husband has quite bad dyslexia, he's been taking Efalex for years (same sort of thing as eye q) and it's really helped him. Any suggestions?

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else's children have been prescribed Equasum XL for ADD or ADHD? If so, did it work? How many mg? Did they have any side effects? My daughter started on a very low dose of 10mg on Wednesday but we haven't noticed any difference. She has ADD and her main problem is inattention, she mainly appears distracted internally (a dolly daydream) rather than disruptive. Any advice?

Well Done!! How did you get him to learn them? Verbally, worksheets or another method? I'd be grateful for any tips.

One of my favourite comments from my son's school report was 'J has his own agenda, and he sticks to it!!' It sums him up to a T, I couldn't have described him better myself.

Personally I wouldn't withdraw the appeal until the LEA produced the statement. There's no way they need 8 weeks, 2 weeks is ample time. Tell the LEA you'll withdraw the appeal when you get a copy of the proposed change.

I have two kids with Aspergers. Both have statements, one with 13 hours and one with 10 hours. Our LEA have decided to bring in this stupid new system of delegating funding directly to schools and are starting by targeting all kids with statements of 20 hours or less. I know I'd have a good case to fight it if they tried to take my kids hours away but we've already been through two tribunals already and the thought of having another, well, I can't describe. Things are finally going well for both kids. I don't think I could go back to the hell it was before they got their support, which, although no one seems to know for definite, it seems the LEA are proposing. They've held a meeting saying it was a mistake to statement so many children and that these kids should never have been given statements. I know all the law surrounding it and what I'd have to do if they tried to change the statements but at the moment I feel like I've had enough and I just want to leave!!! If their statements were transferred to another borough who don't delegate the majority of their sen budget to schools then they'd stay the same and they'd still get their 1:1 support and I wouldn't have to go through all the stress and uncertainty. Are there any good LEA's out there for AS kids??

Unfortunately the school are under no obligation to have a class TA if they don't want to. I agree that they're probably thinking they'll use Ben's support for the whole class. We've had trouble with this in the past where they've put my son in the lower ability group so they can make use of his LSA when in reality he should have been in a much higher group. I have twins who were in the same class so it was a bit easier to challenge the grouping, ds was getting higher NC grades than his twin sister but she was in a higher group!! It carried on in secondary but again, in the end they had to put him in top set because it became a bit ridiculous, even a few of his teachers spoke out and stated outright on his end of year report that he was in the wrong class for his ability! On parents day I was chatting with one of his friends mums and found out my son was achieving higher levels than her son who was a whole 4 sets above my son!!!!! It all comes down to money!

Karen, Brilliant news! It makes such a difference to have a good SENCO. Things finally are starting to work out for both my two. My daughter's primary had a new SENCO last year and the difference is amazing. Everyone seems to be working to together, things are being done properly, all the kids with statements had a transition book with photos of their new teacher, LSA and classroom. We've been given the weekly timetable and curriculum timetable for the whole year so we know exactly what the kids are going to be doing topic wise and what trips they're going on when! She also has a brilliant teacher and new LSA this year, so far, it's still early days but it looks like she could be in for a good year. My 13 year old son has finally made it to top group in his secondary school. This is a boy who was in all bottom groups in year 5 and level 2 of the national curriculum. He's predicted to get level 7s at the end of this year (year 9)! He's happy, settled at school, has some good friends and doing very well academically. It just goes to show what the right support and a bit of understanding can do. After battling the LEA for so long (5 years!!!!) to get to this stage, I can honestly say, it has most definitely been worth every letter, meeting, tribunal and tear I've shed to see them both so happy and I know I would never have been able to do it without the support and advice from this site.

We went in October last year and had no trouble getting a pass. The only annoying thing was that we stayed for 3 days and had to go to guest relations every day to get a new pass. Why they couldn't do like Disney and write a pass for the duration of your stay, I don't know! Had a really good time though and would definitely like to go again when the water park is open. We arrived the day after it closed for the winter.

5th September is a Wednesday.

I agree. Once your daughter is settled in the school, you're in a very strong position. If they do try to move her in Sept 08 you'd be able to appeal to tribunal, the LEA would have to continue to pay for her to attend her current school until the tribunal panel made a decision. The LEA probably wouldn't even challenge it if you did submit appeal papers because they'd know they wouldn't stand a chance at tribunal of changing the school on her statement just to save them a bit of money and to the detriment of your daughter. Go for it, hopefully the LEA would have forgotten by next year anyway, they're too busy trying to stop anyone else getting statements!

My two have been taking it for about 18 months and it makes a huge difference. I found it quite difficult getting to sleep too, probably years of the kids being unsettled broke my sleep routine, so when we were last in USA I bought myself some Melatonin in the health food shop. It works brilliant, I highly recommend it!!!!

Here's a link for free KS3 practice SATS papers (also KS1 and KS2). http://www.satspapers.co.uk Spartacus is a good website for information, no worksheets but very interesting stuff on lots of subjects. We regularly use it for homework and projects. Perhaps you could do a project on something your son's interested in. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ Does your son's school subscribe to SAM Learning? Most schools in our area have signed up, some encourage the kids to use it more than others, my son's school expect them to clock up a certain number of hours per term which they can monitor at school but we weren't even aware my daughter's school subscribed. She didn't even know her login, we found out by accident on the school website and had to ask what her login was. It's very good for online revision. You can get a report telling you how many hours they've spent on the site and what work they've been doing, how well they did etc. Not sure if you can get a free trial, I think the website is:- www.samlearning.co.uk When we had trouble getting my son to school a while back I made him watch the school programs that were on most mornings. We also watched selected programs on the History Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet which was a bit of a hardship, NOT!!!! I think he learns far more from tv and books on stuff that interests him (rainforest, volcanoes, sharks, tornadoes, that sort of thing) than he ever does in school sitting in a classroom all day. I think he just switches off. Typical AS, his attitude is, if it's not something that interests him, whats the point and why should he have to learn it??

I got a new statement through today and the LEA have changed everything I'd requested. Tried to make the excuse it was done from an earlier statement but when I pointed out that they'd taken out provision that was in the original proposed statement and every other subsequent statement final or proposed they said they didn't know how it'd gotten taken out. Glad it's all sorted though.

At the tribunal hearing you'll get the chance to have your say about all of these issues. They take just as much note of oral evidence presented on the day as they do written evidence. Having said that you can present evidence of the day as long as you take along 5 copies, it wasn't available to you prior to the late evidence deadline and as long as it's not too long or something along those lines, can't remember the exact wording. The LEA can object and the panel can decide not to accept it but even if they do decide that it doesn't qualify as late evidence you would still be allowed to read it out at the hearing. You would just say, I have a copy of a letter written to such and such on blank date which I would like to read to you......etc.

DWP reduced my nephew's DLA to low rate care and mobility when he turned 16 in November because for some reason they seem to think as soon as he reaches 16 all his problems will miraculously disappear. It's utterly ridiculous, he's been at special school since he was 7 because he can't cope with mainstream, in fact his special school are having trouble coping with him and he has to have 1:1 all the time despite being in a class of only 6. DWP had also just done a home visit to assess him and had decided he wasn't capable of conducting his own affairs financially so my sister has power of attorney (is that the right wording?) My nephew doesn't have a diagnosis of ASD, although we think he may be on the spectrum but he has ADHD, dyspraxia and is basically a 6 year old in a 16 year olds body. Both my two get high rate care and low mobility and they're at mainstream. There doesn't seem to be any consistency with their decision making. My sister has been trying to get the decision changed for the past 7 months, she's had to send in loads of additional evidence and still they refused to change their decision. She really doesn't need this hassle, he's such hard work to cope with without all this additional stress. In the end she appealed to tribunal but before she got a date for the hearing, she got a letter this week from DWP saying they'd reconsidered and he's now been awarded high rate care and mobility backdated to November. Don't give up, you'll get there in the end.

Do you know how long the LEA have to make the changes and re-issue the statement? Our tribunal was 27th April. I think they're trying it on a bit anyway, they re-wrote and sent her new statement fairly quickly, about a week after we got the decision from SENDIST, I replied back within a couple of days and sent my letter off 1st class on 21/05 so they should have received it by the 23rd at the latest. Half term started on the 25/05, in the LEAs reply letter they said they hadn't received my letter until 30/05 and would reply within 10 working days of the start of the new term. I don't believe they did get it on the 30th, they're just using delay tactics. I think they do this sort of thing deliberately to upset and un-nerve the parent. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure they can't be allowed to make additional changes to the statement, otherwise it defeats the whole point of going to SENDIST.

It doesn't really effect her at the moment because we're near the end of term and she's already had her SALT visits, the therapist then advises her teacher, LSA and sets her targets and the program through the social skills group. I can't see in reality the SALT service stopping these visits while she's in primary even if it's taken out of her statement . The head of SALT is fantastic and has been really supportive of both my kids. Perhaps I'll give IPSEA a ring. I'm hoping the LEA just change it back when they realise I've spotted it. They got away with it once before with me. After my eldest son's first annual review they sent a new statement through with a covering letter saying they weren't making any changes so stupidly I didn't look at the statement and didn't realise they'd taken stuff out until about 8 months later.

We went to tribunal in April and changes were ordered to the statement. The LEA have made all the changes the tribunal ordered but have also added a few of their own including taking out some other provision. Luckily I spotted the alterations which sneakily they hadn't highlighted as changes. I'm absolutely livid. They'd taken out the paragraph where it says about receiving termly SALT visits which wasn't even discussed at tribunal and they've never given any indication of wanting to take it out before. I feel like they're just doing it to wind me up. I've written to them and gone through a copy of the statement with a highlighter and marked everything I want them to reinsert and where they've changed wording to put it right. I got a letter back telling me they'd reply to my letter within 10 working days from the start of term which to me suggests they're not planning on changing it back without an argument. Are they allowed to do this? I thought they were only supposed to make the changes the tribunal ordered and leave the rest as it was. It's so unfair. They'd already won on most of the main issues we went to tribunal for so why stick the boot in. What about my right of appeal?

Sorry, call me naive but surely the fact that your son was quite happy to go with a complete stranger (as she calls herself) and wasn't curious as to his surroundings, not looking around shows that everything isn't normal. Maybe it's just my kids but my NT daughter would be nervous of being on her own with a stranger, whether a doctor or psych and she'd be looking around the room or looking to me for reassurance. My two AS kids wouldn't bat an eye and have no qualms whatsoever about talking to strangers!! If there was a sandpit in the room, my AS daughter would head straight for it and there could be a purple hippopotamus dancing on the table and she wouldn't notice. Does this woman have any idea what on earth she's talking about??

Kaz, that's fantastic news.

Sams mum The discrimination is that the woman wouldn't have refused Kaz's son a place if he didn't have a disability. If he was NT, he would have got a place irrespective of whether she had a SN child in her pack already or not. There were two ASD children in my son's pack, one had ADHD as well as AS and was quite hard work, plus there was another child who was deaf. They had the pack leader and two helpers. When my son went to beavers and cubs he wasn't receiving any additional support in school, he was coping quite well and he didn't have a statement. However he did still have a diagnosis of AS and hence he would have been refused a place at this pack had they the same attitude as this scout leader. You say the child's abilities in general would make a huge difference but surely this is the whole point in this case. Kaz had told the scout leader her son was high functioning, she didn't anticipate he would need much help just an awareness when playing certain games. Still the leader refused even a trial. I'm sure you're well aware of this, I wasn't trying to tell you something you didn't already know. My point was if a child can cope with school, 5 days a week without support despite having a diagnosis of AS then they can cope with beavers or cubs and shouldn't be refused a place because they have AS. That is the discrimination. Each individual circumstance should be taken into consideration. So, by the same token would it be acceptable to refuse a place to a French child because they may not be able to understand what was going on and may need a bit of extra direction to join in. Every French child is different, some speak good English, some none just like every AS child is different, some need a lot of help, some don't need any. Could you image the outcry if a scout leader said 'we already have one French child, we can't cope with any more' and refused a place despite the parent saying their child speaks good English and shouldn't have too much trouble understanding what's being said to them. I'm sure it doesn't always work for others the same but surely until the child is given the chance to try they'll never know. Both my AS children would have missed out big time if they weren't given the opportunity because some scout leader heard the word AS and point blank refused to have them in their pack. I'm not knocking you, I'm sure you do a fantastic job and are a very good brown owl. I know it isn't always practical to include a child with a disability particularly when you're overstretched as it is and barely cope with the adult to child ratio. I fully understand your point of view. I just think in this particular instance the scout leader handled it badly. If you really think about it, would you have done the same thing or would you have explained the situation and agreed to a trial on the condition that the parent stayed to help out. At least then if it didn't work out it would be fair and if it did everyone's happy.

I'd love for mine to have 10 weeks off, is this a private school? We love the school holidays, for us it's never long enough. We're all so much more relaxed and happy.

WW, you've put some really good points and a lot of thought and effort into this letter. You should be very proud. I'm going to use some of it if you don't mind and adapt it for my dd for primary. We found out yesterday that the LSA is leaving so she'll start year 6 in September with a new LSA and teacher. We know who the new LSA is going to be, she's done cover for my dd before and L really got on well with her (probably better than her current LSA, so fingers crossed). Lisa