lisa

Have they changed the system at chessington and thorpe park? We had annual passes for a few years and used to get wristbands which allowed you to enter through the exit. We never had cards they marked, the only restriction was that you could go on a ride straightaway but if you wanted to ride a second time you'd have to come back later, eg. if the queue time was 60 mins, come back after 60 mins. Lisa

My son, year 8, had to do an instruction leaflet for new vampires in English recently. His teacher thought his piece was fantastic and said what a wonderful imagination he had. When I saw the leaflet and read the stuff he'd written it actually came from Daren Shan!!!! Jack had read a series of his books about vampires and although the work was his own, all the advice had come from the books even down the the names of the vampires. His teacher obviously hasn't read any of Daren Shan's books. I know he's only 7 but if you can encourage your son to read 'imaginative' books, it does help them as they get older with this sort of writing because they can use the story ideas from the books and 'get by'. We used audio books and read to him a lot. We also found a fantastic series of books which are for around 8-9 year olds by an author called Mary Pope Osborne. My son would only read information books until we found this series. All the stories are about a boy called Jack who has a magic treehouse. Jack loves information books and when he reads a book he can be transported to that time and have an adventure. For example one book is called Mummies in the Morning and it's all about the Egyptians, you can buy an information book to go with the storybook with facts about Egyptians which is directly related to stuff in the storybook. They're very good and there's loads in the series. The first link is to one of the storybooks and the second to the companion book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tonight-Titanic-Ma...1751&sr=8-6 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Titanic-Non-fictio...1821&sr=8-2 Lisa

Intelligence and attainment are two different things. Just because your son doesn't achieve at school, it doesn't mean he's not capable or doesn't have the potential to suceed, probably more likely that he needs support to enable him to access the curriculum. He could well be highly intelligent. My son was in all bottom groups in his class, we couldn't understand why because he seemed so intelligent. Everyone used to say to us how clever he was for his age, he constantly asked questions. He had a really horrible teacher one year who refused to believe he could have AS. She told us that he was "just a slow learner" and we needed to accept that someone has to be in bottom group and unfortunately it's our son!! He was diagnosed a couple of weeks later and during testing it was found he had an IQ of 147!! He's now a member of MENSA and the NAGTY and he's doing really well academically since he got his 1:1 support, so don't take your son's attainment as an indication of his intelligence. Lisa

I'm so, so sorry. What on earth is the matter with the tribunal panel . With all the evidence, even from CAMHS, Guys Hospital and the NHS SALT you'd think they would take some notice. We went to tribunal a couple of years ago when the LEA refused to assess my daughter. We had an overwhelming amount of evidence and the LEA had nothing but we lost. The decision was so perverse. No one could believe it. I was gutted as I'm sure you are now. We got there eventually and she now has a statement. I know it's not the same thing, but I guess I'm just trying to say, it may seem hopeless now but please don't give up. Keep fighting until you get the right school for your son. <'> <'> <'> Lisa

I know she'd keep the statement, the LEA wouldn't have to provide anything in it as far as I'm aware but they wouldn't cease it so at least we wouldn't be back to square one having to request statutory assessment again. I'm just worried they'd try to reduce her hours if she did improve academically when we decided to put her back in school. She already has a home tutor for 1 hour a week. We've argued back and forth with the LEA for months and they eventually agreed another 3 hours but it's still not working. The only good thing out of this is that it's very good evidence for our tribunal next month but TBH I'd rather the 13 hours were working and she was happy and making progress. To bring forward her review isn't really an option before tribunal. I think you may be right about the TA time, perhaps she would be better off with some specialist teaching time. I hadn't thought of that. She started a daily 20 minute programme with her TA for the dyslexia a couple of months ago so I'd sort of hoped she'd have progressed, even if it was by a few points on the same level. Lisa

We had parents evening tonight and I feel really fed up. After a two and a half year battle we finally managed to get my daughter a statement last year and support has been in place since October. Initially she was given 10 hours 1:1 but that was upped in January to 13 hours after she was diagnosed with dyslexia as well as AS. She also has ADD and Mears Irlen Syndrome. After 6 months of support I was expecting her curriculum levels to have gone up slightly, particularly as now she gets extra time in assessments and does them in the library with her LSA so no distrations. Unfortunately she's still at the same level she was in Year 3 so no progress whatsoever. I feel really disappointed. When my son first got his statement he went up 4 years academic progress in one year and I guess, although I knew she wasn't making that kind of rapid progress (hence we're appealing to tribunal, hearing at end of April) I did expect some. She even did so badly on the first maths assessment that they had to get her to do it again. It just peeves me off how they were saying what fantastic progress because she now knows her 2, 5 and 10 times tables!!! She's 10 in a couple of weeks and cognitively in the top 12% so excuse me if I'm not dancing for joy on the tabletop. Suprisingly the school are still under the illusion that she may get a level 4 in maths and english in year 6 SATS when she's been a level 3c since year 3 and made absolutely no progress whatsoever in 2 years. Whatever makes them think she'll suddenly go at least a whole level in a year when even with support nothing has changed in 6 months. Sorry, I've gone off on a rant! What I really want to know is, if I decided to take her out of school and home educate for year 6 to try to get her basic skills up to level 4 standard, what would happen to her statement when we want her to go to secondary in year 7? Would she still keep the same amount of hours if she's made academic progress at home in that year? I'm worried after all this fighting to get a statement that if we do too good a job the LEA will use it against us to reduce the amount of support she gets. I'm positive that if we take away the stress of school and try to get her back on track she'll start to learn. She was off sick once for 3 weeks with impetigo and although she was fine in herself couldn't go to school because she was contagious and she learned loads in those 3 weeks, much more than she'd done in the past year of school. What do you think? Would I be screwing everything up if I did this? I'm so fed up with it all, I just don't know what to do anymore. Any advice welcome!!!! Lisa

The SENCO is the person who co-ordinates and arranges provision for all the SEN children in the school. The TA's are the assistants who support the children in class. The SENCO is normally in charge of the TAs and decides who works with what child etc. The SENCO is responsible for IEPs, applying for statements and ensuring that the provision in the statement is catered for. Basically she/he is in charge of all SEN matters in a school. A SENCO doesn't have to be a teacher. In fact as the law stands, as far as I'm aware they do not have to have any training in SEN whatsoever!! Lisa

I'd definitely recommend the science museum. It's free and if you do go to the spy exhibition and/or IMAX you get a very good discount for disabled and carers. They have a hands on area in the basement which the kids love and do some cool shows in school holidays often involving chemicals and experiments!! My 12 year old loves it. It's next to the Natural History Museum which is good too, dinosaurs, bugs, interactive stuff, in the summer holidays you could borrow a digital camera from the museum, take photos of things you liked and then make it into a t-shirt. It was all free, even the t-shirt! The Museum of London often has lots of free workshops during holidays too. The British Museum has lots of Egyptian exhibits and real mummies so is worth a visit if he likes that sort of thing. It's worth looking on all the museum websites to find out what's going on. Lisa

It's 2 fine levels per year eg. from 2c to a level 2a, but a child should achieve at least one whole level every two years eg. from level 2b in year 2 to 3b in year 4 and 4b in year 6. Lisa

This really annoys me, we get it from our school all the time. The national average for a year 2 child is a 2b, so why are the school insisting that he's 'achieving well' because he's a level 1b??? So many schools seem to have such low expectations of SEN kids. It's like "oohh, he's a 1b, isn't that fantastic for a SEN kid". Your sons curriculum level should have no bearing at all on whether he goes to a special school or not. As far as I'm aware the code of practice doesn't says special schools are only for children with low attainment. Some members on here have extremely bright children who are at special schools. Don't accept this. The information the school and LEA are trying to give you is wrong. If you feel your son needs specialist provision, go for it. I was told that my two kids wouldn't get statements because they were both acheving average attainment academically and that statements were only for the bottom 2%. I ignored this, gathered my evidence and proceded without the backing of the school and now both have statements. A friend has a son in grammar school, doing extremely well academically and he has a statement and is most definitely not in the bottom 2%, more like the top! What I'm trying to prove is don't believe everything they tell you. The law says otherwise!!! Mossgrove may be able to offer advice. I know he managed to get specialist placements for both his boys despite the school insisting they were 'fine'. Lisa

Sorry to be pessimistic but with the opposition of the paed and school, you probably won't get much support from the ed psych either. After all they are paid by the LEA. The only definite way to get the ed psych in is to make a parental request for statutory assessment. Then appeal if you get turned down and you'll be amazed at how many professionals are suddenly called in. This is what happened in our case anyhow. Lisa

My daughter's home/school diary is also used as an 'off load' time. At the end of the day the teacher spends 5 or 10 minutes going through her day with her and dd says whether it's been a good or bad day and if anyone has upset her. She has a sheet stuck in the back of the diary with simple facial expressions with the words underneath which she looks at and decides which one describes how she feels on that particular day eg. sad, happy, frustrated, angry. The aim is to help with the transition between home and school as she tends to hold her emotions in and then explode by the time we get to the car. It has helped and we quite often get all the way home now before she starts which is easier to deal with than in the street or the car. At the same time the teacher also writes messages about homework or forewarns me of any changes coming up so we can prepare her. I also write each day how she's been at home. After my dd was refused a statement first time around we had a multi agency meeting with ASD Outreach, school, SALT, LEA and Ed Psych and the book was suggested at this meeting. This is the third year she's had this book and I've had to be quite determined at times to make sure it doesn't fall by the wayside. If her book hasn't been filled in I march her back into school and ask them to do it with her and politely say I'll wait outside until it's completed. If her teacher has disappeared and we've had occasions where it hasn't been filled in for a couple of days I'll write a nice page long entry about the importance of her diary. I've had to go in on numerous occasions at the beginning of each year to make sure the teacher is very clear what the book is for. Her teacher at the beginning of last year kept doing the book before everyone came out so she didn't have to spend an extra 5 minutes in the class, probably in too much of a hurry to get home. By staying after everyone else has gone to do the book, it helps her avoid the crush of the cloakroom which is another important factor. By doing this and determinedly making the school stick to it, I've earned my place as a fully fledged member of the awkward brigade with school. But to be honest I don't really care anymore, I'm not interested in lip service and making it all look good on paper. If I didn't keep pushing and reiterating at every possible opportunity her difficulties she wouldn't have any help at all and I was able to use the home/school book as evidence for statutory assessment. My advice is to get everything in writing and always photocopy the home/school diary if you can. It's amazing how these sorts of things can conveniently go missing or attainment levels can mysteriously be distorted to show progress that hasn't actually been made (particularly if you're going to tribunal). I always keep the book when it's full for my records and every half term I ask the teacher to write her attainment in her book which I immediately photocopy. I know it sounds cynical and suspicious but unfortunately that's the way the LEA and school have made me over the years. Good luck with trying to get a contact book. Just keep pushing for one and put your request in writing to the teacher copying it to the head and senco to see if that would help. Lisa

My daughter is the same, Tony Attwood describes this stress as a coiled spring which winds tighter throughout the day and then is released when the child gets home where they feel safe. There was another thread about this recently which might help. http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...92&hl=rages Lisa

I think this book was published in November 2006 and it's only a foreword by Baroness Warnock. I went on amazon to pre-order it and if it's the same one, it's already out. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Included-Excluded-...TF8&s=books Lisa

I agree with Pink Sapphire. If you make a parental request for statutory assessment the EP has to come in and there's nothing the school can do to stop it. The LEA will then want to know what the school are doing so you could find that all of a sudden a lot more support is being put in. This happened with us and even though we got turned down for statutory assessment it did mean that professionals were called in and more support was put into place. This in turn enabled us to gather enough evidence to apply again a year later and this time we got a statement for her. Lisa

We've had good experiences of AS mixing with AS with my two (apart from each other at times!). I have a friend who has a boy and girl of similar ages to my two (boy 12, girl 9, both AS) who I was introduced to through the local NAS support group as our children attending the same school and were diagnosed at around the same time. They get on really well. The boys are both obsessed with the same computer games and have similar interests. I find AS kids far more accepting of others 'differences'. My friends son has tourettes as well as AS and my son never comments on his ticks or else he talks about it to him like an adult with interest not treating him like he's weird or as though it's a problem. My son also has another AS friend who he gets on very well with. We've been on holiday to center parcs together and they're very funny going around the rapids. They're both so inpulsive they can't wait for the other to go together but equally they don't get annoyed with each other for not waiting which NT kids can do. For us it's been a positive experience although I do know of one particular AS boy from the support group who J doesn't get on with at all and he has a tendency to go on and on moaning about him. Lisa

I wouldn't be happy with this wording at all and would most definitely ask for it to be changed. 'some 1:1 support' - 5 minutes is 'some'. It doesn't say that the 10 hours is 1:1 or small group, 'in accordance with current local authority regulations' could mean anything, current regulations could be that the school can use this money however they see fit to support your son and are under no obligation to provide the 10 hours for 1:1 support if they deem it unnecessary. It's too open for misinterpretation for my liking. I'd also get the 'would benefit from' changed to 'will need'. We had to get this changed in my daughter's statement. As I said to our LEA, I'd 'benefit' from a couple of weeks in the Bahamas but I'm not going to get it! I'd phone IPSEA and get them to look over it for you. Sorry to put such a downer on things but it's better to be safe than sorry. Well done for getting the statement. Good Luck. Lisa

This really annoys me. We had this, our daughter's school would not acknowledge she had a problem and insisted she was making 'appropriate progress'. We had to fight for over 2 years to get her a statement without any help only hindrance from school. They then did a complete turnaround once we got the statement and didn't have anyone 'qualified enough to deal with her very complex needs' so had to advertise in the local press!!! They're being quite good and really trying hard with her now but I'm finding it a bit hard to 'forgive and forget'. It's the system that's at fault. Schools don't want to recognise any problems if they think they'll have to pay out of their own resources for it. Pleased the annual review went so well for you. Lisa

Same for us with the melatonin. I sometimes wonder how I ever coped without it. Lisa

If you have evidence that he isn't coping with the 15 hours support, if all professionals agree he isn't coping and school feel he would be better off in a special school, the LEA need to provide additional LSA hours. If they continue to refuse then ask for a re-assessment of his needs. If the LEA refuse you then have the right to appeal to SENDIST. It's the LEA who are legally bound to provide for your son. If he needs additional hours it's not good enough to say the school should provide out of their own resources, the SEN Code of Practice is very clear that the LEA must write the provision he needs into his statement and say what they are providing and what they expect the school to provide. If you can get it in writing from the school that he isn't coping with the level of support offered and in their opinion he would be better off in a special school it will strengthen your case considerably. Lisa

Thanks Ultramum, I found that earlier. She got 2a's in Year 2, so she should really be about a 4c by now at least but I need to find something in writing preferably a government document stating about the 2 fine levels thing. I need to prove that a 3c in the middle of year 5 is not 'age appropriate' and is actually below the national average. I can prove she hasn't made progress over the past 2 years and the LEA have acknowledged this (they had no choice) and have given her a statement. They've given 13 hours LSA support but say that she doesn't need more as her attainment is 'age appropriate'. They're also citing the 'age appropriate' attainment to try to disprove our private dyslexia diagnosis. Lisa

I'm looking for some info on where I can find government guidelines of a child's progress. I know it's supposed to be 2 fine levels per year or one whole level every two years. What I want to know is what level a child should be working to half way through year 5 if they are to achieve the national average of level 4 in year 6. My daughter is a 3c and has been for the past 2 years (since end of year 3) and the LEA are saying the school report that her attainment is 'age appropriate'. I've been search the net for about 2 hours and can't find anything about where she should be. Lisa

Thanks Helen. I knew you'd find it for me. You're a star, that's exactly what I'm looking for. <'> Lisa

I seem to remember in the code of practice reading somewhere that the LEA must take independent reports into account when assessing a child but I can't find it anywhere. The LEA have completely disregarded our private report recommendations and only listed their own EP's recommendations. I'm going to tribunal in April anyway but wanted to quote the code of practice to try to get the LEA to back down. Anyone know where I can find it? Lisa

We've lodged the appeal against the finalised statement but now the LEA have written a new proposed statement after we went to mediation. So it's the same situation as yours Helen. I phoned SENDIST and they clarified the position for me. Thanks. Lisa