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annie

Letter made the local paper

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They printed it B)

 

It's a bit all over the place, but I had so much to say :lol:

 

Education problems of Asperger Children

 

Thank you so much for highlighting the difficulties faced by parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome, myself among them.

 

Education is a big problem when it comes to a child with Asperger's.

 

More often than not, they are classed as being too bright to attend a special school, but do not fit into mainstram school either - unless they get the right support.

 

When I say the right support, I mean real training and not a couple of hours listening of somebody talk about ASD, which up until last year was entirely voluntary.

 

It takes just one staff member not to believe a diagnosis of ASD/Asperger's or not want to understand the difficulties faced by our children to mess up their lives for ever.

 

If a paediatrician or doctor has given a diagnosis of ASD/Asperger's what right does a teacher - or in the case of the five year old boy featured on the letters page on August 17 - the educational psychologist have to dispute it.

 

People with Asperger's do not have the social skills that we have and take for granted.

 

If they are frustrated, they cannot express themselves the way we do. They are more likely to have a meltdown.

 

This leads to the Asperger's child being suspended or expelled from school.

 

If staff have a good understanding of Asperger's the child would not get to the meltdown stage.

 

Secondary school is even more difficult to somebody with Asperger's.

 

People with Asperger's need routine. The mere thought of changing classes every lesson can cause a frightening amount of stress, then on top of that they also have a change of teacher.

 

Hand/eye co-ordination is another diffiiculty. Copying from a board at the front of the class is difficult.

 

Handwriting is a problem too.

 

A child with Asperger's is very often an easy target for bullies. They want to fit in, but can't.

 

Their lives are difficult enough as it is without having to be forced to spend their schooldays with people that should be helping them but don't.

 

 

4 out of 5 weeks in the paper - not bad :thumbs:

 

Annie

>:D<<'>

Edited by annie

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Wicked good letter Annie x

 

My ds (aged 4) has ASD but a friend of mine, her son is 11 and has only been diagnosed with AS in the last 6 months, and gets an unbelievable TWENTY MINUTES extra help in the classroom per day. So thats just about long enough to take off their coat, sit down, open and book then be getting ready to leave again - probably makes the situation worse, not better.

 

Well done for making them listen :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

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Hi TylersMum :thumbs:

 

The only thing they left out was info on IPSEA, I asked if they could put it in.........maybe another week.

 

20 minutes extra help..........unbelieveable :angry:

 

Annie

>:D<<'>

Edited by annie

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I've told my friend about this site but they are very raw still. They only told me about his dx because I told them about Tyler first. They really haven't come to terms with it yet.

 

The other sad thing is that this boy will be going to the same senior school as I went to, and if you are different in any way at all, you go through hell. I was lucky is some respects because I'm quite loud and confident so one fight stopped anyone else picking on me (sad but true) but her ds will have a terrible time, I just know it. One thing is for sure, my ds will NOT be attending this particular school.

 

On a separate note, I have just been invited to a support group in Swindon for parents of children with AS, ASD and PDD. Its run from members houses once a month during term time, which I think is great - will keep everyone posted on how it goes. B)

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I think I've been on a letter writing mission lately.

 

I've also sent an e-mail to IPSEA asking them to look into my LEA's criteria for assessing an ASD child for a statement.

 

Annie

:bat::ninja::ph34r:

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Excellent letter.

 

When I was at primary school I got no help whatsoever. At secondary school I got to see a councillor for an hour a week but it just went round in circles. Nothing new resulted after the first few sessions. At residential school I just got punished for not doing my homework on time.

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Brillant letter....

 

it just a shame in the 21st century we as parents are still having to fight reaslly hard for our kids....

 

All the best to you all

 

Good luck with the fights

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There are so many ASD children being placed in mainstream schools with teachers that don't understand them it's unbelieveable.......mine was one of them :angry: .

 

It just doesn't work.

 

There are teachers who think that they can make a child fit into their way of teaching.

 

That's not going to work either.

 

Canopus - My son was forever getting detentions for not handing in homework on time or not finishing it . No matter how much I tried to explain his difficulties, they weren't interested.

 

I feel if inclusion is going to work, then schools/LEAs have to be prepared to train people properly to understand our children's difficulties and needs otherwise it's a waste of everybody's time.

 

Annie (on a mission) ;)

>:D<<'>

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There are so many ASD children being placed in mainstream schools with teachers that don't understand them it's unbelieveable.......mine was one of them  :angry: .

 

It just doesn't work.

 

In Y4 I had a teacher in her early 20s who was straight out of teacher training college with no knowledge or experience of SEN. She didn't know how to deal with me.

 

There are teachers who think that they can make a child fit into their way of teaching.

 

That's not going to work either.

 

She was a downright incompetant teacher who preferred to function more as a classroom supervisor rather than actually teach. She had her way of doing things and would not tolerate any alternatives. I had a big row with her about adding/subtracting fractions. She said that you had to find a common denominator and thought that my alternative method which involved three multiplications was stupid when in fact it is the method used to add/subtract algebraic fractions. The teacher could only handle numbers and couldn't do algebra.

 

Canopus - My son was forever getting detentions for not handing in homework on time or not finishing it . No matter how much I tried to explain his difficulties, they weren't interested.

 

The problem at my residential school was that you didn't have a one week deadline to do homework like in most schools. All homework had to be done in supervised sessions during the evenings and you had to complete the homework for a particular subject that day such as physics on Monday or Geography on Wednesday. If you didn't complete your homework by 8:30pm that day then it was reported to the teaching staff and a punishment was dished out the following day. In many cases the care staff who supervised the homework sessions would dish out a punishment. You had to do your homework in silence during the sessions and could not discuss difficulties with other kids. If you had done your homework during breaktime or at the weekend then you would get a detention.

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