General Chat

Oh sorry Mags I hope you dont think I was knocking support staff :-) The girl I spoke about earlier who became my sons classroom assistant actually ended up being one of my closest friends which is how I know what her qualifications were/werent she had an excellent relationship with my son and it was the so called qualified teachers that were useless. She earned a pitance of a wage and also had to give up which was a shame. Shaz x

Oh Shaz, How I agree with you about mainstream schools ripping off the system when it comes to help for special needs kids!! I was a Special needs assistant - or learning support assistant - depended on whom I was talking to - in a secondary school for 2 years. The first year I was allocated a boy with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. This included assisting him in the classroom - and the bathroom - alone. When I pointed out the danger in this I was told to stop fussing!! The second year I was the help for a year 7 Downs Syndrome girl, and a year 11 Aspergers Syndrome boy. I had to differentiate all the work for the girl - apart from Geography (the teacher there knew it was her job!!), and sit with the Aspergers boy - and still do bathroom duty for the boy with spina bifida!! Oh, and I also looked after a boy with an unspecified mental disorder, and in the meantime made the SENCO look at 4 other children I had identified with non-specific learning difficulties (I thought this was her job - she got enough money!!) I was also expected to be a dinner lady - all for a minimum wage!!! The boy with Asperger's wanted to go to college and do 10 A levels!! He had the ability, cos he would have stuck his nose in books and not moved!! I convinced him 5 would be enough - and perhaps he could try a social life!!! - even voluntary work!! His parent's weren't too happy with me - rather than encourage him, hey tended to push him - and the school went along with it. He got his 5 A levels and made many friends at college - and did extra curricula activities!! I loved that job, despite being put upon, but needed to earn a liveable wage so had to leave and do boring office work. maggie

hiya,my daughters emily 7 she has aspergers and selective speech,shes not been statemented yet because school say she's no classed has special needs! on recommendation of her hospital dr ive requested the right to have her statemented,my senco has told me this will be difficult and long winded.i dont care how long it takes im willing to fight for emily so that she get the help in school that she needs. i also have a son matthew whos nearly 16 now he has aspergers and adhd,he went to same school as emily and slipped through the net i was put down to being an over anxious mother and matthew was a naughty boy according to school.matthew has not long been diagnosed with aspergers and adhd and is now on tablets. thank you so much to maz for starting this thread as it means alot to know that others are there to offer support. thank you maz. Debs.x

I totally agree with you there Maz! My son ended up punching the receptionists window at the mainstream school he was attending through sheer frustration. These schools are given quite a bit of extra funding per statmented child per term but they dont use it to hire proper staff. They did until my son was about 10 then they stopped and he had to make do with a classroom assistant who had to divide her time between 3 statemented kids in the one class. This girl didnt even have any teaching qualifications, had never went to University and only had two A levels, one was in music and the other in Drama! I actually caused a whole stink over the way my sons school was ripping off the Local education authority and I removed him from the school when he was 14 and he went to a special school after that. Shaz x

Shaz you must be very proud of your lad. The thing is that you are SOO proud when they achieve ANYTHING, yet they can just next moment be so frustrating too! At the moment I am keeping a behaviour diary for my boyo ready for his assessment. I am sure he has Asperger's - just need the official confirmation. I don't think the DFE does enough to educate teachers about these conditions - so many of our kids end up with the 'naughty' label when its just not their fault. Maz. XX

Maz one of mine is the same.... he had septicimia when he was 10 weeks old and it left him with a load of problems! 2 years ago he couldnt even read or write but thanks to a great special needs school he is now getting there! He is now 16yrs and is at college, he is doing a rural skills course and is loving it... he still has problems and is mentally a lot younger than his physical years but he is getting there slowly but surely. Shaz xx

Some useful websites ... www*parentpartnership*org*uk www*dfes*gov*uk/sen www*nas*org*uk www*asperger*org*uk www*addiss*co*uk www*afasic*org*uk

My son is Jamie, he is 7 and he has a Statement of Special Needs due to speech and communication delay with social, emotional and behavioural issues. He is currently waiting to be assessed for Asperger's. When we applied for his Statement the LEA turned us down 4 times, so we had to go to a tribunal in central London, which we won. I am happy to help anyone in a similar situation. The best piece of general advice I can give is that you know your child best - so shout shout and shout again until someone listens and takes notice. Maz. XX

There seem to be an awful lot of us on here with children on the Autistic Spectrum. Asperger's, ADHD and unidentified social/emotional whatnots. We all must have experiences and advice, questions and problems to share. Lets all try and help each other. Maz. XX