What out of school activities does your child with sn do?

[Blossomhill]

I am finding it so hard to think of things that dd can access and enjoy.

Atm she goes to sn swimming on a Wednesday with my dh and ds. One Saturday a month she attends a playscheme that runs especially for children with asd/communication difficulties.
I am hoping that eventually she will go back to after school club for 1 hour per week but am letting her get used to going into the juniors for a while.

I have toyed with the idea of brownies etc but feel nervous tbh

Interested in how others cope/what they do?

[maddiemostmerry]

DS3 1:1 swimming lessons.

Ds4 nothing

It is very hard to find anything suitable.

[macwoozy]

I have the same problem finding clubs that my ds can attend. Other than a SN's playsheme every Saturday, he's not able to do to anything else. I'd love him to attend Beavers, but I very much doubt he'd be able to cope, and I don't know how they'd feel having a parent attend each time. He can't go to after school activities neither because he wouldn't have his LSA there.

[MrsFio]

sweet FA

there is absolutely nothing she can access or that people are willing to allow her to access

we have a free swim session on a sunday that we cant attend because I am at work

so yes in a word NOTHING

[Jimjams2]

I take him to disabled swimming (a pool session, not classes). If I have a lovely girl in as well then she comes and ds2 can come as well.

Nothing else (except respite). There isn't anything he can access. Apparently there used to be playschemes, but funding was withdrawn.

[Davros]

DS only goes to SN/disabled sessions now. But there are lots in our area! Here is a list in case it gives you any ideas. If you are looking for m/s things she could do with you being able to give some input, what about horse riding or yoga? Here is a list of things we do or have tried, we DON'T do all of them or I would be a wreck!

• Weds after school swimming (pool session, not lessons too although he learnt to swim there)
  
• Fri after school trampolining
  
• Saturday afternoon club for children with ASD
  
• Sunday afternoon club for children with mixed disability (we go every other)
  
• Sunday morning sports session for children with mixed disability (book weekly so sometimes go)
  
• Sunday morning "hippy garden" as I call it . Nice, free enjoyment of outside/garden with earnest supervision (sometimes go)
  
• Monday after school arts/crafts session (we don't go as hates it!)
  
• Thurs after school dance session for children with ASD (we don't go as I can't be arsed and would have to take DD too)
  
• Thurs after school yoga session for children with mixed disability (we tried, don't go anymore)
  
• adventure playground on Sat mornings in summer only for children with ASD and their families
  
• horse riding with Riding For the Disabled (stopped some time ago as they were useless with ASD)
  
• music therapy (went for couple of years and stopped when he went to school fulltime)
  HTH!

[eidsvold]

dd1 goes swimming and then when she is 8 we are enrolling her in special olympics swimming.

Am thinking about dancing or gym as well but not sure where to go with it.

[KarenThirl]

J has a few activities but they've taken some finding, and I've had to provide information about AS for the instructors and talk to them before enrolling him so that I could feel confident they'd be able to manage with him, and him with the activity. We've been lucky to find instructors with knowledge of AS, even if it's at a basic level, who are willing to learn more.

He's been having swimming lessons for three years (he's seven) and until recently I'd take him for an extra session, just the two of us. TBH he learned more with me 1-1 than he did in the lessons, and his first instructor was a monster who believed he was misbehaving deliberately to annoy her. He moved on to an instructor who is dyslexic and has empathy with childen who have coordination problems and was able to encourage him appropriately. His behaviour has improved the longer he goes to lessons.

He's been doing karate for over a year and loves it, with the help of very understanding and cooperative instructors. Enquiries at other classes showed just how little some people know about 'behaviour disorders' and I just knew instantly that this was the one for him. He's managed to get his red belt too, although he does struggle with concentration at times and can find the lessons difficult.

Football training is pretty lousy, he can't play for toffee and keeps wanting to do karate in the middle of it. His coordination is poor so he can't keep up with the others, and this can upset him. However, once again we have an excellent coach, disabled himself and with interest in children with special needs, and he has boatloads of useful strategies up his sleeve to help manage J's difficult times, eg letting him be referee and blowing the whistle etc.

We're also trying horse riding now, which he loves. Apparently the motion of being on a horse can be soothing and therapeutic for some children, so it might be worth a try.

I'm now thinking of lunch clubs at school as well (he's just started KS2 and they didn't have any for KS1 in J's school), to help with social problems during unstructured times.

Hope you find something that suits, BH. Brownies might be OK after investigation of local clubs, they're usually quite structured and that might help.

[geekgrrl]

nothing here. Although in all fairness, my NT dd1 only does Stagecoach, we live in the sticks and there isn't much around.

I did send dd2 to a playscheme in the holidays, and that went very well even though she was not given additional support. She got help from dd1 though (with going to the loo, making sure her hearing aid volume level is right, unpacking lunch, that kind of thing), but it's a bit of a double-edged sword. Dd1 is only 7 and I don't want to heap responsibility on her. (Dd1 is always v. happy to help dd2, and was delighted with the certificate she received from the playscheme)
Our main problem is the inaccessibility of toilets - most places only have adult-sized ones so dd2, who is very small, would need someone to help her onto it, and they all refuse to do this.

[MrsFio]

oh we did get a playscheme place for a week in the hols which was fantastic and we were offered saturday club but didnt take it as her dad has her on a saturday and didnt want her go (I was so cross about this!)

she does horeriding/music therapy/swimming/art therapy etc at school so i dont feel the need to push this.

There was an afterschool club once a fortnight that she used to go to too, but this was cancelled by the LEA because of lack of funding (ie. it was too expensive, but they think it is important for the majority of primary schools to have them - but hey thats a whole other subject)

[redbull]

oh so pleased i seen this thread

ds loves running around out side so we were thinking of a SN football team for him but we dont know where to look for info on it any ideas??

[springgreens]

I'm afraid I can't help specifically redbull, but my friend's 8 year old son with CP and SLD goes along to his older brothers footie training sessions and absolutely loves it. I think they include him as much as they can and he takes breaks to sit and watch. Fortunately his mum can leave him there on his own. Has been a massive positive for him esp in terms of self-esteem and overcoming boredom at home (where he spends alot of time on his bum playing computer games). Could you see what your local teams/groups are like and check out the individual coaches and how open they are to including your son?

[coppertop]

Ds1 doesn't do anything. The OT recommended piano/keyboard lessons to help with his poor co-ordination but ds1 doesn't want to. I think he would enjoy karate but the clubs here only take children who are 7 or 8yrs+ so he's too young. There are after-school clubs but so far these are all sports clubs and ds1 doesn't like sport.

[Eulalia]

ds1 (7) goes to an after school club twice a week, closely supervised and plays with lego, computer games etc and sometimes plays outside.

we also have a carer for 8 hours a month and we go out swimming, soft play, the park etc at weekends.

Other than that nothing much as he is too volatile to visit other friends, well not really friends as such as he doesn't have any. Fortunately he doesn't notice (yet).

Also thought about cubs/scouts but like you a bit nervous at the idea of it. Maybe next year....

[suedenley]

Hi blossomhill
My ds has asd ,asperger type ,and he goes to a club called socops on a friday, its especially for kids with social and communication difficulties dont know if there is anything like that in your area ,but your doctor should be able to advise you .
Or maybe you could set up something yourself, as my ds loves it so much as its the one place he can go and be himself and i dont have to worry what hes doing, if he is annoying people who dont understand ,cos all the kids have the same difficulties and all the parents know what each others lives are like its the best club ever

[MaccaPacca123]

macwoozy: re Beavers I don't know how they'd feel having a parent there every week. Going on our experience, they'll be ecstatic. Be prepared to be CRB'd before you can take a breath .

An adult there to 1-1 support their dc is still very helpful to the whole group. And SN parents are extensively trained (by their dc, natch) in clear communication, being hands-on, behaviour management etc... fantastic asset. Plus seeing you volunteering weekly often rubs off on the other parents, so the burden on leaders is reduced.

[bigbluebus]

Have you enquired about Brownies? The success for this depends very much on the individual group leaders, but you may be lucky. I found out (too late for DS) that our local cub group is run by a teaching assistant who works in SEN Dept at local Secondary school, and the Scout Leader is a teacher at a SN school. They would have coped fine with DS, but my fear of him being rejected and considered a nuisance by the local children stopped me even enquiring about it .

DS did manage fine at Karate though. Never told the instructor about his ASD, and it was never an issue because of the structure of the sessions. DH who used to take and drop off said he was sure that there were a number of other children with SN in the group. DS even did 3 belts and only dropped out when he got kicked in the ribs one too many times.

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

He does hardly anything compared to the other three. Partly his reluctance to try anything new.

These are some of the things he has tried:

Chess Club at school (went well).
Music School run by county music service (brilliant, very inclusive).
Cubs/Scouts (mostly positive, he doesn't hugely love it but it is good for him).

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

He is going to playscheme for a few days this summer, it went really well last time.

[coppertop]

I posted on this thread 7 years ago!

[ouryve]

I do love zombie thread spam :o

[coppertop]

I feel old now.

[mrslaughan]

Horse riding.
Mountian biking with his dad
I don't do a lot of clubs of summer camp things tbh....

[mrslaughan]

Oh and he did do karate for awhile which was going well, until it was coming up to their first grading, and then if all got very tough and serious. He has dyspraxia, and even though he can learn these things it takes him longer .... He was getting a hard time for not "remembering" .... As it was meant to be self esteem building and I has spent a lot of time explaining to the Sensei that it may fake him longer to "get" things - we just faded out of that one.... Which is sad as he did enjoy it

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

However old the thread is, it might still be useful for some people, especially those of us who have joined since 2006. So in a weird way, TrampolineCentral has done us a favour.