To not want non disabled children using our hard fought for sensory room ?

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

I'm probably going to get murdered for this but meh.

We live in a town with 3 softplay areas and various activites for nt children to do, for special needs children there is sod all, no softplay sessions, no sensory room. Nada.

A few years back me and some others started to go to meetings with our local council to arrange activities and eventually, after much fundraising a softplay area was built in our leisure centre and sensory room was built in our softplay area, it was entirely funded using money allocated for children with disabilities although the softplay is open to all and we get 8 hours per week when it is soley for use for disabled children up to the age of 15. HOWEVER, only disabled children are allowed access to the sensory room, the sensory room is also used by disabled adults and is the only one for 100 miles, it's a valued facility.

Parents have been complaining and demanded access to the sensory room and a meeting is being arranged to review the situation.

Bearing in mind the children/parents who use the softplay aren't always entirely respectful (taking food etc in) and the sure start centre does have a small sensory room for babies/toddlers, aibu to think, sod off, we only get 8 hours a week as it is, I don't want this expensive, specialist equipment being trashed by kids who don't need to be there and have 1001 other things to choose from ??!!

The NT provisions can kit out a sensory room for not much money at all if tehre was a demand (DH is in the business of lighting so I can see the prices of the equipment that an NT chuld would appreciate most in the trade catalogues on my desk here)

They need to create that demand. As Jamie O loves to say- ask for it.

typical that the SN play session should be at 8 in the morning!

well i dissagree i think all things should be available for all children as much as possible. why would it be too much to offer one or 2 1 hour sessions a week for abled kids when sn children have it the rest of the time.

you could heaven forbid allow a mixing half hour where children and sn children could play together using it

Ah yes, sn kids get to use kids gym/dance mats at the leisure centre, if they so wish to.....at 8 on a Saturday morning, commonly known as the hour of sparrows fart in this house

also if the issue is its being trashed who the hell is looking after it? they need to pay better attention

I personally dont have a problem with my DDs playing with NT kids, but think about it for a second.
But seriously think for a second how calming it would be for a child who cannot move, or has little mobility to have NT children climbing all over the place??
Seriously, do you understand how much this stuff cost??
One sensory light for DDs room cost me £50!! and thats cheap!

ffs, the children that use it are the mos severely disabled, they don't want to mix, they don't want too much noise or kids leaping about the place, many of the children who go are violent, in fact thinking on it, ALL of them are to a degree.

Would you be happy with my son biting your childs face because it feels nice ?? Or dragging her across the room by her hair because she got too near ?? I think not !

Also, I assume you missed the part where I mentioned we are only allocated 8 hours per week as it is !

Riven, your dd could have used the swing in our park before it was bloody trashed

! swing, that's all they had until some little weasel wrecked it !

knitterbreast are you for real? Did you read the OP?

A few years back me and some others started to go to meetings with our local council to arrange activities and eventually, after much fundraising a softplay area was built in our leisure centre and sensory room was built in our softplay area, it was entirely funded using money allocated for children with disabilities although the softplay is open to all and we get 8 hours per week when it is soley for use for disabled children up to the age of 15.

they paid for it, they only get 8 hours exclusivly anyway in the soft play bit why do they need to share anythign else?

Yep, NT + SN simply can;t work for some; it's why LEA's are struggling to cope with post closure of SNY provision- it's all very well having a positive ethos but if your child shuts down in any group alrger than 6 (as my younger ASD child does), or is very vulnerable to rough and tumble play or whatever it's useless.

if it were a state provided facillity I would argue that NT provision could be balanced: it's not. It was provided by specialist SN grant funding, some at least of which will only have been available for facilltiies providing SN benefits. In fact as a charity worker in a former life I can see quite a minfield if the grants were to be challenged- donations to these types of funding authorities are legally ring fenced for the prupose in the charities statement of intent: you simply cannot use these to build facillities for joint access unless agreed by said funder in the application stages. If that was the intention you'd use different funding sources- less NAS, more PHAB IYSWIM

Ahem 1

Apocalypse- our swing too. DS3 cannot balance on a 'normal' swing and is too big for baby swings.

The teenagers trashed the play equipment so often that the council ditched the swings although the stuff the sn kids could never use anyway such as climbing frame / slide combos remain.

In an ideal world I agree, it would be nice for all kids to mix and play together. I think Apocalypse has explained quite well how this isn't always possible.

Also, for the parents of SN kids, I can understand how it is important for them to have a space where they can relax and know that they and their children are understood. I don't think this is too much to ask.

to be honest disabled children are not very well thought of in most stadiums and that is something that should change but that dousnt mean that new centres should exclude a certain type of child-how is that any better? its the same descrimination.

if children with serious sn issues cant play alongside other children then thats fine they will have the centre to themselves 99% of the time. but i still fail to see why other children cant use it at set times aswell.

also what are nt children?

im sorry that you find it hard to find places your child can play-its very wrong but causing the equivilant descrimination is wrong too.

near where i live we have riding schools that cater from sn children and adults as well if you want any information. I live in Berkshire

we actually have an area in the which used to be a pets corner, it's only small but has dead high walls and huge locked gates, i've been saying for years it would be ideal for some sn equipment and a sensory garden, what have they used it for you ask yourself .....

It's now a farkin jubilee garden, few pot plants and a load of benches, waste of space, no bugger goes in there!

theevildead2-sorry i just read after i posted. yes thats wrong it should be the other way round, sn should have it almost all the time but i still think that all children should be able to use it, even if this time is limited

discrimination

It's all well and good these places offer facilities, once in a blue moon at 6am on a schoolday or whatever, but the reality is they don't want to, and they aren't accomadating, the softplay we've had built is nowhere near as good as the ones the nt kids have to choose from anyway

See I think until all the regular play centres accomadate for all children they can't expect the tiny little place set aside for children with disabilitie should be set up for them as well.

I mean that's hardly "discrimination" I don't feel discriminated because I can't park in the disable parking. I'm quite happy to have full use of my legs and wouldn't trade it for a better parking space. (sorry hope that isn't taken as flippant by anyone with dsablilties)

Oh no, there wasn't a hoist, good point.

Oh well, never mind, just something else she can't use

And there are only so many times you can walk round the chuffin greenhouse without wanting to scream....

The irony for me us that ds2 increasingly can't play alongside n't children because (astonishingly) n't children are often too badly behaved.
Ds2 will queue but get shoved out of the way when it is his turn and, when we go where there are other children, dd ends up having to intervene to stop other children pushing, shouting at him or teasing him.

I have just got a swing installed in the garden because the park has become intolerable.

Sad isn't it.

watch yourself pag - knittedbreast and her kids are going to be banging on your garden gate demanding to use your swing

no need to get personal. also what a stupid thing to say.