ok...will try this again, aibu to be put off a school by the amount of children with SN?

[daftpunk]

posted this in education, (Pre-school, like the twit that i am).....my ds is due to start secondary school in 2 years so we're looking around already, i am a bit put off by a school with lots of SN children, as SN also means behaviour problems....i'm not sure if i am being unreasonable.

chegirl - just seen your profile and am very excited to find another Barbara Conyms fan! I have never found anyone else who has heard of her!

'Sisters by a River' all about the River Avon, which is the river down the bottom of my street.

I've heard it all on this thread now rhubarb- even an anti-Tory political broadcast. Here, here

Can I just take a wee moment to thank all the posters who have persistantly not turned this thread into the slagging match that it could have been. There have been some articulate and informative posts here so well done you lot. I love MN (is there a car sticker as I want one?)

I seriously wanted to call ds2 Pablo after the child in 'Our spoons..' I loved Sophie in that book so much!

I couldn't resist shooty!

DP's last post was an hour and a half and many other posts ago. Strange no?

There is a lot of variation in LEAs but the rules are as follows:

you may apply for a statement if the school cannot provide for your child

Blanket policies such as qualifying delays etc are illegal

My boys are both asd- ds1 has a DX of AS / HFA, he staement is absed on severe behavioural difficulties and some delays, he needs a 1-1 and small class to move on

DS3's is absed on usual autism stuff- he's in a SNU now but also had 1-1 for a while

AS can be a real disability not 'just' a SEN bewcause of how it can [present, likewise ADHD; and how it is defined by the medics which isn't necessarily how it is seen (it is NOT simply mild autism).

If you cannot get a statement good people to approach are IPSEA and SOS!SEN

Both great but you need to be a fighter also

PBR- wind 'em up and watch 'em go!

Leonie

ds1's satement is a bit like that

he ahs 10n hours allocated but it can be delivered in small groups, so school use it and a few othetr statements to 'fund' a TA who is there always. They rarely get 1-1 if ever but spend a lot of time in small classes, and she's there when theya re in whole class.

Lunchtimnes are an issue though

Oooo molly I heart Barbara Comyns. She has ruined me for any other writer.

Its that slightly confused style of hers. It makes me feel at home somehow

Again Peachy, I agree, but unfortunately Aspergers is classed as mild autism.

There needs to be a huge shake-up of the system as the terms Autism and ADHD are far too general and incorparate wide ranging abilities and issues.

yes, it's very naive style of writing but terribly beguiling. Have you read The Skin Chairs?
Our Spoons in my favourite. But I have just found Who Was Changed and Who Was Not under our sofa, lost for years so am looking forward ro re-rreading that.

Rhubs! Our boat used to be moored at Bidford-on-Avon. LOVELY part of the world

'S not Rhubs, not clinically anyhow

DX goes ike this:

Kid with triad + no speech delays = AS

Kid with triad + speech delays + 'normal' IQ = hfa

kid with triad + speech delays + low IQ = Autism

there is nothing else in tehre, no assumoptions of severity, speech delay is based purely iion when you first ehard child speak- so although ds1 rarely speaks at school it's AS (I think thats why we have dual dx actually)

Severe behavioural difficulties can be patrt of any level of ASD

In fact there's a campaign my APed subsctribes to to scrap the AS in favour of wider use of HFA

DS! receives DLA at the high rate- so is officially recignised as severe becuase he ahs to have 24/7 supervision as he is a real danger to people. he ahs a statement and his independence is at best shaky.

AS is 'sold' as mild ASD but officially it's a very basic equation which apart from the extremes of severity such as those with very LFA (horrid phrase LFA) makes no assumptions about severity of effect of impairment

I cheated though, I looked her up.

I don't live where she's from, but somewhere else on the River Avon.

well done for good google-fu

Fair 'nuff Peachy and fwiw I do agree with you. But the way it is assessed is as mild autism, is it not?

OOh, Molly, my Mom lives in Stratford (I grew up in Redditch though, not a sink estate but v boring) we used to picnic at Bidford on Avon.
Lovely.

Difficult one, it should be assesed as spectrum disorder really, paed tells us the boys could float along the line and end up in a variety of places.

Spectrum DIsorder is actually a batter term for many children IMO, lessdefining. People THINK they know what AS / ASD etc are but often they know about stereotypes, people are more comlpex and can have very wise difficulties in somea reas

A child for example so severely affected by sensory issues they are only able to fucntion in a room alone but spoke on time wuld still get AS diagnosis; likewise a child who spoke late but speaks fine at say 8 would still be ASDn (know a few)

Which is why I use ther term ASD LOL, far better to describe ds1.

we had a mooring right opposite the play park. Was lovely - but sadly 4 hours' drive away from our home, so not very practical

Really? I had no idea that Aspergers was used to describe the disorder of such severity.

Just goes to show that these are only labels, people using them don't really put much thought into the individuals behind them do they? They would prefer to group children together and diagnose accordingly, rather than look at individual cases.

Gotta go, glad this thread has evolved. It's a testament to the real nature of Mumsnet that we can take a thread like this and turn it into an interesting discussion.

DP, fwiw I do sincerely hope that you are ok. That's all.

molly I have read em all and love em all.

I like the Juniper tree. Its so meloncholy somehow.

The loss of a child is a common theme and that touches me. Its always done subtly though.

I think Touch of Mistletoe is my fav.

thanks rhubarb......i'm not ok, but i get all i deserve.

DaftPunk has got her her SN and SEN terms wrong, what they actually mean and the kind of child she thinks they describe.

In my school SEN applies to aspergers, dyslexia, hearing impairment etc which does not equal behaviour problems, nor does it equal taking away from the entitlement of others. We have some EBD but because they are few in number their needs are met, often through outside agencies, so their impact in lessons is well managed and pretty much negligible. In the one class that I find tough to teach none of the 'characters' have SEN - they're just being gits!

Dh teaches in a school with higher than average number of disruptive pupils, higher than national average with EBD, higher than average SEN, higher than average ESL, but also higher than average free school meals - but interestingly not that many with statements which is reflective of how crap the LEA are. The catchment is two rough estates with many social problems. It's a tough school and we wouldn't send dcs there even if we were in catchment. One of dh's pupils is now serving life; another was murdered in a violent feud. But neither had SEN.

Though ds1 witrh SEN as per LEWA definition is on the books of the agency for identifying kids who might turn into criminals (!)

So we can say then

Kids all differ somewhat

yes?

LOl 9with a quiet sob natch)