Should I be doing anything?

[Al1son]

DD1 is 13 years old, in Year 9, and was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome last summer. She now has a placement in a Mainstream Autism Base and is happy in school for the first time ever.

She has always been very forward in her development, speaking in sentences before her first birthday and teaching herself to write aged 2. The health visitor who did her 18 month check said she was gifted but I took it with a pinch of salt because I had no other children her age to compare her to.

Once she started school she levelled out and although she was always top of the class was never exceptional.

She missed virtually all of year 8 in school because of anxiety before getting the diagnosis, statement and Base place. She's had no extra help to catch up and I think she's quite relished the challenge.

This year I feel is the first time she has been working at a level which is anywhere near appropriate for her. She still claims that the work is too easy in lessons but she has many opportunities to work alone in the base which allows her to work at her own level. Her statement provides for her getting individual teaching and a differentiated curriculum and after a battle this is now what she is getting in several subjects.

We had parents' evening this week and every single teacher we saw told us she was either talented, exceptionally able, is working well above her peers, etc., in their subject (each clearly thinking that their own subject is her special interest). We've been told that she's working at level 7+ (I'm not really sure what the + means) in most subjects and level 8 in French.

She has a statement review next week and I'm wondering if I should ask for anything to be added about her academic ability. I don't know anything about provision for G&T or if it would be appropriate to raise it with anyone at any point. I'm sure she'll do fine without any extra provision but didn't want to be kicking myself in a couple of years for not looking into it.

I hope I don't sound too pushy and delusional. We've had a horrendous year and TBH I'm losing track of what 'normal' is so please be gentle with me.

well done dd
it's important that the teachers are aware of how bright she is I think. You don't want her getting bored now that she's back in school. Did she self-learn when she was out of school then?

Can you get advice from a professional in the ASD field. A friend who has a kid like yours but much younger was told that stimulation in academics was important for him.

Thank you both!

She did lots of self-teaching at home. Mentally she was really fragile so withdrew to her room and explored books and the internet. She covered her bedroom wall in a project about World War II.

The school only sent one piece of work home for her to do in the whole year, despite my pleas, so she had to just find things to do which interested her.

When she returned I had to push for her to be given access to the curriculum for enough subjects that she had some choices for GCSE. They kept telling me to reduce my expectations of her and stop putting her under pressure. Now they've realised that she's so able they are desperate to get her to attend lessons for everything but the classroom environment is massively stressful for her and she can only cope with so much.

I'm sick to death of fighting but don't want to let that stop me getting her the provision she's entitled to.

The ed psych is not an ASD specialist and CAMHS are not willing to interfere in education so unless I can find the money to go private I probably won't be able to get specialist advice.

you did really well to get her back into school then. What's the autism base like? Will she stay there till she leaves school?

CAHMs not willing to interfere seems wrong to me. My ds saw a psychologist (sp) in the NHS and she interfered for ds (not for ASD). I don't think she was part of CAHMS though. COuld yo explore with GP - ask for a referral to a specalist who may be able to support you more. Does it have to be CAHMS? Are there any asd support groups online that may be able to help.

Sorry I am rambling...

Are CAMHS allowed to interfere though?

The Autism Base is a lovely place where they support about a dozen pupils with ASD in a supportive home-like environment with familiar faces and predictable routines. They are pretty good at keeping her anxiety levels manageable and helping her sort out little problems which turn into big worries. They focus a lot on enjoyable social interaction too which is really important for DD1.

She will be supported in there until she's done her GCSEs as long as her statement doesn't get amended to withdraw it. Fingers crossed for not too many cuts!

Drosophila do you think there is more provision I should be pushing for in terms of her academic ability? The individual support she's getting is mostly from TAs and PGCE students rather than teachers but she's very motivated so she'll still make progress. I email the teachers now and then to make sure they are setting work and getting something to mark. I guess the base staff should be doing this but they don't so I've stepped in. They aren't really used to working with academically able pupils which surprises me a little.

There are specialist autism teachers in our area but they advise the school rather than parents and don't necessarily know about G&T. I think she's falling between two stools rather.

One thing I do know is that the school won't give her any more support for AS or being able unless I find out what she should have and ask for it. I know what she needs in terms of AS and anxiety but I don't know what, if anything, I should expect of them in terms of the levels she's working at. I need to find out so I know whether I should push for anything at her review next week. Does that make sense?

CAMHS did interfere a little to get her the Base place but only because they were so worried about her mental well-being. She was in a terrible state. They don't normally do it and wouldn't again. All psychology input usually comes from the ed pysch.

The problem seems to me that the base are not used to working with academically gifted children. I would imagine that is where the extra push should come from. I am no expert but my understanding from my friend is that it is very important that their academic side is pushed. Might depend on the person I guess.

I think you need some evidence to support you and then go and see Ed Psych and ask for more. I wish I knew more. Will ask my friend for advice. SHe is one of those people who does a lot of research.

It definitely applies to DD1. Her self esteem is mainly built on her academic ability. It's the one sphere where she feels successful.

Thank you drosophila. It would be lovely to hear what your friend has to say. The poor Ed Psych must be fed up of hearing my name already but it looks as if she'll be hearing it again soon

My youngest son is allowed to persue his own interests as far as he would like 'from' his schools learning base.

In his case this involves him logging where he is in the school and what he plans on doing.
The safety rule is that he cannot run chemistry experiments or similar without the oversight of a science teacher but he is allowed to research and propose his ideas in the library so a teacher can provide feed back and arrange for the saner ideas to be tried out.
Its taken a while to work out as the Aspergers/ADHD throws up some quirks and the G&T can challenge hard.
Yes it can be a bit of a fight to sort things out for twice exceptional kids [taken me two years with his secondary] but if you can they have a chance to thrive in school.

wow triballeader - that sounds fantastic. How did you get that? Is it on his statement?

triballeader that is amazing. Are you able to share with us how you managed to get this provision?