aibu to now say that

[2shoes]

dd is disabled
rather that that she has sn?
having seen the amount of people on mn(not in this topic) who do not know the difference between SEN and SN.
will it be easier?

I say ds is disabled, I really hate the term special needs & as you say the vast (99.9%) majority of people are clueless when it comes to SEN vs SN.

Say what you feel you are most comfortable with. I suppose if you get into a conversation with someone you can elaborate?

Or start a thread in chat explaining the difference if there are loads of people who don't know?

I think I am clueless when it comes to SEN vs SN. What is the difference? I've always referred to DS as being disabled or having special needs, not SEN.

my interpretation is that a child with SEN needn't have special needs or be disabled but a child with SN usually has SEN.

ime when I've used SN people have thought that ds' difficulties are purely school related/academic - which isn't the case, in many ways ds is ahead of the average academically but he is still disabled by his autism (not least the massive still very significant language delay). I just think disabled is simpler - 'SN' makes me feel like I'm being euphemistic (which also implies that disabilities is something to be ashamed of iykwim), that's just me though - I'd never have an issue with anyone else deciding to use it

2shoes I do wonder to though wonder if dsfalls on the two

He can't hold a pen correctly to write but it's a physical problem

He can't read ATM but that's because he can't talk due to verbal/oral dyspraxia which physically affects the muscles in his face , so that affects everything

query over learning diffculties because his pd which affects everything he doe. So never know how to clarify or if there is even a differance

I would if could do all the explanations....I just know they arn't the same.

SEN is special educational needs - where there is some impediment to a child learning effectively at school. Emotional and behavioural difficulties or dyslexia are SEN, for example, but a child with those problems doesn't necessarily have SN.

if you have difficulties in learning then you have special educational needs.

if you have a disability and have additional needs then you have special needs, you may or may not have special educational needs with that. but you could have a learing disability that would mean you had sen but it would be sn.

my sons both have autism - that's sn and sen, ds1 also has erbs, that's sn/disability. i suppose autism is a disability too.

It's very confusing indeed isn't it?

So maybe the best thing is to name the sen/sn/disability when talking about the person and when mentioning it at all is relevant in the discussion. so instead of saying my kids have sn/sen, I say autism. I say erbs. Less room for confusion.

I don't mention it at all and then I get someone saying something that means i order for them to understand, I have to mention it - like a homework thread I started, where someone quite reasonably asked me why my son wasn't doing his own homework i had to then explain about his autism. I hadn't mentioned it at the begining of the thread.

ahhhhhh so
dd is disabled/ has sn and has SEN then...
kind of makes sense the way you say it Hecate, trouble is I have trouble spelling CP, but if I put cp on mn, the think chicken pox lol

YANBu

The majority of people are so fucking ignorant that if you aren't very specific, they assume you have caused it all by hitting your child with sticks (slight exaggeration but YKWIM)

I have stopped saying that Ds1 has 'behavioral problems' although that is precisely what he does have - because of the amount of people who say "Oh, have you tried what Supernanny does?" - and I then have to explain that Supernanny's approach works becuase the children she deals with are perfectly normal, just less than optimally parented. Ds1 does not fit this criteria.

I now say "He has Autistic Spectrum Disorder" and feel like a fraud every time I say it as Ds1 will be merrily skipping around telling everyone he sees that the Yoshis on Super Mario have to be caught by the players, and if one Yoshi runs off then the players both have to chase it and only one person can have it, and he likes it to be him etc etc

What he DOESN'T say, because he doesn't consider it relevant, is that if his brother catches the goddamned Yoshi first, he (Ds1) has been known to start battering him round the head with the Wii remote, resulting in Total Wii Removal and an absolute meltdown as a result.

Hmm so I would need if asked to clarify by anyone that ds has cp,Eds,verbal and oral dyspraxia,mild hearing loss,epilepsy oh and possiably something in his chromosomes

That's going to be fun explaining which dx affects what , because I sure as hell don't and don't think any of the so called proffesionals do either

Think he will just have to settle with being called the pickle amonst other names he is known as dependant on mood lol his or mine

I call myself visually impaired most of the time. It's what fits me best. I'm not blind, because I can see, just not as well as everyone else. I don't see myself as having SN because I can do most things fine, without needing any help. I don't think I have SEN because although I do need stuff modifying occasionally, 99% of the time it's OK. I don't tend to use disabled much because really, in the grand scheme of things, I'm not. The only thing my impairment disallows is me driving.

I always assume cerebral palsy when I see CP written, but that might be because I know 3 people with it and spend far too much time on here!

I say differnt at diffent times

TBH with ds1 I can no longer be arsed explaining so I say SN and let them assume whatever they want

DS3 though is disabled, clearly, so it is easy.