How many actually follow through?

[WetAugust]

Just wondering, as I type out the same advice for the 999th time.....

...how many people actually follow through and ask for assessments etc.

Or do most just post here and then give up?

I suppose we'll never know.

Do you win a prize for the 1000th? :)

Well heres one who if it were not for posting here at silly o'clock 12 months ago would never have got so far without all the good advice and support :)

same here. this board has been a real eye opener. I found the advice invalueable, both re ASD (and intervention) and also how 'the system' works. don't think I would have been able to plugg up the courage to demand assessments, Salt, OT, SA...

thank you everybody for the advice and support for me and minichoc

MN didn't exist when I was really struggling to undertsand DS's problems and how to get him help.

I did post on other boards at that time looking for advice. Can't say that I always followed through with some of the advice I got . I do talk to quite a few people off-line, so if a lot of people are doing that perhaps the 'follow-through' rate is actually quite high.

I think the advice given here is invaluable.

I don't post a lot but I check out the posts everyday at least once. In Scotland so slightly different but still very relevant when you are trying to navigate it all.

Like many, I have posted in despair when up against it with my son's school.
If I weren't so jaded I'd have a little rant about the latest upset, knowing good advice would follow.

As no energy left to rant, just wanted to post to say 'thank you' & 'keep it up' 'cos there will be many like me who feel this is a little haven for when things are bad.

Go on - have a rant if you want to

I had a mega-rant at work today. Felt quite ashamed of myself afterwards but at the time, boy did it feel good

A rant is good for the soul! (also saves on broken china or door hinges in my house

But very bad for the lungs - I had to smoke 2 roll-ups in quick succession before I'd calmed down today.

hahahaha! (she says puffing away now the kids are asleep after the day she has had)

Oh - a fellow leper!

I'm another one whose ds would never have been assessed and dx if I hadn't found this board and listened to the advice I was given.

It took a while. I kept coming back and wibbling before finally going ahead, so I suppose others might do the same, hence seemingly asking for advice and then ignoring it or not reposting for ages.

My older son & my daughter-in-law popped by earlier & I did rant to them, most needed! After my lengthy verbal tirade & narrowly avoiding bloody crying, I felt better, slightly.

It takes it's toll on you though & I am seriously considering just taking a break away, just tell the school some baloney to escape for a little while.

Shall see. Evading the head teacher's 'are you telling me you are refusing a meeting?' phone call till I am less incensed. Anyone know what the penalty is for 'refusing a meeting'?

Anyone know what the penalty is for 'refusing a meeting'?

I think you get reported to the UN Security Council and have to pay triple Council Tax and don't get invited to the next school fete.

Oh come on! You KNOW that I followed through............

Sometimes I wonder if the hell that has been my life over the past two years would have never been hell if I hadn't, but that's another thing altogether and actually I still have no regrets.

Yes Wetaugust I am a leper of the highest degree in actual fact more so after fighting with LAs and school! Its that or alchohol and I cant drink for toffees and a complete wuss with a hangover after two glasses lol

Glad you had someone to rant at sotilltomorrow! Penalty for refusing a meeting? hmmmmm just a teasy head teacher but you wont see her face why you take that break :)

If its stressing you try what I did for a while. Email them telling them you find meetings stressful and not everything sinks in when under pressure and you are subject to getting upset. So for a while you prefer to deal with issues via email as then you are sure to take onboard their advice

It gave me a nice well earned break for a couple months plus I gained some valuable black and white evidence!

Oh no. Never refuse a meeting.

DO however, ask for the purpose of the meeting to be disclosed to you in writing in order for you to consider whether it is a valuable use of your time. Insist that the expected outcomes are detailed plus timelines for potential delivery.

If there is no clear 'point' to the meeting that can be disclosed before hand then it is a waste of time iyswim.

Of course i KNOW that you followed through.

In fact I know that eveyone who posts on this thread is following through.

What I meant was 'the others'. The ones who post and disappear leaving you wondering if the situation did get resolved.

Bloody hell - short fuses abound tonight!

I have not necessarily followed all the advice I have been given, but:

I posted here for confirmation I was not neurotic, and seeing things which were not there, when health professional after health professional after nursery worker and so on all told me that my dc would 'catch up eventually'

I needed to know that I could stand up against all this, and I was given valuable information which helped me do so (first in the dx process, then in the Statementing nightmare, and school selection, etc)

I have gathered a range of opinions on various matters, from interventions to health issues, to which products are useful and which are a waste of time - and I have sifted through as appropriate for my needs, my family's needs, and my children's needs.

without a shadow of a doubt, my children would not be where they are today (in terms of actual school placements, as well as progress and happiness) without the help and support I have received over the years.

Have I followed all the advice?

No.

But I have always listened, which is sometimes enough.

I have acted on advice given to me here several times. Without it dss(15) wouldn't have his statement, most of the support or be in the school he is. Seriously, that is genuine. I may also have killed him. Not so serious, but possible.

In turn, the journey through ds's (4) diagnosis, statementing, everything else has been starightforward and (almost) problem free as I had experience and advice from here before I even started.

Ds's first DLA application was very successful due to good advice from here too. Am currently doing his review and pulling on the advice I had before to get me through it. That and malteasers. And a bit of crying.

I bloody love you all

LOL!

Sorry to hear about your need to rant Wet. Hope it got your through!

Coffpot

You used the word 'teasy'

I heard that word for the very first time last year while in the Scilly Isles.

We'd landed on Tean in the nesting season and the seagulls were going nuts about it.

The boatman described them as being 'teasy'.

Probably won't hear it again for another 55 years!

LOL! stick around! you will probably see it printed a lot in my posts

You can now picture me like a mad seagull flapping about. Wish I could poop on a few proffessionals from a great height!

And I followed through because of the great advice on here. Got DD a statement, removed her from a crap school into a much better one and got her onto various supplements that have changed her behaviour for the better. Now just need to tackle my obsession with constantly logging onto the board about 50 times a day! love you guys!

I don,t post much but without all the great advice here, DS2 wouldn't have a statement and be in great ASD unit attached to a small mainstream school and DS1 wouldn't be going through statutory assessment at the moment.

Have learnt so much you are all wonderful! :)

I follow through again, and again, and again. My child deserves no less.

My issue has always been not knowing how to negotiate the SEN maze (working out which professional to ask to be referred to, the statement process, etc, etc) rather than not having the guts to follow through. DS has been treated so badly in the past & so unhappy that I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't at least TRIED to help him.

I'm polite but persistent "keep calm and carry on". I am SO grateful to the kind people on this forum that have helped me negotiate what was a very confusing maze that I'm determined to do what I can to "pay it forward".