Back again to the board - after months of lurking.......

[Ben10HasFinallyLeftTheBuilding]

Sorry that I haven't been around supporting you guys. I've been lurking but my brain doesn't seem to be able to process writing about SN atm.

Situ:

DS - ASD panel was 15th March. Waiting for dx now - we have to have an appt with paed to find out. Saw SALT that morning who was going to the panel and she said that in her opinion he met all 3 criteria but obv she couldn't give a dx ahead of the panel.

Me - Still struggling with recovery from 2 ops in Sept and having another tomorrow with driving and carrying restrictions all over again.

ESA ending 31st May thanks Dave and might just get back to work by then. That will be 18 months off work if I get back then. Signed off till 8th May.

Feels a bit like my head can't deal with anything atm. Will get them to check my thyroid when in the hospital as I seem to match a lot of the hypothyroid symptoms but it could just be the AD's and anti-epileptics that I'm on for my main condition.

I feel like I should be doing so much more for DS. He has OT exercises, vision and listening exercises to do and really needs to get out more at the weekend. He has done no OT apart from fizzy at school for months. He is struggling with stuff at school that hasn't been a problem before like maths (word problems as he can't pick out the important words), story writing - stuff that the school are focussing on for Y2 SATs.

Q re statements. How many of you have just got a SSEN for social problems? Academically he is doing much better than many of his peers, even in the stuff that he is struggling with.

Lovely to see you Ben10.

Hard to say if DS2 got his statement for social issues alone as he was younger, 5yo and behaviourally challenging due to ASD. Academically his lowest centile score from the EP was 13, his highest 99. So, purely cognitively, he didn't need a statement, but he just couldn't access the curriculum without 1:1. Maybe that's the route to take?

Hi ben10, no advice am afraid but its nice to see you.

hi ben10 good to 'see' you

lovely to see you ben, hope all goes well tomorrow

Hello all

I can't decide whether he can access the curriculum or not. I think he can access it with the help of this teacher as she is completely on board. However y3 will show whether he needs help to access parts of the curriculum or not I think. Where I struggle with it is that atm he is doing much better than loads of his classmates. Who knows whether he should be doing better? His teacher says he either has an "on" day or an "off" day. On an off day he is completely disengaged from the curriculum. Obviously socially he is still struggling greatly.

Just to make you giggle though, during the SALT assessment for the panel he answered the question "what makes you happy" with "when my mummy stands on lego", what makes you cross "when my mummy farts in my room but she's having an operation for that" and what makes you sad "when daddy slaps me" (ie when they playfight ). I think it made the SALT's day "I bet you didn't realise that he was going to come in and share that with me" she said laughing her head off

Ben DS got his statement because of this:

Ask him what 8 minus 5 is and he'll answer faster than anyone in his class.
Tell him Melissa is 5 and her sister is 8, so how many years older is her sister than Melissa and he hasn't got a clue.

It's not a cognitive problem it is a language problem caused in part by his ASD. This language problem means that with a 1:1 explanation or change of the language he can learn as fast or faster than others in his class. But without this support he'll go through lessons of complex embedded language having feck all understanding of what had been asked or is expected of him.

Thanks Star That is exactly what he has problems with. Interesting that your DS got a SSEN for it. That gives me more hope.

I only just found out that this was a problem for him at parents evening. Before this he was top in maths as it was just sums. I know that if we get a dx we will be able to get much more help for him - not that the teacher doesn't help, more that the LA offers much more in terms of outreach. The teacher has acknowledged that she understands why he has this difficulty. I'll have this op and then get a new focus again on schooling.

Ben, I'm sure you realise, but the statement wasn't just handed to us! You probably have to make a case and may have to get an independent EP or SALT to explain in a report how these problems impact on his ability to access his education.

I just don't have any fight in me to go through SA atm. His teacher is supporting him. I don't care what he gets in y2 SATS. He is much happier at school than last year. There are lots of good points. I think I'll wait till Sept. We'll have a dx or not and then see who his teacher is and how she supports him.

Leonie :( It is terrible that schooling for SN can cause so much difficulty in the whole of your life, let alone dealing with the child with ASD at home.

Star I know that I will get no support for a statement from the LA EP. He has already told me that DS won't get one . I'm not earning atm and funding an EP or SALT isn't going to happen unless I can get another grant from my industry's benevolent fund again.

I just need to keep it in mind as I know that if I want to access the units at any of the secondary schools he'll need one. I just can't invisage sending him into 1500 pupils... there is time yet but if he does have ASD then that isn't going to go away.