Please come talk to MNHQ about Special Needs topics: better with fewer of them or not?

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

We're looking into streamlining/reorganising our Topics list to make it easier for people to find the best topic for their thread, and to make it easier for everyone to find their way around Talk.

And, following on from some of the points raised on this Site stuff thread, we wanted to ask you folks about the range of SN Topics in Talk.

Currently, as you know, we have...
Parents with disabilities
Special needs support sessions
Special needs: children
Special needs: education
Special needs: legal/financial
Special needs: recommendations
Special needs: teens and pre-teens

Do you think it might be a good idea to lose some of these, given that some of them (legal, education, recommendations, in particular) are quite underused?

Would it be better to have fewer topics, so that every OP was more likely to get replies to their threads?

Or do you think the balance of Topics is fine just as it is?

Please do let us know...

2old2beamum so glad you get it, sometimes I feel like I am on a lonely path to no where (and yes I have hidden that thread in SN) I have been through all the stages with dd but 19 plus that is the hardest so far,
I would love to find others and get support, but mn seems not to cater for the 19 -25 bracket

zzzzz no offence, but I can't help anyone else at the moment, I need it myself.

Ah 2shoes, just knowing there's someone who's gone before, helps. You don't need to do anything extra or different. I have a bit of experience of post 19 services (used to be a carer and still work in the public sector) the actual provision stays similar, whatever the headed notepaper says, though i would be no use on the funding and admin which changes every 5 minute

I wonder if tge mods could do a 'sticky' 19-25 thread?

I thought we were all here to help each other and learn from each others experiences and leave a footprint behind for the next lot of parents to get supportive advice from................

Lougles idea sounds good :)

I dont like the idea at all of separating dxs. It would be difficult for some parents to know where they fit given that some children have complex disabilties.

There is no harm in having a 19 - 25 bracket maybe have it advertised somewhere on the main board that there will now be this section (if one is made) hopefully it will attract more parents with older SN children.

I dont use chat so not bothered really I always assumed that was open to public eye and so wont use it but others just might.

2shoes I think you underestimate yourself you do help people by saying how it is. Just to see someone else having the guts to say life is crap gives permission to so many people to think we am not alone. All you mums are so supportive I and am sure many others appreciate your honesty {thanks]
2shoes you sound really sad please pm if you want.
Back to the OP, the main reason I feel we need an "older" SN thread is we are dealing with the here and now, a mum with a 2 year old SN will not have the same worries as a mum with a 25 year old and hopefully us oldies can help change the future for your LO's.

2old2beamum aww thanks
I am not sad, well sad to be homeless on mm,
19 plus is the scariest place i have been to , I thought 16 plus was bad enough thanks to the LEA trying to move dd. but this will be the biggest change we will have had.
dd has been at the same school since nursery, so moving on scares me.
it would be so nice ot have somewhere on mn to talk to others in the same boat or further along.
tbh I don't want to post in sn kids, I would end up editing everything so as not to wrry people with younger kids
also what happens when she is 19? there is a hole in mn where people with adult sn kids! have no place.

you know what 2shoes if it helps, I still feel homeless on MN SN and there is a home for me if I felt a bit more comfortable.

It's a bit like my DS and his issues............square peg round hole................because his issues/problems don't fit.............I don't fit.

There is even threads on the board which I start or join yet I still feel I don't count!!

Anyway you know where I am if you need me.

devientenigma oh I know, dd is a bit like that(well you know what I mean) as she doesn't tick the CP boxes and is older.

I am perhaps "luckier" as i still have 2 children with SN although DS is rapidly approaching transition but his needs are so specific we have already approached SENSE, but God knows what we would do if he was not dearfblind, dare I say it perhaps he is lucky. Take care both of you you are not alone and you are both needed on MN

mostly look at sn children (even though mine is a teen!)

imogen I think your suggestions are good but feel once your young person reaches adulthood everything changes. Respite as we know it stops at 18 school 19 and life is a very different ballgame. Day services complex, transport nightmare especially if they need an escort. I feel someone just coming to terms with a SN 's child may not want to know this too early in their DC's life.

personally, I have always read 'future' threads and situations with interest, right from pre-dx days. there is always a bit of info to squirrel away, or a situation to think through and see how I/we would tackle it as a family if/when it arose.

it would not have bothered (that sounds wrong, but I hope you know what I mean) me in the early days to read of future issues - forewarned is forearmed!

well so glad that reading about post 19 is good for others
but surely we need a place to post first,

If there is a post 19 thread it will not be inaccessable to parents with younger children, you lot are so quirky with your headlines I would miss most of the relevant posts

one of the problems at the moment (and has been moaned about for quite a while now) is that the teens board (ys, i know this is not the same as a post 19 sector) is not very busy.

unfortunately, that is the way it is. the majority of the traffic is on the main SN board - whether that is posters with pre-dx, very young children, posters with teens, or posters with older children (or a combination of soem of the above, like me)

a section for post-19 will not automatically make people post there. it may well end up like the teens board - not posted on very often. threads on the main board may get picke dup by posters who have relevant experience, but might not look elsewhere, due to a lack of time (my issue - I don't go to the teen board, as I check the main area and then have to pop off to do somehting else).

for me, as a poster with a young child with ASD, and a stepchild with other needs (who falls into the post 19 sector), I find it easier to have it all on one board.

as for at reading other threads being good for others - I thought that was half the point of MN .

I tend to think that the more boards you have, the more dispersed it becomes, and and the more likely it is that threads go unseen and unanswered.

Can't see why SN Children shouldn't be a catch-all, regardless of age. "Children" to me suggests that we are talking about our children whether they're 2 yo or 20. (I'm still my mum's child and I'm 40!)

As long as the thread title is worded right, it should be easy for others to spot who share the same issue or can offer experienced advice. eg I post asking for advice about quite specific issues re statementing & ABA and always put it in the title so people who know about it will see, and those who it means nothing to can ignore it.

Just think if there is such little traffic on Teens etc already, increasing the number of topics is going to make it worse, not better.

Also it would be sad to think that general support given and received has to be restricted to age or diagnosis.

SN Active Conversations sounds a good idea.

I am confused. I wade in on ASD threads because so many start with "parents of DC with ASD...." or "Does your ASD child...." If I waited for someone to post a thread titled "Does your child with a squiffy brain do...." or "parents of children with otherwise undiagnosed brain malformations..." then I'd have no chance.

So, while I understand the wish for a specific post 19 category, what's the point of having it if no-one can respond? What is so wrong about people with younger children offering advice? On SKIUK they don't have specific areas. I find it a bit sad that you don't want support from those of us here with younger children, 2shoes. I find it even more sad that you don't want your threads to be of value to other posters who think of the future and wonder what it will be like.

oh well said my bit and now will bow out,
I think it is a shame that certain age groups are homeless on mn but the majority will rule.
bye

But surely there is and always has been a place here for you 2shoes? I can see that parents of older 'children' are in the minority but thats just how it is as I think peope with fresher DXs will seek out info and thats how this community has grown to be one of mainly younger children [mind you thw ages do range a lot-not just teenies at all]

I think in people saying they value and appreciate your posts 2shoes doesnt take away from your needs, I think its meant as a compliment and to show that everyone who posts here has value?

This community works because we all share, it has been really helpful to me and even the threads that ive just read and not posted on have been everso helpful.