RE: Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Hi All,

We have had a good week this week and finally a weight has been lifted as we heard the outcome of our statement panel. We are so lucky that our LEA have agreed pretty much to all we have asked for. Our meeting was today and my husband and I struggled to get our 10 kilo piece of hand luggage (full of files) through the revolving door of the offices. It proved to be good karma in the end and I never even had to sit on the lid in order to coax the the zip open:)
All our hard work is tied up in this bag and its reassuring presence certainly helped at our meeting.

Our family has a breathing space now in which to prepare for the first review early next year.

In the meantime, our son is going to have a lot of provision and we hope that our early intervention approach will help him cope with Reception at our local state school next year.

Sorry so short this week - am knacked today....... meetings always make me want to lie down in a dark room for a while!

Kind regards

DIL

Mary Poppins Medicine

Hi All,

I've had my son on a special diet (under the guidance of a dietician at the hospital) which consists of specialist soya milk as his diet is so poor. Unfortunately, he detects the most minute changes in taste and it has taken great time and patience in slowly reducing the amount of normal soya milk, to this special concoction which aims to replace all he loses through only eating quavers, rich tea bics and toast.

This works reasonably well most of the time but when we have the odd infection and antibiotics need to be given, that's when we need the Mary Poppins spoon which tailors the taste to the recipient - in my son's case, quaverichteatoastie flavour. Medicine is definitely looming as he has been "loose" the last few days so I am artfully leaving the medicine spoon around in the hope of planting the seed - wish me luck!

I do have a bit of a "Show and Tell" (only tell in this case) though this week as one of my son's special teachers said he had taught her something. A favourite toy/reinforcer is the ball run and the teacher had to do a ten minute talk for all the other teachers on this specific toy and she said my son has taught her so much from it just being a ball run - things like a balancer and breaking the toy down into component parts to make different toys etc....... that kept me going all week that did:-)

I also have a big interview this week with the statementing panel, will let you know what happens - I am ready for a good old fashioned haggle and barter session!

Best regards


DIL

SALT of the Earth

Hi All,

Whew, hasn't it been hot the last few days. We got loads of rain after we had the anglian man in to install a new patio door - so of course our youngest who hates loud noise (rather large drill being deployed in dining room brick wall) and hissin rain on his head, had to go out for a walk. Sports day was cancelled and bedtime quickly became a welcome relief for all!

I came across the word SALT for the first time the other day, I usually have referred to them as SLTs or Speech and Language Therapists but I think SALT such an apt abbreviation. Old favourites sayings sprang to mind like "salt of the earth" and "a pinch of salt".

It was "a pinch of salt" that set me thinking the most. In our experience, SALTs are seen in some quarters as a bit of an add on service. We have struggled sometimes to convince all the professionals that parents need more time with a SALT to help their child.

The provision of SALT in our area is, shall we say, on the conserative side. SALT spend much of their time reporting, training, evaluating, feedback etc and they have to do all this in - 6 x 90 minute sessions per year or thereabouts depending on the needs of the child. Taking into account all these factors, I reckon we will have about one hour this year from a SALT for specific one to one teaching with our son.

Most SALT are provided by the NHS and I would like to think that some extra SALT time could be provided for within the education budget to complement and enhance the service. Again the old faithful "go private" waves the flag but surely we could be doing more to attract people into the local authority services and NHS - then all our children would benefit.

So can we please have a little more than just "a pinch of salt" and extra time with these important therapists.

Regards

DIL

The Time Travellers Wife

Hi All,

I just read a fantastic book this week called The Time Travellers Wife. I mention it because it is pure escapism from start to finish and I couldn't put it down.

I also got to thinking about how lucky we are here in the UK. I have a friend in Hong Kong and we got to know each other after we starting our children on an ABA programme there. When I came back to the UK, I started hassling the Local Authority fairly quickly to get on the bottom rung of the "SEN" ladder. Any parents who have been through the process know how frustrating and unsettling it can be for you and your children, letting complete strangers into your home from specialists, speech and language, occupational therapists, health visitors and advisory service, in the long slog to get a statement. However, and here is the thing, in East Asia there is no one, in the public sector who is able to help. Strapped for cash, the health service struggles and the word "Autistic" is not understood by many in the medical profession. As a parent, you are left in a sea of uncertainty and no one to turn to. There are private schools of course, but you are forced to watch your child fail the "introduction interview" and state schools are all in Mandarin or Cantonese - too much of a cultural stretch for our son.

So - even though my front door is like a revolving one at times, with this one and that one coming and going, I feel really supported at the moment - there is still a long way to go, but boy am I glad we are home!!

Regards

DIL