We Are Outside!

So, we are all sitting in the living room when my son exclaims:

"We are actually outside!"

On seeing our puzzled faces, he went on to explain:

"We are in our house and our house is outside, so we are outside!"

Profound eh?

How We Nearly Won £2000....

Back in November, I entered a competition for the Tots 100 blogging network about Britain's best day out. We received free tickets to Waterworld in Stoke and wrote a rather creative blogpost about the visit. The winner was to receive £2000. Very nice!

Anyway, the results are in....sadly I didn't win...but I was chuffed to bits to be one of five blogs that got an honourable mention for creativity! You can see the results here. Lots of people entered, so I feel quite proud of our efforts, and thanks to my kids, who did a good job with the plasticine models and singing!

By the way, I checked out the winner's post and a very worthy one it was too. A blogpost in poem form (darn, why didn't I think of that?) presented beautifully with photos. Congratulations Tired Mummy of Two for your fabulous "Taking the Monkeys to the Zoo"

Still Filling in the DLA Form....

Oh my days! This DLA form is long.

And pointless.

Here are some examples of the nutty questions they ask. Try these:

"Count the steps you take to see how far you have walked. If they walk 10 of your steps they have walked about 90 metres. Check the time when you start and stop and see how long it takes."

Daft.

"Tell us how often they need help each day and how long it takes each time".

Then there is a list of boxes to fill in how long each activity takes. The first box is "wake up". How long does it take your child to wake up? It depends how loud I shout from the bottom of the stairs!

The whole form is a hoop-jumping exercise designed to frustrate parents into mental exhaustion and giving up.

It has taken me a couple of weeks and I'm still not finished. I have a whole pile of doctor's reports to photocopy....

Let's hope it is worth it!

Old Man

There has been a lot of sickness at the school lately and the teaching staff have been hit hard. It is not unusual to see my son's class come out with a supply teacher instead of his usual teacher.

I asked my son how he got on at school.

"Fine" he replied.

"But we didn't have the normal teacher. We had an OLD MAN instead".

He said this really loud, within hearing of the supply teacher. I hurried him away quickly.

Snow and Logistics!

We are currently experiencing a LOT of snow here in the UK and the school reopened today after being shut during the bad weather.

For a parent of an autistic child, the extra "stuff" that comes with the snowy weather can be a bit of a headache.

Firstly, I have to dress my son for the snow. That involves hat, gloves and wellies. No problem for a normal child, but send an autistic child into school with these items and it is unlikely you will see them again. As well as his snow kit, he also had to take his homework in today, but I didn't bother, as there was no way that he was going to be able to organize taking his coat and gloves off, removing his wellies and replacing them with shoes, putting his lunchbox on the trolley AND handing in the homework. It was simply too much mental overload. So I left the homework.

The next problem was that when we got to the school, they were using a different entrance, a side door. This threw my son completely. When i asked him if he knew where his classroom was, he said "no". Thankfully, the SENCO allowed me to guide my son to his classroom.

Then what do you know? Silly me had forgotten to pack his shoes! Son freaks out: "Oh no! I will have to wear my socks all day!!!!" panic...panic...I sent him into class and promised to get his shoes to him. I sent dad with them a little later. I hope he got them OK. On top of that, his teacher is ill, and I bet the stand-in has no clue about his autism.

Hometime will be the same crazy routine. I doubt my son will come out with all the stuff he went in with. Plus, he also has to remember his swimming kit, which he left behind last Friday.

Roll on the big thaw.....

Stroppy Classroom Assistant

As my son struggles with his maths, I often come into school and spend some time helping him. I don't mind doing this, even though I still feel in a way that I am doing what the school should be doing.

The teacher asked me to come in yesterday at 1:00. I trudged to the school (roughly 16 minute walk) in the cold and ice, trying not to slip over as the path was treacherous.

When I arrived, the teacher was there to greet me and told me that she wanted me to work with my son on his letter formations. She was not teaching the class that day, the teaching assistant was taking the lesson.

When I got to the classroom, the teaching assistant looked at me disdainfully, like I was mud on her shoe.

"Are you in the middle of a lesson?" I said. "..only I have come to do some work with my son."

"You are not needed." she snapped back.

I wasn't going to be intimidated by her.

" I have been asked by the teacher to come and work with my son. She has just met me at the door and told me what she wants me to do. I have no intention of going home. I have made the effort to come all this way and I will stay. I don't want to disrupt your lesson, so I will do 15 minutes with him."

I didn't wait for her approval. I just grabbed his literacy book off the shelf, collected my son and went out in the corridor to work with him. I actually ended up working with him for 30 minutes. I bet she loved that.

Honestly, I am doing them a favour coming in and taking time out of my day to do what is essentially their job, unpaid. What the bojangles is wrong with these people? A little gratitude wouldn't go amiss.

A Positive Meeting With School Staff

Yesterday, I had a meeting with the school staff following the incident before Christmas when my son was locked out of the school building.

His class teacher was present, as well as the head of year, SENCO and headteacher.

We put a plan in place to ensure that my son will be safe at all times. We covered topics such as how he will cope at breaktimes during unstructured time, help with getting dressed and moving around school.

Many positive steps were put in place which I feel very happy about. I will be outlining these in a future blogpost, as the SENCO is typing them up into an official document.

Another development of the meeting was the fact that the school are now going to consider statementing my son. This came as a major shock, as last time we tried, I was told that he was too bright academically. The SENCO explained that although my son was clever, he was vulnerable because he had a poor sense of safety, was panicky and struggled socially. If we can get enough evidence together over the next few months to form a case, she will consider going for the statement.

This will involve the teacher logging any occasions where she has to go above and beyond her normal duties when teaching my son. I will also be keeping a diary, logging times and dates of any significant incidents.

If he gets a statement, I will be relieved, because I think it would ensure his safety at senior school.