BBC Coverage of the EducationTribunal System Merger

Just a quick post for today, here is a link regarding the merger of the three special education tribunal systems and the impact it will have for SEN children :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7530895.stm

There are some pretty thought provoking responses from parents and children who have had to navigate the current system.

Why Why Why?

When I was pregnant I felt strangely detached and other worldly. I didn’t have any specific hopes and dreams for my child other that he’d generally be beautiful, healthy and wise. We have beauty in abundance; I knew from my first glimpse of M that a fairer child had never walked the earth. As for health, he grows straighter and stronger by the second. So how about wisdom?

Idle gossip, throw away comments, wasted words, banter, irony and witty repartee are all part of every day conversations these days. We take communication for granted, applaud the articulate and slate imperfection. Success hinges on being our ability to make our message heard.

A friend once referred to me a "a simple person". Whilst I initially took umbrage at his comments, I have recently had time to reconsider what that really means.

I am the parent of a child who has a straight forward and honest view of life. He understands language only in its most literal sense and tells it as it is. He has the ability to share humour, sometimes in a very basic sense and he wins the hearts of all those who work with him. M is dogmatic and determined in anything he sets his mind to. He is also challenging and wilful and I worry how he will cope when I am no longer there to iron out misunderstandings and to carry him when he falters verbally.

Whilst I fight for the interventions and services that will give him the tools to help to survive in today’s society, my mind goes back to the email I received from Jane Pearn. She believes that children like M are "accidental poets." I take comfort that someone who works so closely with children with communication difficulties, appreciates 'what' not 'how' they communicate and listens to their message however simply it is conveyed.

This week each of M’s sentences seem to start with why why why? I don’t think I shall ever tire of hearing him ask that question. One definition of wisdom is the accumulation of knowledge or enlightenment. An enquiring mind seems a pretty good starting point to me!

The RCSLT Response to The Bercow Review

The RCSLT organisational response to The Bercow Review can be read in full via this link:-
http://www.rcslt.org/news/bercow_review

I was particularly interested in the RCSLT ongoing concerns regarding 'local battles' between health and education authorities, as to who should fund essential SALT services for children who have SLCN. It is suggested that joint targets are put in place to support the joint commissioning of services, linked to a National framework.

In our experience, I have to say that we have been referred from the the SALT department to the hospital for paediatric assessment and from the hospital consultant back to the local SALT and education authority. We have had with no real resolution as to who is responsible for providing M with the vital help that he needs, which is why we took the decision to take an independent route

Teachernet

Just a quick note tonight because its hot and I've just had a football thrown at my head, so I feel a bit cross!

I came across this website, which despite being aimed at the education profession, had some interesting links regarding special educational needs :-
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/

Amongst them was a link to "Revised guidance on the education of children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)"
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/schooldisciplinepupilbehaviourpolicies/besdguidance/

A BIG Thank you

I always find end of term goodbyes really difficult, but the support we have had this year has been exceptional. M has absolutely blossomed in terms of his self esteem and confidence. His teacher Miss M is patient, kind and totally committed to getting the absolute best out of each and every child. We had a lovely card with pictures of M throughout the year and quite often he seemed to find an alliance with the other children with special needs in his class. She celebrated M's recent running success by projecting the picture we emailed her up on the white board, for all the children to see.

M's TA Miss B has really gone the extra mile, learning new skills by working alongside his speech therapist Aimee. Although I love my son dearly, I fully appreciate how exhausting caring for him throughout the school year must be at times. Miss be always did this with enthusiasm and patience. Thank you so much ladies, we'll really miss you!

Letter from the House Of Commons

I was rather surprised when a letter with the House of Commons header came for M this morning. It was from our MP, Ed Vaizey who having seen the article about M in the local paper, was writing to congratulate him on his achievement.

I have to say, from what I have seen and heard from Mr Vaizey, I am becoming a reluctant fan. We were delighted with the letter, which will be duly saved in the scrap book we are making for M.

Chip Off the old block

I've suddenly realised, after seven months of writing the blog, that the day and date is automatically shown on each post. You could have told me you guys!

On Monday, I decided to go along to athletics to watch, since it is the last session until next term. I didn't want to get too actively involved a, because M would think that it is set in stone that I'd be coming every time and b, because I am totally unfit.

I've mentioned before that M is a natural mimic who can take off many voices. As I watched from afar, I realised for the first time that he can also copy the posture and gait of other people perfectly too. He mirrored the slightly self conscious curved spine and gangly arms of a boy on the cusp of becoming a teenager. What made me laugh even more though, was the way he turned his body into that of a middle aged man when he was partnered up with the Dad. He drew his neck down like a tortoise and hunched his shoulders, so they looked just like a pigeon pair with a thirty four year old age difference.

Wednesday (M has changed PC date to 01/09/2008) 'From The Wardrobe'

This blog has had me in fits of (slightly hysterical) laughter all evening and not least because I can identify with MANY MANY of the echolalia/meltdown moments. Since anything I had planned to write these evening is eclipsed in comparison to this wonderful story of two little boys who are on the autistic spectrum, ladies and gentle man I give you .....

http://muminthewardrobe.blogspot.com/search/label/Autism%20and%20Us

Sunday 20/07/2008 Aut2Bsafe

Mumsnetter 'Jim Jams' recently posted a link to her fantastic blog Aut2Bsafe:-
http://aut2bsafe.squarespace.com/

The blog is written about her experiences with her beautiful son Archie, who is "non verbal and severely autistic" and she started to write the blog to share her views on the books, resources, and products that she has found helpful.

I have begun to read this blog from the beginning, since it is a very inspiring story, aside from all the useful links provided. Here are four of her links, that may be interesting to parents of children with communication difficulties, across the board:-

http://www.thethomascentre.co.uk/ The Thomas Centre in Lincolnshire provides 4 and 5 star luxury, self catering accommodation for children and adults with communication difficulties and their families.

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/caselaw.htm#LancashireJudgement This is the details of the case of R vs Lancashire County Council ex parte M (1989) regarding provision of speech and language therapy on a statutory statement.

The Time Timer http://www.timetimer.com/ is a clock which shows time elapsed to make the concept of time more tangible and easy to understand, for those with learning disabilities.

As the parent of a prolific climber and jumper (safety locks on all up stairs windows) I am really tempted to try this :-
http://www.brightminds.co.uk/create_part_page.asp?part=B7657 We back onto a cycle path, so there shouldn't be a problem with evasion of privacy (she says with fingers crossed).

I've added this one to my blogs of note section.

Friday 18/07/2008 The Sickie

We've had a really busy week. On Wednesday and Thursday we collected the children at lunchtime for an hour, because of the strikes. I beetled back and forth with M and a little friend who had great fun and M ate a hearty lunch once. Unfortunately M thought that this was a permanent arrangement and wasn't best pleased when I told him otherwise.

The Dad and I shouted ourselves horse, cheering M's team at the 'non competitive' Sports day today and I have to admit we luuuurrrrved every minute of it! The key stage one children were split into teams of mixed ages, so we got to see the littlies determinedly endeavouring to hop, skip, jump and balance their way around the course. M was able to follow all the instructions so much better than last year.

The Dad and I headed off for a sneaky lunch and had just set off for a leisurely stroll around the shops when I had a phone call. It was school saying that M had been sick so we hared back to collect him.

I put on an old and dearly loved video for both of us and covered M up with his favourite blanket." Can I have a chocolate biscuit?" he pleaded in a feeble voice. " I thought you were ill? "I enquired suspiciously. "I am ALL better" he smiled up at me cheekily. "So were you really sick or did you pretend?" "Oh" he said and paused for dramatic effect "I pretended" he declared with a dramatic flourish!

Thursday 17/07/2008 MAC Lab Article on SLI research

Today's link is an article by Prof. Bob McMurray from the MACLab, about their joint research with the Children's Language research centre into Specific Language Impairment. They explain that variations in sensory, cognitive and social abilities can have a dramatic effect on language development. The team studied the way that children with SLI process words by monitoring eye tracking tasks and models of word recognition such as TRACE :-

http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/labs/maclab/special_populations.asp

Comment On Cued Speech

A short while ago I wrote a post about cued speech :-

http://sunshinetc.blogspot.com/search?q=cued+speech

I have just received a comment by Barb, who has an excellent website about cued speech:-

http://wecue.net/

I have added this to the useful links.

"Language equals life chances"

I was really impressed by this BBC article by Hannah Richardson about Bruce Davidson, who has high functioning autism and Aspergers syndrome. It highlights how life can be dramatically improved for children with language difficulties, if they receive the appropriate early intervention.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7494055.stm

Mrs Davidson was quoted as saying, "Once he got his communication, he amazed us with what he could do. It was as if a light had been switched on."

Tuesday 15/07/2008 ICAN's comment on blog

I've had a really nice email from Laura Smith of ICAN's press and PR department, saying how much she enjoyed reading the blog. We have been trying to contact each other on the phone, but have managed to miss each other all day.

Those of you who have been following our story for a while will know, exactly how our experiences with ICAN have quite literally changed M's life. For those of you who are visiting for the first time, I have added links, regarding our experiences, on the left hand side of my blog.

Monday 14/07/2008 Books on speech

Whilst I am still floating around on a pink fluffy cloud, I feel I must post something useful and speech related today.

This suggested booklist from Children's disabilties info is pretty extensive and covers a wide range of disabilities and issue that children with speech and language issue face:-

http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/speech/speechbooks.html

Important news flash

We had an email late last night from Didcot runners. There has been a mistake in the age group results and Matty didn't come third after all. He came 2nd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The link is to a BBC article by Kurt Barling about the worying decline in entries to athletic events, for school aged children.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/11/kurt_school_sports.shtml

Sunday 13/07/2008 M's First Trophy

I have to be the world's least competitive person. As a child if I wasn't winning, I wasn't playing and I just didn't understand the hype around sports.

I am now proud to report I get pre-race butterflies, am totally caught up in the moment, love to watch each and every runner striving for their personal best and that I finally 'get it'

Today's race in many ways is the most important because it is in our community. It is exceptionally well run and well supported. Matty did his best, he ran his heart out and he came third in the under elevens. The fact Nanny and Grandad were there to cheer M on, added to the sense of occasion.

I fear my heart may burst with pride this week for all M's hard earned achievements both on and off the track.

Saturday 12/07/2008 After the rain

Almost every day this week, I have stepped out of the front door to collect M at school just as the heavens have opened. Today though, it wasn’t so much raining cats and dogs as chucking down sheets of water. I swear the rain hit the pavement so hard it ricocheted up the legs of my jeans and bounced off my knee caps. My shoes were like mini paddling pools.

A little while after the deluge, M and I had to bike it over to the local GP’s surgery to pick up a prescription for the Dad. All the way along the cycle path there were fledgling blackbirds with bedraggled wings, staring pitifully up at the sky. They seemed to be having a chicken Little moment, as they quivered with shock." Whaaaaah the end is nigh!" they squawked. Their worried parents were cheaping encouragement from nearby fences but the poor things were so punch drunk that I was tempted to run home for fluffy towels. The cygnets fared little better. They were too exhausted to move from the middle of the cycle path as we swept past. Even their Dad could make much more than a feeble attempt at his usual cobby swagger.

M has decided that he wants to be ‘the best singer in the class’ so I was serenaded on route with a rendition of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow.’ We have the tune, just need to work a little on the words!

M has just had a fabulous report from school this year, better than anything we could have hoped for. Aside from his academic progress, the words that meant the most to me were; “He has a lovely sense of humour and likes to make the other children laugh. He can be kind to the other children and doesn’t like to see them upset.” My hopes for M's future vary from time to time, but my bottom line is that I hope that he finds his niche and can get along with people. Whilst he still faces massive challenges, I think my little fledgling is definitely flexing those wings.

ICAN Welcomes John Bercow’s Recommendations

Here is the link :-

http://www.ican.org.uk/home/Media/Press%20Releases/Bercow%20Report.aspx

Let’s hope that this does spell the beginning of an end to the postcode lottery for sufficient SALT services!

Friday 11/07/2008 Social stories and visual cues

M has made such great progress over the last two years, but I have to say that this has been hard earned, in terms of accessing appropriate SALT intervention for him. There are so many childhood disabilities that can affect speech and language, but both children and parents are united by one common factor; frustration at not being able to communicate and understand one another.

By the time M was three, night times were a frequently disrupted by his waking in terror many times a night. As a parent I felt both helpless and useless, by my inability to unravel what was going on for M. My major break through was through pictures :- http://sunshinetc.blogspot.com/2008/03/05032008-angel-on-window.html

I began very simply, using stick people to convey a series of events, to help M make sense of his day. I have always believed and this has been confirmed, that M is very bright. He learned to use the computer almost by osmosis and if taught practically and visually he grasps new concepts very quickly. The etch a sketch became his constant companion. With it he could share his thoughts, dreams and in short his world.

As his speech improved, these simple visual sequences became social stories. We added photos later and when M went to school; his teachers gave him a visual time table in the shape of a train on a track. Choosing time was always difficult, so he had photos of himself doing various activities, and was asked to pick one photo for each session.

We now use social stories to help M understand how and what to do in social situations. This is often play, but it also helps him make sense of transitions and situations that make him uneasy. Understanding what is expected, helps M to feel calm. I always try and put a positive spin on subjects which are sometimes quite difficult to tackle. Drawing faces with various emotions can be particularly useful when trying to convey how other children are feeling. Apologies to Mumsnetters for including these links again, but I have found them useful recently. They explain the function of social stories and give a template for stories on various social issues.

www.behaviour4learning.ac.uk/viewarticle2.aspx?contentId=10342

www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1574

www.frsd.k12.nj.us/autistic/social%20Stories/social_stories.htm

Wednesday 09/07/2008 The food of Love

Food and diet has never been a comfortable issue for me. Germaine Greer's "Fat is a feminist issue" is one of the many books that I have picked up and discarded unfinished, like a half eaten apple.

Food for M was going to be a completely different kettle of ketchup. I would be an earth Mother nurturing him with good, delicious and nutritious food, to ensure a healthy and happy life (Adorned with a 1950's flowery pinny of course). Readers who have a child with sensory issues, or even those who are picky eaters, will be sniggering by now and not just by the mental image of me in a bad apron.

As you might know from my previous posts,

http://sunshinetc.blogspot.com/2008/06/tuesday-17th-june-2008-itv-my-child.html I have had lost as many battles as I have won, in terms of mealtimes. M has come along way with gentle encouragement, rather than insistence on what he must eat. A simple enquiry from school like '"I wonder what he had for breakfast?" can still have me pole axed with guilt, as I mentally run through two cheese strings, three Cheerios and a biscuit hastily eaten on route.

I have an ongoing Quest to find a breakfast cereal that M likes. I recently 'foolishly' believed that I had cracked it, when he showed a keen interest in the "snap crackle and pop" of Rice Crispies. It looked promising. He was bouncing up and down whilst we poured the milk on them and he listened intently as he carefully carried the bowl through to the dining room. Great I thought, as I nipped off to get things ready for school. It was quiet down stairs, too quiet! I went into the kitchen to find four more bowls full to the brim with Rice Crispies and a deluge of semi skimmed milk, all over the worktop. But did he eat any? I hear you ask. Did he heck!

Tuesday 08/07/2008 Early Support

Early support is a government run scheme for families of children who have a disability:- http://www.earlysupport.org.uk/

There are materials and resources including a family pack :- http://www.earlysupport.org.uk/decMaterialsZone/modResourcesLibrary/HtmlRenderer/Family%20pack.html

There is a booklet on speech and language disabilities, that can be downloaded:-

http://www.earlysupport.org.uk/decMaterialsZone/modResourcesLibrary/HtmlRenderer/Information%20for%20parents.html

Sunday 05/07/2008 The School Fete

The school PTA (including the Dad) has been in a flurry of activity for the last two weeks. The big day arrived with the team anxiously wondering whether to hedge their bets and have it inside. It eventually went ahead as planned on the school field amidst sunshine, strong breezes and the teeniest showers of rain.

The kids and parents were in fine fettle, the smell of hamburgers and hot dogs, enticing the largest queue. The Dad was manning the beer tent and the PTA chairwoman informed me (in hysterics) that she'd had a frantic phone call from him, asking to be let out of the back of chiller van. They had wondered why it was so quiet. Sigh, Frank Spencer springs to mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZyUaA2ulCs&feature=related

Bumble and Spuds joined us and M had a great time. The man and boy did very well at the javelin event, we are waiting to hear the results. M did manage to get himself lost and it is in those moments that you realise the extent of his vulnerability. Despite knowing that Dad was in the beer tent, he quickly became disorientated and was unable to ask for help. Good spirits were restored with a lolly and a hug though, so all in all the day was a big success.

Saturday 05/07/2008 Little things that you hear

As you know M now belongs to a fantastic athletic club. He is able to attend two out of three sessions a week, now that the Dad is part time and we have transport. M has been welcomed with opened arms and he has learned so much about team work, since he has joined. Children should be seven before they join, but they have made an exception for M. When it came to pay the (nominal) annual fee the coach told the Dad that he didn't have to. She said that it was just an absolute pleasure to have him there and she can't wait until he can actually compete.

Grandad C has given me a link to this article about Duncan Goodhew, on Norman Phillips' website. I understand that he too has overcome learning difficulties to become an outstanding sportsman and role model :- http://www.normanphillips.co.uk/duncan_goodhew_bio.htm

Friday 04/07/2008 Every Picture tells a story

Shahida Rahman’s article has been on my mind overnight, especially the theorists who believe that children with SLI may be processing and understanding far more information than they can intelligibly express. The blog and my thoughts are purely a Mother’s eye view, as I struggle to understand what is going on for M.

This recent picture by M is a complete story about a trip to the sea side. He was able to point to each part of the picture, and tell me what they represent. From this I learn that he has conjured and sequenced a string of events and has found his way of communicating his thoughts and more importantly his imagination. Aside from being delighted at his artistic ability, it reminds me just how important for those caring for M, to accept other forms of communication other than speech.

Thursday 03/07/2008 Shahida Rahman 'Specific Language Disorder In Bilingual Children'

I came across this recent article by Shahida Rahman, which is interesting both in terms of speech and language disorder generally and more specifically regarding the impact of SLD for bilingual children:-

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=198709

This extract in particular, challenges other theories that I have read:-

"Other researchers have posed the hypothesis that these children do not have an overall cognitive deficit but, instead, suffer from selective deficits in using or representing the language itself. In other words, rather than having problem with their brain processing and understanding language, these researches believe the child might simply have a problem verbalising what they understand correctly."

Shahida Rahman also has an excellent website which details her book 'Ibrahim where in the spectrum does he belong'. "This is an autobiographical account of a mother's struggle to bring up a child with a learning disorder. It tells the story of Ibrahim and his struggle with Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder, (a speech and language disorder) part of the autistic spectrum disorder." There are also some excellent articles and reviews on the site, which are well worth a read:-

http://www.shahidarahman.co.uk/

Wednesday 02/07/2008 Hank Zipzer the World's best under achiever

My Dad (Spuds) gave me the heads up about this:-

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/14/earlyshow/leisure/books/main553950.shtml

They are a series of books written by Henry Winkler (AKA the Fonz) about a boy called Hank Zipzer, http://www.hankzipzer.com/ a fourth grader who has learning difficulties. They are inspired by Henry's own difficulties, growing up with dyslexia and the books look a lot of fun.

I love this extract :-

"It started to buzz. I looked up. The loud speaker above the door crackled and buzzed again. Then it started to shake. It was coming alive!

"Hank Zipzer!" the loudspeaker said. "Report to Principal Love's office at once." I put my hands over my ears and slid down in my chair. How did it know my name? It was only the first hour of the first day of school, and already my name was coming out of that box on the wall. Everyone in class stared at me.

Some kids giggled. A few of them whispered. But not Nick McKelty. Nope-he cupped his hands over his big mouth and shouted, "Way to go, Zipper Boy." My teacher, Ms. Adolf, shot me a really nasty look.

Show no fear, I thought. Walk the walk. I stood up and strutted to the door like Shaquille O'Neal taking center court. Okay, so I wear a size-four shoe and he wears a twenty-three-it's the attitude that counts. I'm long on attitude. Short on shoe but long on attitude. When I reached the door, I turned to my best friend, Frankie Townsend. "If I don't come back," I told him, "you can have my protractor."

'Short on but shoe but long on attitude' is my new motto!

Tuesday 01/07/2008 Summertime then and now

I have recently hung an old and nearly forgotten picture on our bedroom wall. Three little girls decked out in 1970's summer dresses, are smiling into the camera. Whilst the photo is black and white I can still almost feel the fuzzy orange sofa under my fingers and can smell the Pears shampoo. My baby sister was full of giggles, as she watched the photographer's birdie puppet. The photo is the first and last thing I see each day and it makes me smile.

When M was a toddler he hated to bed, especially during the hot summer evenings. I found that the song 'Summer time' soothed him and we would have to have several renditions until his eyelids grew heavy with sleep. It was always the same song over and over, nothing else would do. Recently, he picked up a small toy microphone and sang the first verse in its entirety. I guess he must have stored the words away to lift my spirits, on a wet summer’s day: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCETgWSwbrE