I think that sums up life at the moment - Crazy. I don't have a moment to breath, let alone blog.
Since the beginning of May I have been travelling with work, 2 nights in Amsterdam for a meeting, 5 days later another 2 day meeting in Amsterdam, last week a 5 day meeting in Istanbul (thank god I am not there this week), tomorrow I head back to Amsterdam for yest another 2 day meeting, then hop straight over to Copenhagen for a 4 day meeting.
In between all of this I am also doing my regular mummy duties, dog walking duties, decorating the boys bedroom, training for the Great North Run in September and trying to find a reasonably priced gardener to come and tame the jungle that seems to have appeared outside the back door (please don't get me wrong, we are not rich or posh and have never had a gardener before and probably never will do again, but having done all these meetings, we are in a rare position of having a little extra cash and are realistic enough to realise that neither one of us has the time, knowledge or willpower to sort the garden - the idea being, get a keen gardener who wants a bit of cash in hand to sort it out and then we maintain - mmm right, that's the idea anyhow).
I am also in the process of stomping my authority with the school and refusing to be fobbed off and demanding my Little Man's lack of progress is recognised and looked into and I think we are making progress. The SENCO retired at Easter so I saw the deputy and the head and said I was worried and showed them his work books over the last 2-3 years and the lack of progress.
I expressed my shock when the headmistress actually utter the words 'perhaps we need to accept that Master E has reached his potential'- I don't think so love, and I think she regretting speaking them out loud. The deputy clearly got my upset (only someone with very thick skin and a lack of perception wouldn't have done) and said she would see what she could do.
The following week she rang me and said she had done some assessments and we had every right to be concerned (people did look strangely as a jumped around outside the headmistresses office doing a victory dance while chanting 'told you so' - no not really).
Long and short of it is, they have had the Autistic outreach team in to assess him which has lead to 3 visits from them, and an acknowledgement from them that he needs extra help, and I am currently waiting to speak to them having said we wanted to be involved.
So I had better get back on with the work I need to do towards these 2 meetings I need to fly off to, and get the rest of the painting done, then hopefully out for a run and dog walk all before picking the boys up.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Friday, 5 April 2013
A to Z Blogging Challenge E is for....
E is for Education
Education is something my son is struggling with. He loves school to the point he cries every morning of the holidays as he wants to go, he loves the routine and knows exactly where he is and what he is doing - which is one reason they class him as being on the autistic spectrum. The holidays thrown him, the routine changes and he doesn't like it.
He is very keen to learn, he loves watching science programmes and then trying to recreate the experiments in my kitchen without me there (eek) and he is constantly asking questions to ask about things. His vocabulary and ability to hold a sensible conversation is also good, and in line with what you would expect for his age.
On paper however, it is a different matter. His reading age has been assessed as age 7 (he is 9), his spelling age 5.5 and they haven't even looked at his maths yet but lets just say he is still struggling with the basics and the 2 x table.
Frustratingly, there is little support. He will not qualify for a statement of educational need but he does need constant support to keep him focused and on-task. He doesn't even know his basic phonics, he cant tell you what sound 'ae' or 'oa' or 'er' make, which make spelling impossible for him. His homework is illegible but his teacher still gives him a star and tells him it is a lovely piece of work, well thought out etc, so he perceives this as doing well. While I understand to correct his work would be soul destroying surely they should be looking at it and seeing they need to work on his spelling and focus on common ones he can;t get.
There are reports to show that many children with ADHD are excluded from school, in some cases parents are being told to medicate their child or not send them to school - We are very fortunate not to be in this position, the school is very helpful.
A child in need of additional help should be put on an IEP - Individualised Education plan which gives them specific targets and works on areas of need. From an IEP, School Action Plus can be implemented.
These we have in place however the extra support he gets is dependent on what is available in school as he is not entitled to any specific funding. This for us is very frustrating as he is a bright little man who is struggling and being failed by the system, the way the rest of children are taught just does not suit him, I think he may be dyslexic as well and we are currently investigating this, but in the mean time he just falls further and further behind and there is only so much that can be done at home, by home time he is exhausted, not switched on and has had enough.
Education is something my son is struggling with. He loves school to the point he cries every morning of the holidays as he wants to go, he loves the routine and knows exactly where he is and what he is doing - which is one reason they class him as being on the autistic spectrum. The holidays thrown him, the routine changes and he doesn't like it.
He is very keen to learn, he loves watching science programmes and then trying to recreate the experiments in my kitchen without me there (eek) and he is constantly asking questions to ask about things. His vocabulary and ability to hold a sensible conversation is also good, and in line with what you would expect for his age.
On paper however, it is a different matter. His reading age has been assessed as age 7 (he is 9), his spelling age 5.5 and they haven't even looked at his maths yet but lets just say he is still struggling with the basics and the 2 x table.
Frustratingly, there is little support. He will not qualify for a statement of educational need but he does need constant support to keep him focused and on-task. He doesn't even know his basic phonics, he cant tell you what sound 'ae' or 'oa' or 'er' make, which make spelling impossible for him. His homework is illegible but his teacher still gives him a star and tells him it is a lovely piece of work, well thought out etc, so he perceives this as doing well. While I understand to correct his work would be soul destroying surely they should be looking at it and seeing they need to work on his spelling and focus on common ones he can;t get.
There are reports to show that many children with ADHD are excluded from school, in some cases parents are being told to medicate their child or not send them to school - We are very fortunate not to be in this position, the school is very helpful.
A child in need of additional help should be put on an IEP - Individualised Education plan which gives them specific targets and works on areas of need. From an IEP, School Action Plus can be implemented.
These we have in place however the extra support he gets is dependent on what is available in school as he is not entitled to any specific funding. This for us is very frustrating as he is a bright little man who is struggling and being failed by the system, the way the rest of children are taught just does not suit him, I think he may be dyslexic as well and we are currently investigating this, but in the mean time he just falls further and further behind and there is only so much that can be done at home, by home time he is exhausted, not switched on and has had enough.
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