war and peace
Thanks for all the lovely comments, I will make sure my father in law reads all the lovely things : )
I guess reading back I have managed to achieve a fair amount, it doesn’t feel like it though, I finished off four bags yesterday, and more to do today, but I thought I would clear War and Peace first! So lets begin!
Even though Edward is only in Year Five, he turns 10 this year, I have to decide what secondary school he goes to by February.This is when he has his annual review, this is because he has a Statement of Special Educational Needs, and he is at a special needs school, so I have been looking at the options.
This has been really traumatic, and scary, because choosing a secondary school for Edward is potentially deciding what will happen over the rest of his life, well that is how it feels to me.
So I have found there are two mainstream schools in Hampshire which have ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Units, so I have organised to visit these, even though one quite clearly informed me that they have NEVER taken a child from a special needs school.
So I got very stressed out about this, especially as the secondary school that feeds from his primary school I have not heard anything positive about it from parents, and after speaking to the Head I wasn’t much encouraged.
So then on Wednesday we went to the Harvest Festival at Edward’s school, which was great, but watching him, and his interaction with other children made me realise that throwing him into a mainstream school of 1200 children really was not what would be best for him.
So after the festival I had a chat with the Head about the possibilities for Edward, and his continuing education, and really she confirmed what I had started to feel, and that he sometimes has problems with the number of people there, and that is 50 children and about 30 members of staff, so going to a school with 1200 children would be far too much.
So I spent most of the time in tears, but by the end of the tears I knew that I couldn’t pretend, and I had to look at what is best for Edward, and my hopes and aspirations for him have to come second.
So that is still ongoing, and I will let you know what happens with that, William is doing well, and I don’t want to tempt fate by suggesting anything more than that!
Me, well I had my cauterisation of the cervix yesterday, and it was fine, the most painful bit was having the coil removed! And I knew it was over by the smell!
So remember don’t worry, get it checked out!
And lastly, my sister is in hospital having her gall bladder removed, so we hope that this will the end to all the pain that started last year, so I’ll let you know how that goes!
When I started this blog I never thought I would be blogging about eroded and burnt cervixes, gall bladders and all sorts of medical thingys!!
7th October 2008 @ 11:54 am
Hi Alice. I don’t always leave a comment but something you put here reached out to me: you ARE putting your hopes and inspirations for your chilf First by giving him the best chance, the right environment. You recognise that struggling in a huge school will not work for him and are looking into the alternatives. That is putting your hopes first because with the right environment he will achieve his full potential whatever that is and you will have given him that chance. Good luck with your search xx
7th October 2008 @ 1:03 pm
What a week! You have got a lot on your plate.
I won’t go into lots of details here, but until a couple of years ago I was a head of year at one of the Hampshire Access schools (a mainstream secondary school that tries it’s best to be geared up to take all students, including those from SEN schools). Do email me if you want to chat or to vent!
I completely agree with what Pipany said – you are doing everything that you can to put your child first.
Jo x
7th October 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Hi Alice,
I have a child who just moved from a special needs school to a cooperative classroom in a “regular” school. I think I have some idea of what you are talking about when you write about Edward and William. Do you have DAN doctors in your part of the world? Have you ever read Dr. Bock’s book? Granted he’s not the best writer in the world but I feel he has some useful information about treatment for our boys. Please e-mail me if you would like any more info.
By the way I read your blog because I am enamored of everything you make!
Roxanne
7th October 2008 @ 10:22 pm
I hope you are feeling better and sister is on the mend soon.
I agree with Pipany, you are doing your best and Edward will only benefit from that. It’s not easy being a parent sometimes is it? It can be so hard trying to do what is best for your kids and people will recognise what a great job you are doing and it is fantastic how much it matters to you as this shows how much you care.
Hope all works out x
7th October 2008 @ 11:29 pm
I can’t really think of anything helpful to say except that you are always doing the best for both of the boys, just by being about, so feel positive that you will come to the best conclusion at the right time.
Good luck.
8th October 2008 @ 2:58 pm
Oh Alice what a week you are having.
Glad all went will with the op. the detail has left me feeling a bit squeamish though. Hope your sister’s op goes well for her, but maybe you could leave out the details there!
As for schools, I feel for you. It is difficult enough for any child going into such huge institutions as secondary school and would be even more so for Edward. I hope that your search for the right school comes to fruition very soon.
8th October 2008 @ 8:27 pm
Don’t forget to have a bit of “me”time. It sounds like its all going on at the moment! Although Edward has his issues, you are a good mum and the time and effort you put into his life will reap rewards later. We live in a time when you can get an education at any age if you screw it up as a child then you can go and do it later but if you don’t get self confidence and social skills then it will take so much longer. Find the school that is able to cope with children that are outside the box.