The FastDay Forum

Actually not had any choc today - took the Thorntons to the party but they didn't get opened - just had a slice of my killer chocolate roulade though - yum! Oh and I kind of fell in love with a little fluffy kitten that needs a good home - and her brother may have to come with her...............

Debs chocolate is good for you, I'm going to bite the ears off my bunny very soon - Lindt bunny that is.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.

Just for @Wineoclock...

We have had a perfect Easter Sunday up here in the highlands of Scotland, blue skies and sun, sitting out in the garden eating hot cross buns and chocolate, watching the grand kids running around like daft things. Hope you have all had an equally enjoyable day. After a week of over indulgence I will have to get back on the wagon tomorrow :

Just going back to your comment about friends & family, Penny....

My son is on the autistic spectrum (classically autistic as opposed to Asperger's) and I have to say that the old adage "knowledge is power" was never so true. Once we knew what the issues were, we were in a better position to help him. He is 21 now & we have had to fight the LEA all the way over the years for provision and a SEN statement.

My advice would be to not take what the school says as gospel....and to explore it further. They could very well be thinking budgets & staffing implications of one to one support....particularly as it is so difficult to get a statement these days......

Best of luck x

I have an Autistic and an Aspergers child at home. I was so fed up of the abuse my autistic son was suffering at school because his needs weren't being met even though he was on Action plus, that we took him out of school and Home Educated him (Home Schooled). We have never looked back, he may not have got any exams to wave at people, but he wouldn't have had them anyway (low IQ). What we do have is a mature lad who knows what his problems are and who has grown up without the stress that an autistic kid usually suffers in a school setting. So his personality has been able to integrate better instead of being shattered with having to wear the masks and armour in school that autistic kids wear. His anxiety levels are much, much better than they ever were and his 'meltdowns' have dropped from every day to once every 2 months or so.
The school may not actually see any problems in your son. He will behave impeccably in school, holding in all the stress and anxiety, trying desperately to appear and act 'normal'. Yet as soon as he's safe at home the dams burst and you are left trying to deal with meltdowns, physical attacks, self harm, anxiety, stress, not eating, making themselves sick, the whole mess that attending school does to an autistic child. But the school never see's the after effects you have to deal with so they don't ask for the funding or the extra help that he needs.

When we took Martyn out of school, he was so badly traumatised that if we sat down with a book, any book, with him for six months he would burst into tears. We had to get a private diagnosis to get a decent report about his problems, all we had ever had from the Child Development Centre and the school was a one paragraph note that 'he seemed to have problems with socialising'. The private report we had was 16 pages long, it explained what they had seen, what they had tested for and they explained what the results meant in plain English, the most telling was that Martyn was profoundly Dyslexic, which the school had never picked up on. At the end they also suggested way of helping Martyn plus lots of books to read and organisations that could help. If you can afford it, get a private test done. If you can do it, look into Home Education as a way forward for his education. Right off my soap box.

And my latest blog with pictures of the patio fun we had, and are still having as the gardening part is still ongoing now that the landscaping part has finished.
blog/Julieathome/whilst_i_was_supposed_to_be_%CA%B9resting%CA%B9._b-2665.html

What a lovely day for visiting Foxton Locks, 12 locks running down the Grand Union canal. It was packed!

Any pics @azureblue?
Anyone got any advice for me re neighbours and tellies..or rather,neighbours with loud tellies.
Man in flat below.. I asked him a while ago to turn his telly down as it was quite loud and very tiring to hear..specially as it s on in the daytime as well as in the evening..he was great about it and it was peaceful for a long while...but seems to be creeping up again..i like my own telly on very low but have had to turn it up just now and can still hear neighbour's tv
Looks like i' ll have to broach the subject again with him hate this sorta thing..

Your wish ...

[wildmissus]

Well what an evening we have had. Youngest daughter (age 13) failed to return home from school. The academy finishes at 15:30 and by the time she wanders home she usually gets in at 16:30 at the latest. Her mobile phone is broken so no way of contacting her. By 17:30 we were phoning round her friends who all thought that she walked home with one the other friends, OH was driving around the town looking for her. I started phoning round my friends who went looking for her. At 18:15 we phoned the police who immediately came round, one took a photo of her away with him the other stayed and took details. One of the policemen turned out to be a neighbours son-in-law which calmed my nerves a little. Oldest daughter gets onto facebook and starts messaging missing daughter's friends we don't know and we get a message that she left school with one of these friends. At 19:00 a little silver car pulls up and daughter gets out of the car. What a relief. It turns out that she went to this friends house at the other end of the town and her mother (who is the deputy head of one of the local primary schools!!!) dropped her back home, with a police car parked outside our house. Daughter got a talking to by one of the policemen which meant we didn't really need to say much to her! Then to phone her friends and my friends who were either driving or walking around town or waiting frantically to hear she was safe. Alls well that ends well.

@wildmissus very glad you had a happy ending to your story. My son invited a friend back once when they were in year 8. Unfortunately the bus journey to our house was longer than the one to his house and his mum was already looking for him by the time I phoned their house to say he was with us. The first we knew that there was a serious search going on was when the police phoned my son's mobile. I felt dreadful about it, son had a lecture about bringing friends home without their parents being aware and it didn't happen again!

@Wildmissus you must have been frantic. The wee monkeys don't think to look at things from other peoples view point, however that is a good lesson learned with no harm done.

OMG @wildmissus so glad she's home safe. Made me cry with relief when I got to the end of your tale. Bet you gave her a big bedtime hug tonight x

@wildmissus how awful for you. Kids just don't think do they, they now they're safe so they don't think about us worrying. Might be time for a new phone.
I'm glad all was ok.

Glad that she is home safe now, take care my sweet.

cheers
Maggie