new beginnings

frozen in time

It feels like we are coming out of hibernation...

So much has happened that I don't have time to do write it all down, but I think we're coming back to the blogging and soon to the home education...

laurie is due to start secondary school this year and it has focussed our thoughts for a long time. I have spent hours looking for a school small enough to replicate his current small primary school in Govan. Shame we can't replicate the head teacher and her staff because he is still doing fantastically well at that school.

We are just not prepared to set him up to fail in a large secondary school where people have no concept of him and his needs. The fact that he is so high functioning means that people just do not see how differently his brain does work. He has also got much better at masking things (like when he doesn't understand the instructions, etc.) He just works it out himself eventually and quietly and then completes the task. He is desperate to start learning 'real' things. He wants academic challenge.

So I am going to do this with him. We will be interpreting the term home education broadly to encompass a wide range of activities, both academic and practical. We will be doing solitary and social learning and sometimes it will be well structured (because he likes that) and other times we'll let our hair down a bit. Our home education won't just be happening in the home but it may include rearing chickens and growing some of our own food.

I can't wait....

We contemplated us both giving up our jobs and moving to Orkney (yes a bit drastic but very nearly happened last September but didn't work out). The plan is now for me to finish work in time to start the secondary education phase while Tim stays in his job. We'll sell the grand flat in Glasgow and downsize. We 're planning to move to the country (maybe in Argyll & Bute)...

I am going to try to make some money with a bit of elearning consultancy and my photography. I've been working on a new website and not had any time for flickr or the blogging. Maybe I can start to catch up again with my non work life!

the new photography website...

recappings

I went away last week and it was so good not to worry and to be able to focus on work. I got back to a fantastic response....

most enthusiastic greeting was from hector the wonderdog, closely followed by the other two boys. seems they were all really pleased to have me back but had missed me too. they got on fine and had a good time.

good relief...

got lots of extra things to do at work - think I need it to help me focus - hope I can handle it but have developed a more organised approach which is helping...

boring work stuff though

let's have a photo...

it's called ruination - I've been feeling kind of dark and listening to old prog rock stuff and my photos seem dark but actually they are really positive and you may have to be in the same space to get that. some fab people on flickr also see the dark stuff in a positive light




but I have also been doing some dark photos of laurie and it seems that people really don't like children presented as other than happy and carefree and innocent

I can appreciate an innocent child shot as much as the rest but I really do strongly believe that we need to engage with the pain too - then we can appreciate the joy

here is one that I love but only my philosophical type contacts seem to like.

it's called all the other fish fear you


and has this quotation from a van der graaf generator song

so you live in the bottom of the sea and you kill all that come near you...
but you are very lonely, because all the othe fish fear you...
and you crave companionship and someone to call your own
because for the whole of your life you've been living alone.
Van der graaf generator
H to HE who am the only one, 1970

its june 2nd tomorrow and at 11.30 we find out if we have a diagnosis

I can't believe that we are half way through the year - I'm 45 next week

it deserves a celebration....

recoverings

Well a few days later and we're surviving the aftermath of the exclusion.

We got the report of the incident and it was a very poorly written document full of subjective comments and emotive language. I have prepared a 4 page reply which is very measured, contains quotations from government documents and the National Autistic Society (NAS) which describes the kind of sensory overload that my son experiences in his school and the likely impact of this on his behaviour.

Some awful statistics from the NAS website include:

• 40% of all children with autism wait more than three years for a clear diagnosis
• People with autism often want to make friends but due to their disability find it difficult
• 21% of children with an ASD have been excluded from school at least once

This is one example of how gifted my son is - entitled self portrate