In 2016 I had a breakdown, or depressive episode; I don’t think it was the former as, I remained at home while my mother took care of my son, who was 6 years old at the time. A friend recommended a psychiatrist whom, as a result of the compensation that I had received after a…

Dear James, It is time for the buck to stop. You are the one who, last May, suggested that Daniel would fare better in a more specialist educational environment, yet you neglected to issue a Proposed Amended EHCP until I had raised my complaint to level 2 late last year. You are the one who…

It was only after I had complained for 3 months, and elevated my complaint to a ‘Level 2’, that funding was made available for home tuition for my son, who has still not got a school place seven months after leaving his old school last July. I call it Unofficial Exclusion. While the old primary…

This week has been hard; halfway through MuayThai training this morning I was feeling so hard on myself I was almost crying. I quickly made a jokey comment to someone and ‘recovered’ enough to finish the class with 100 Upper Cuts, which I can’t quite believe I managed! I have berated the case worker for…

Exhaustion kicked in today. I got up and then, while I was washing my hair I had the most awful thoughts: scoring some smack and offing myself; getting hold of a gun and shooting myself in the head (but then, dismissing that following a fascinating National Geographic article from last year); cutting myself just to…

I have had one of the most exhausting days so far – which is saying a great deal, considering the amount of strife generated in addition to an already unfortunate (to say the least) situation. I have been chastising myself, since the dust of the ‘screwdriver threat’ fuss settled, for not asking what actually happened.…

Bringing up a child with special needs is no mean feat; doing it as a single parent on medication for depression makes it quite a challenge to be mastered – and you never feel remotely on top of things. The plan has been for a tutor to come to our home Mon, Weds and Thurs…

I have run out of expletives to describe my son’s plight and, by extension, mine. The Local Authority – Elmbridge and, more specifically, the North East Surrey SEND Team,  have failed to do their job in such abysmal ways that what began as my son having no school place has been compounded in so many…

13th Nov 2018 I hate being under this amount of stress. I have been told, by an ex-Headmaster friend, that the present situation of my son being denied his legal right to an education is stressful enough; then you add in my wiring, and his, and you have something altogether beyond the pale. Of course,…

To Whom It May Concern, I write to alert you to my concerns about the handling of my son’s case,which has been badly mismanaged by NE Surrey SEND Team.  My son, Daniel,is eight years old and was diagnosed two and a half years ago with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following this, the SENCO of the school…

A series of SEND funding cuts has swept across the country and, in particular, Surrey. At the beginning of October it was reported that several parents took the campaign against these cuts to the High Court, and the struggles that all families with a special-needs member have been put through for years began to receive…