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…

I read an article in yesterday’s Times newspaper on Tues 23.10.18 with tremendous interest and outrage. It would seem that my son’s treatment at his previous school, including the suggestion of a more specialised school, together with the school’s allowing him to leave without a school to move on to, is an almost textbook case…

I have received a reply from the SEND representative at the Department for Education following my complaint of just over a week ago. In it, the representative states the following: “It is concerning to hear that Daniel has not been at school for such a long time. All children, including those with SEND, are entitled…

I feel guilty all of the time that my son is bored; I forget that letting kids get bored can often be good for them because I place myself under constant pressure to entertain, or to come up with good activity ideas. Part of the problem is that we now have technology whose ‘entertainment’ advantages…

Although our Local Authority case worker has failed, over  a nineteen-month period, to find my son an appropriate school place he has, ironically, succeeded in referring my son to something called ‘Access2Education’ (or A2E). If you are a mobile telephony retail pop-up, by all means distinguish yourself using a jumble of letters and numbers. If,…

My son has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and at the review of his Statement of Special Educational Needs in May 2018 at the mainstream school at which he was a pupil, the SENCO and the Case Manager suggested that my son’s behaviour was beyond the remit of the support that they had been offering, and…

I keep a close eye on Daniel’s wellbeing because, when he is tired, his behaviours become particularly challenging. I say ‘challenging’; what I mean is that he is feeling extremely battered by stimuli, and under greater pressure to process feelings and events. At the beginning of the week, when he awoke with puffy eyes, I…

I know I haven’t been to enough AA meetings by the way I make my entrance: a little too rambunctious – too stressed, too comically coping, too animated in my gestures. Somebody familiar asks me how I am and I unload a litany which, on reflection, was just not, well, authentic. That is not to…