MagicMum.com

Look it up.

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xxxxxxxxxxxx .well SAID.

And look up discrmination coz thats whats happening to me at the moment and Ive had enough.

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Treat life's problems like your dog would... if you can't eat it or shag it... PISS ON IT!!!

You'd feel like we are banging our heads of the wall sometimes wouldn't you

flat forehead xxx

I'm lost. What's this post about

There lies the problem.

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Sorry but this is a very big board and because someone doesn't know what you are on about she's the problem?

+1
Mrsmagoo I assume it's related to this thread
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=428055

This is in Rant. All I was saying was
Inclusion
inclusion
inclusion

Nothing personal Mrs Magoo or Mrs Desperate....

Just A ranty rant rant

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You assumed right

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I am presuming this may be referring to a number of discussions over the past few days regarding children with varying special needs in school settings? I must say I am a little concerned at apparent increase in threads? Maybe this is just a trend and has happened before and will happen again but why is is such a big deal? I suppose this is a place where people talk and share comments and queries about parenting and life and thus these issues will be talked about BUT I also work with children with autism and I am not 100% sure but feel a small negative shift in tems of people's attitudes. It is very disappointing and must be heartbreaking for some parents of little ones

Goodies I don't know if it means there's a negative shift in attitudes per se. I know I personally have learned a lot reading the threads over the last few days - I certainly did not realise some of the attitudes people encountered, nor did I realise some questions would be offensive (eg for me, the current poll question, that I thought was a nuetral question but has upset people, and why ) and so on....I think this is a good thing, that questions are being raised and people who actually live the situation are answering them, it's certainly educated me anyway. I had never given any real thought to this before beyond a general feeling that of course there should be inclusion, or that sna's were necessary or knowing that schools sometimes didn't have resources. That's about as deep as my knowledge went. I do feel I have a far better grasp of the situation now, and far more awareness too. Hopefully that is true of a lot of people reading those threads.

that is a very thoughtful post babybird thank you.....

It is indeed heartbreaking Goodies hence the rant.

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I saw this but think it applies to all needs

plus 1,ooo other conditions xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Skye, first off I'd like to say that I have the utmost respect for you. The tireless, thankless work you have done for kids with special needs astounds & humbles me in equal measure. You saying you despair of me hurt but I would like your opinion as I feel we are not on the same page. Can I ask what is your interpretation of inclusion?

While you ponder your response, I'll give you mine. You're aware that for my DD to reach her full potential we must emigrate as a family. I have spoken to many people in various settings but the one that springs to mind now is a member of the school board. He explained a 'peer programme' where the school board work closely with & engage the services of consultants who would work with school staff to explain dd's needs; more importantly IMO, they would work with dd's classmates to explain her needs; how her needs may differ to theirs; how her behaviour may differ to theirs, with the ultimate goal being A's peers would be aware of her needs, understand why she may behave differently in certain circumstances & act accordingly. Once they were happy A's peers were aware of her needs & how to act/react, they would fade into the background but still be available if needed. That IMO is inclusion. Inclusion through understanding. Inclusion through nurturing.

I'd liken inclusion in this country to 'rooming in' in maternity hospitals - great in theory, but alot needs to be done to make it work.

I have no issues with the resources available to A this year. She has a Fab teacher, Fab sna who is loved by all the kids, resource hours too. But the one issue I do have is her peers not being aware of her difficulties. I'm sure there is resentment when her classmates have to work while she is taken out to blow bubbles etc. They are not aware of her difficulties & therefore cannot react positively to them. While speaking highly of her teacher, sna & principal, I would call it forced inclusion & I don't think that will benefit anyone in the long run. I do believe that if A's classmates were aware of her difficulties they would be very nurturing & caring; such is human nature. As it stands, I feel she is being set up for alot of resentment.

Mummyplum the last line of your post just stood out for me. In my experience dd1 was in a class
For 5 years with a child who had autism. I never told her he had special needs but her and all
Her friends very quickly realised that x needed more help than they did. They certainly didn't hold resentment.

Likewise my JI has a child with Special needs in her class too. She often mentions x has a star chart or whatever but she never asks why she doesn't have one. She just accepts it as the norm with x iykwim.

I hope things get sorted for you

Mummyplum,
I never meant to offend/hurt anyone in the previous thread but I was just trying to explain how we need inclusion to work and to be the norm. I think if inclusion was the norm things would be different, I doubt any child would resent the extra time your Dd gets as instinctively everyone knows and accepts people are different. I don't think people should try to hide the fact that there is a difference either and in many cases I think it's good/better if everyone understands/knows that someone is a little different or needs access to an SNA or resource hours etc. To be honest if Inclusion were the norm in society kids would know no different from the start...that's when inclusion needs to start.
My Dd was in playschool with a little girl with Down syndrome and a little boy with Aspergers. She was great pals with the lo with DS and she went on playdates etc. The playschool teacher said that having the lo with DS in the class had benefited everyone. Of course she had benefited too. There was no forced inclusion there.
Now tell me why you have to emigrate? As I did not know that.
My son is attending or supposed to be attending a Special school. He was denied an SNA as were 5 of his peers, 3 with Autism and 2 with Dual diagnosis DS/Autism, Kabuki syndrome and my son J dual diagnosis DS/Cinca syndrome. They were offered One Hour per Day of schooling with SNA, some people understood that to mean they could attend but would only have access to an SNA for 1 hour. In reality it meant that J and his friends could only actually attend for one hour. This fact that these children whose only hope to access any education was to attend a special school was snatched from them and nobody cared. This is not inclusion. Could you imagine if 6 neuro-typical kids were told "Sorry you can only attend school for one hour for the forseeable future" .... It just wouldn't happen and there would be uproar (rightly so)
Sadly in the Special needs community as you know we are all too tired, too busy, too fraught to cause as much of an uproar as we'd like. We are a relatively small community too so when many of us are full-time carer's it makes things really difficult. We are easy prey.
Anyway back to the point I was trying to make on the other thread, All kids are equal, no-one deserves to be treated in any way differently including neuro-typical children, children of different races or religions. We need to embrace the different, embrace diversity.
In the last thread the main problem was that the Op hadn't gone to speak to the teacher/SNA about her huge concerns, her Dh spoke to the SNA on Fri and I'm sure she will follow it up again during the week. The main problem I had with that whole scenario and thread was that because the child had SN imparticular DS (which my son has) it hit a nerve. If the child in question had red hair and freckles would the same question have been posed at the end of the Op's first post? Would she have said " Should red-haired children with freckles be allowed to attend mainstream?" ............NO...why? Because red haired children are plentiful and accepted in society. One day I hope that ALL our children will be accepted equally so.
Sorry if the reply is a long one and sorry for repeating similar stuff from the other thread but I just want to clarify where I'm coming from for those who aren't sure.
What I hope we have achieved from these threads over the last few days is raise awareness, promote inclusion and on some level 'normalise' disability....then at least we have broadened people's minds a little. For that I am grateful.
Over and out...

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I agree. All 3 of my children have, or have had, children in their class with special needs, and while at first they sometimes commented on why was X allowed play games while they did maths or whatever, it was always in a questioning way, not a resentful way. As they got older they realised why that was, even if they didnt know the nature of the special needs, they understood that everyone is different and not everyone does the same school work. In almost 9 years of sending children to school, never once has any of mine said anything negative or resentful about a child with SN, they just see it as 'needing a bit of extra help' and that seems to have always been the attitude fostered by the school.

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Never judge a book by its cover. The most worn out books sometimes have the best stories to tell.

I think that attitudes are changing. My sister had a significant disability. She was in mainstream schooling and she was cherished by her classmates. They used to argue over who would assist her. They remember her to this day. The nuns in the school encouraged the other children to value her equally with the other children.

However, her educational needs were never taken seriously and never met. Now my niece has special needs and she is in mainstream schooling- actually in the same school,although the nuns are all gone now. She is being assisted in her learning and has an sna but has no friends, no longer has parties because she has no friends and is simply not considered by her peers because she is different.

Oh God that is sooo sad. I'm so sorry to hear that. Do her parents ensure she also has SN friends? This is also very important. I see it alot where SN kids attend mainstream but as the kids get older they outgrow the kids with SN as they continue to mature alot faster. It's so important to take part in extra-curricular activities imo with similar abilities.
Alot of organisations help with this like Down syndrome Ireland,Autism action Ireland, Spina-bifida/hydrocephalus Ireland etc
It is vital that everyone has friends. Education is secondary imo, though important. Skye xxx

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Have tears in my eyes reading that Skye. One of her problems is that her disability is very vague and hard to pin down... she wouldn't have a diagnosis, only a cluster of symptoms so she can't join an obvious group as such... Must talk to her parents about it though. She is such a sweet girl and so resigned to the things that limit her.