Introduce yourself (part one)

Hi, I'm Kath. I am a mother of an 18 year old lad with ASD. He is having some problems at the moment but it has all come to an head and hopefully we have broken the back of it now. I think we can see a way forward.

I have looked at some of the posts in the forums and  I really feel for those of you who are fighting for your young children and trying to get them in the right educational environment with the right provision. It can be a nightmare - I know.

Looking back though, I can also remember the slightly confusing or the funny side of things. Before my son got a diagnosis I was forever being called in and told off by his teacher. I was called in on day 3! Why? She had asked the children if they knew what an umbrella was. My 4 year old replied quickly saying that it was a device for holding off the rain. I asked her what was wrong with this answer and she rudely told me that 'NO' child calls an umbrella a 'DEVICE'. Well mine did, and I was rather proud of his answer. To this day I don't know what she expected me to do about it!

On another occasion I was called in and sat at a table. The teacher picked up a pile of painting and turned them over one by one - all 24 of them - and she insisted that I took a good look at them. She had asked the children to take note of what they saw on the way to school and then to paint a picture. All the paintings were lovely - houses, gardens, trees, little flowers and a big yellow sun in the sky. Finally, she turned over my child's drawing and much to her displeasure I laughed uncontrollably. I couldn't help it. He had drawn a very detailed diagram of the drainage system and connected it all up underground.  I thought it was brilliant! He was different. I already knew that and I didn't need her to keep pushing this in my face. The other children couldn't have drawn that diagram if they had tried!

Our children think differently and they teach us to think differently too! It wouldn't do if we were all the same, would it?

Hi, I'm Kath. I am a mother of an 18 year old lad with ASD. He is having some problems at the moment but it has all come to an head and hopefully we have broken the back of it now. I think we can see a way forward.

I have looked at some of the posts in the forums and  I really feel for those of you who are fighting for your young children and trying to get them in the right educational environment with the right provision. It can be a nightmare - I know.

Looking back though, I can also remember the slightly confusing or the funny side of things. Before my son got a diagnosis I was forever being called in and told off by his teacher. I was called in on day 3! Why? She had asked the children if they knew what an umbrella was. My 4 year old replied quickly saying that it was a device for holding off the rain. I asked her what was wrong with this answer and she rudely told me that 'NO' child calls an umbrella a 'DEVICE'. Well mine did, and I was rather proud of his answer. To this day I don't know what she expected me to do about it!

On another occasion I was called in and sat at a table. The teacher picked up a pile of painting and turned them over one by one - all 24 of them - and she insisted that I took a good look at them. She had asked the children to take note of what they saw on the way to school and then to paint a picture. All the paintings were lovely - houses, gardens, trees, little flowers and a big yellow sun in the sky. Finally, she turned over my child's drawing and much to her displeasure I laughed uncontrollably. I couldn't help it. He had drawn a very detailed diagram of the drainage system and connected it all up underground.  I thought it was brilliant! He was different. I already knew that and I didn't need her to keep pushing this in my face. The other children couldn't have drawn that diagram if they had tried!

Our children think differently and they teach us to think differently too! It wouldn't do if we were all the same, would it?