Left Brain Right Brain

I meant to type this in the other day but I’ve been under the weather a tad- as is my wont I’m wide awake in the middle of the night and remembered this.

If you remember we’d had the EP’s report back awhile ago. Well, we hadn’t heard anything so I emailed the guy (these people are not always happy to make it easy for you to contact them so my evil genius internet persona took over and I hunted around a bit, sacrificed a chicken or two and discovered his email address.

I sent him a very friendly email saying hi, long time no speak, what progress are we making and got back that he wasn’t in charge now- he was simply a spear-carrier for his boss and that she would….

collect together information from other sources (e.g. medical reports) and then use the information to decide how best to proceed. She will write to you once she has been able to make a decision.

Which started the old alarm bells ringing….She’d make the decision? And then she’d write? Hmmm. I think not. Luckily the EP had BCC’d his boss in to his reply to me, so with judicious use of Header editing in Outlook, I got her email address too.

I sent her a very pleasant email asking her what teh score was and why no-one had thought to ask us, her parents, what was an appropriate way to proceed was (I know they’d done the EP assessment but half an hour’s visit ain’t comprehensive in my opinion). I was very friendly and polite and got this reply-

**** report on his observations of Megan was considered by the District Panel at the end of last term when it was concluded that an assessment place at a special needs nursery may be appropriate for Megan.We were however unable to contact the nursery before the school holidays to discuss this possibility and the likelihood of a place with them.We have written and expect a reply at the begining of the new term. If a place can be identified we will then contact you to invite you to visit . A statutory assessment would then be initiated to inform the decision as to whether Megan equires a statement.

So I’m now thinking “Panel? What Panel?” Neither I nor Naomi had been informed about any Panel. And I’d love to know how they reached their conclusions based on one 3/4 hour visit.

This bit…

A statutory assessment would then be initiated to inform the decision as to whether Megan equires a statement.

…sounds particularly ominous. SO, I wrote a reply containing this…

Just to clarify this, **** informed us that his assessment was the beginning of the Statementing process- we were not aware that it was still under discussion as to whether this process would be initiated at all. We’re aware that Statementing is a vital part of the educative process for kids with special needs so we’re obviously keen to make headway with this part of the process ASAP- we’re having some discussion with the NAS (National Autistic Society) regarding this process to aid our understanding so anything you could offer on the way this process works would be greatly appreciated.

I’m hoping she’ll sense that I’m not to be trifled with- I’m thinking she probably won’t though. I’m thinking we’re going to feel pretty damn messed with all-round by the time this gets sorted.

Anyway- no response yet, so I’ll follow up with a adulatory email on Monday morning.

Just thought I’d update everyone on how the Eye Q progress was coming on.

So far, as per the previous thread, we’d tried adding it to hot drinks- with little success. So we’ve now swapped to using it in a sugar-free squash drink which she takes with no problems.

As to its effectiveness, we’ve noticed Megan has definitley started to maintain eye contact for a lot longer than she used to. She’s also started using words more- in a ‘mimicky’ way mostly but also in an appropriate sense (I got her a cup of tea yesterday and she said “fanks”).

This is in no way ‘scientific’ or even conclusive- it could be anything but taken under its owns trength, I’d definitley say that Eye Q has made a positive difference to Megan.

Yes!!! Megans speech therapist appointments finally through. Its for the 2nd September.

We’re made up about this as we’re very keen to get Megan started. We think there’ll be significant improvements in Megans speech as when she was at the assessment centre, just a two-hour visit from the Speech Therapist had Megan showing improvement.

Still no news on the other promised specialists as of yet. Time to start getting even more assertive methinks.

After hearing people mention this stuff we decided to buy some and give it a try.

Its supposed to enhance or help kids with ASD to concentrate and communicate- althoug it must be stressed that its hearsay not scientific fact.

So we bought the micro-capsules (aparently the liquid is foul) to sprinkle in Megans yoghurt etc. Unfortunately Megan’s cottoned on and refuses to eat whatever we put the bloody things into!!

So, we’re going to have to think laterally. She loves cups of tea so I’m going to try and ‘melt’ each dose into her tea and pray it doesn’t alter the taste significantly.