Saturday 14th April

Well, despite D saying every day to me during the week that she misses school, she has spent today realising that she goes back to school on Monday and saying that she doesn’t want to go back. Oh, the predictable unpredictability of it all!

Especially as Mondays bring a fire alarm test at school – which she hates (sensory overload). I have spoken to the school about her wearing ear defenders for this and ordered some red ones (her favourite colour) but they haven’t arrived yet so…Monday morning has the potential to be fun (not)!

But as I have said before, I am very grateful that she can tell me about her anxieties. I have so much admiration and respect for those with a non-verbal child/adult to care for.

D’s virtually constant moaning about school aside, it hasn’t been too bad a day. She is completely and utterly into “Angry Birds Space” at the moment so was overjoyed when this came in the post today:

Lots of spare stickers which will find their way onto pictures in the next few days.

I hope that she will relax a bit more tomorrow about returning to school.

Thanks for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 

At the end of the school day…

I thought of this last night and wanted to share it. There are so many worried parents, wondering which school their child will have been allocated a place at and hoping it will be okay for them.

I found D’s time in mainstream very stressful, knowing that she wasn’t having a good time at school, made for a lot of days spent clock-watching. I didn’t switch off at all and that wasn’t healthy. So, if I did it again, I’d make time in my day for “me”. Have a coffee with a friend, read a magazine etc.

What I did do, and still do now that she’s in a SN school is to always make sure I’m standing in (roughly) the same place so that when she’s coming out she can see me and that I’ve got my arms ready to give her a big hug because no matter how her day might have gone, she is seeking that consistency. There are days when she comes out badly and tries to bolt but I know that is a build-up of emotion throughout the day and we use the journey home to try and discuss – albeit very one-sided at times.

We also have it incorporated into bathtimes routines that we talk about her day, sometimes it’s “I don’t want to chat about that, Mumma” but with gentle prompts, it does work most of the time.

Comments/RTs as ever welcomed, I hope my experiences help. Thanks for reading Jx 