So here we are – last day of the summer term, and Pudding has done a whole year in mainstream.
This time last year I was anxiously waiting for September and wondering how things would go. There have been a lot of emotional ups and downs since then, but right now I’m facing the future with calm.
In reading other blogs from the disability world, I’m well aware that schooling, as with many other services, is a lottery. I feel very lucky that we somehow managed to get hold of a winning ticket. So many parents face discouraging messages: ‘we don’t feel we can meet his needs’ or ‘perhaps your daughter would do better somewhere they have more experience’. Yet at our local school I have only ever heard ‘How can we make this work?’
For inclusion to succeed there has to be the will, throughout the school, to enter into it wholeheartedly and there are many reasons why this year has worked for Pudding. A headteacher who believes in inclusion enough to have a member of staff dedicated to SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) work three full days a week. A SENCo who holds regular coffee mornings for parents to discuss areas of concern. Teachers who welcome difference into the classroom and explain it to other children. And most of all, a teaching assistant who throws herself into learning Makaton, developing resources, teaching and caring for Pudding as if he were her own.
And I have to mention the other children – one of the benefits of mainstream which I never expected is the way Pudding has been taken to heart by the whole school community. To watch the Year 6 children scramble to give him high fives has been such a joy to me.
There have of course been some negatives. There was the nativity which didn’t go quite as I’d have liked. On days when Pudding was in a bad mood I would dread hearing that he’d badly injured another child when throwing something. Perhaps the most difficult thing, again unexpected, has been emails from the class teacher explaining what phonics or maths the children were learning that week. I’m afraid I just stopped reading these regular reminders of how far Pudding is behind on ‘typical’ development.
Much as I have loved the positive experience we have had in reception year, I did start to worry what Year 1 would be like. Whilst his peers move towards more desk-based work, Pudding still struggles to sit and concentrate at anything for long. In an open-plan environment I had visions of him becoming more and more disruptive. We took the difficult decision to apply for a split placement – requesting that he stay in mainstream for 2 days a week but then have the other days in a special school.
I say a difficult decision: logically I felt it was the right thing to do, but emotionally it was another big step on the path of acceptance. I wanted to give him the best of both worlds – keeping him rooted in the local community, but also having the chance of more specialist teaching with other children on his own development level.
Our request was turned down, due to lack of space in the special school.
I won’t deny that this decision really upset me.
But once again, Pudding’s current school stepped up to the mark. Almost immediately I got an email from the SENCo asking how I was, and reassuring me that they would put in place whatever was needed to make things work. And they have already. The children all move up to their new class three weeks before the end of term, so Pudding has now been in Year 1 for three weeks. In consultation with the special school they have set a personalised timetable for him and found a room where he can go to do focused 1:1 work. He has regular access to play resources and plenty of interaction with his classmates. And so far the results have been really positive.
None of us know what the future holds. Even with the intervention of his trial meds, the gap between his abilities and that of his peers will continue to widen. We may need to apply for a full-time place in special school for the next year. But for now, I know he’s in a great place.
And he’s happy. At the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.
Since Christmas I don’t think I’ve been the best mother for you. I’ve spent too long stuck in a darker place than I’d like to be. I’ve been too easily frustrated by you and your brother, and have been finding it difficult to accept life as it is now as opposed to the life I expected. Things have been turned around lately though; 
Quite a few people commented yesterday about the nice weather we’ve had this weekend. I know there was sunshine but I barely saw it as I was sat indoors in a dark room listening to presentation after presentation at a conference.
It was a little nerve-wracking to send a challenging child like Pudding off with a complete stranger but I cannot sing their praises enough. For the brief hour that I saw T on Saturday – in between their trip to Drayton Manor and the evening entertainment – he talked non-stop about their volunteer and how great he was.
There was more emotion at the Gala Dinner on Saturday when awards were presented to those who’ve made a difference to the MPS community. People who’ve gone above and beyond to raise money, campaign for treatment or support others. I might have cried just a smidgeon. I blame the wine. Afterwards there was time to let our hair down and have a go at some funfair games while the childcare volunteers continued their stirling work. We even got a little goody bag with items donated by a few companies.
Pudding is very slowly continuing to add to his vocabulary and make progress in small ways. I was able to tell them how recently he got a snack out the pantry which I’d accidentally left open and then put it back when I told him!!!! (This is huge, people!) Throughout most of the meeting, Pudding was sitting beautifully in his buggy and playing games on his tablet. The consultant commented on his concentration levels and said that in the normal course of Hunter Syndrome he would expect increased levels of hyperactivity by now. Overall therefore, he was ‘cautiously optimistic’ that the trial meds are working for him.
A Hunter's Life 