Intro

This is my story about life with my special needs child. This is us, age 34 and 9...

I often find myself explaining to other mums how different it is looking after my child with special needs compared to theirs, her peers.

Me: "she was hard work this morning"

Them: "they're all hard work in the morning"

Me: "I know, but she can be more difficult due to her special needs"

Them: "what's wrong with her?" (I explain again)

Me: "she has developmental delays which means although she's 10 she only has the speech and understanding of a much younger child"

Them: "Oh, well don't worry my child can't do certain things yet either"

Me: "No, it's more than that, she needs a lot of care and support especially at school." 

Them: "Don't worry she'll get there"

Me: "she can't walk home on her own as she has little awareness of danger and can't cross the road safely

Them: "oh I know, my child can't either so I only let them walk home part of the way"

Me: "I need to collect her and walk her home as she won't check the road. She becomes distracted easily and would quite happily walk off with one of her friends and not make it home" 

I see most of her peers walking home on their own or playing out on the street. Mine, well she will wander off anywhere and not even realise she's lost. She's set my heart racing at the park, supermarket, shops. She likes guidance and instructions and without them she just flounders.

So, at the time of starting this blog my daughter has just turned 10. We became aware that something was wrong when she was at preschool. I personally thought it was something she would grow out of but the teaching staff were insistent that we had her assessed by a specialist. By age 3 she was diagnosed with GDD, global developmental delays. A very generic term which basically means they don't know what's wrong with her other than she has delayed development. At age 5 she started reception at a mainstream school with a Statement of Special Educational Needs (now Education Health and Care Plan). This was the start of our journey into the murky waters of the SEN education system.

I have wanted to start this blog for a while now to share my story, in the hopes that some of my experiences may help other SEN parents out there.