Volunteering: The best way to spend your summer
Tania says: We’re heading off for Italy this weekend and because both kids are autistic, we’ve always rented a villa with a pool and taken their Grandma and Nonno along …
Category: Personal Posts
Finally: summer, special needs stories and a teenage birthday
Ah, so school’s out for pretty much everyone from today..just in time for the summer sunshine to finally show itself. Although my boys are enjoying the end of their second …
Inspired: Youngest meets Dr Temple Grandin.
Last night we had the privilege of going to see Dr Temple Grandin, the autistic woman famous for inventing humane animal handling systems. Dr Grandin is also a renowned expert …
SEN – The Next Steps – My views & Meridian Tonight feature
So, there’s been much furore today about the headlines for proposals that 450,000 children be ‘struck off’ the SEN register. This is a bit of a stupid headline, to say …
Special Needs Jungle in the Daily Telegraph. What I really think
There’s a story about SEN in the Daily Telegraph today “Can 20 per cent of schoolchildren really have special needs?” by Peter Stanford. It’s already attracted lots of comments, some …
Sensory needs met with a Body Sox
Many children with special needs have sensory issues, including my two. Their school used Body Sox which Youngest absolutely loves. He asked me to source one for him and here …
Why I turned my back on my TV news career
Recently I appeared in Woman magazine – a small section in a feature entitled, “Meet the regret-me-nots” My piece was headlined, “I regretted becoming a full-time mum”, which isn’t strictly …
Conversations with an Aspie teen
When your Asperger’s son is deep in adolescence, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether their behaviour and conversation is more autistic or teenager. Two examples below from (extremely intelligent) Son1: …
Teachers didn’t understand my bright sons’ ASD, says Tania Tirraoro (SEN Magazine)
I’ve just been sent a pdf of my article that was in the last issue of SEN Magazine. The magazine is a great read – lots of useful ideas for …
Ritalin, talking therapies and what I think our kids really need…
The Health Minister, Simon Burns has said that the chief medical officer and the NHS medical director are planning to write to clinicians to remind them of the full range of …
The sidelong glances that can cause anguish
One of the most difficult things to cope with when your child has a ‘hidden’ disability that affects their behaviour or social communication ability, is the attitude of other people, …
A Good Image for Asperger Syndrome
I’m about to blow my own trumpet, so look away now if you’re not into hearing people’s good news… I’ve just published my novel, This Last Summer, on Amazon Kindle …
Books I recommend for Special Needs
I have quite a collection of books about special needs and parenting and thought I would share some recommendations with you. I usually buy mine from amazon.co.uk, so I’ll link …
Journey’s End for our Statement – And a Brighter Future.
Just to update the post about my son getting the statement of Special Needs, we’ve just heard that the LEA has agreed to fund him at his independent special school. …
An Actor’s Life For Him.
My 11 year old has just had his first co-starring role in a school play. He’s currently playing Ratty in a production of ‘Wind in the Willows’ at More House …
Give ASD children the school provision they need
The Times today (Saturday 13 June 2009) has an article about children with special needs being excluded from school. It points to a recent survey showing that 55 percent of …
Child-Free.. as free as the wind blows..
This morning, without so much as a backwards glance, both our autistic children climbed on board a coach with their classmates and set off for their annual trip to PGL. …
See my other blog – Not As Advertised
I’ve decided to start a second blog. I know, that’s just greedy but there are plenty of them to go round if you want your own. It’s called “Not As …
Long ago..when I was somebody
Long, long ago, before I was ‘Special Needs Mum’, I had a great career as a television journalist and news reader. I loved it – the job, the lifestyle, the …
Sports Day at More House School
We’ve just come home from Sports Day. This always used to be a day of tears, upset and general not wanting to go to school. That is, until they started …