Statement review and school update

Wow. Time is flying by and I've still not managed to get into blogging as regularly as I'd hoped. Starting the manic run up to Christmas now too, so sure there'll not be much time going forward for anything except shopping..... So I promise I'll get better at it in the New Year - same time as I finally get to the gym again....

Anyhow a very quick update for now. Sasha is doing amazingly well at school, which is lovely but also slightly unsettling, bizarrely. I think it's partly that once I find I don't have to worry about one thing, I feel a bit lost without the next issue to concentrate on! This week we had her statement review (every 6 months until the term after her 5th birthday, then just once a year thankfully). I was anxious before the meeting - I remember only too well how everyone told me I'd never get a statement for Sasha, and seeing as she has been getting on so well at school, I thought they (the council) may just take it away again.

It turns out I needn't have worried, as everyone is still in agreement that she still needs the help specified in the statement. Not that there's a lot specified, to be honest, it's not like she has a dedicated assistant or anything! It mostly just suggests tactics for the teacher, like small group work and visual timetables. The key direct help in the statement is speech and therapy, which I had to battle for after feeling let down by that service early on, and so now Sasha will get a visit at least twice a term from a speech therapist (SALT). I'm told this is a very good level of support, although personally I can't help feeling more intense weekly therapy would have been better - but then again I'm no expert!

Although she is doing so well, and I'm generally getting positive feedback, it is of course impossible to forget  how different she is. Whilst she may catch up intellectually with her peers at some point in the future, it's likely that she will always remain behind with the social understanding. She may well get to learn her own 'triggers' for meltdowns and manage her unacceptable behaviour, but that's probably some time off, and even then that may cause extra stress and create more difficulty in her life.

For me the statement was, and still is, a means of making sure that everyone is 'singing from the same hymn sheet' when it comes to Sasha. If we had to move and change schools, it would be the starting point to avoid having to waste time going back to square one. It does mean I get a face-to-face meeting with the teachers and therapists that other parents don't get, but that's not something I ever really wanted. It does make me feel slightly sad every time, knowing that Sasha does need this help. Right now though, thankfully, she's not aware of that, and she's such a happy, confident, contented little girl (when she's in the right mood!!!). She's very sociable, and she is joining in and following instructions most of the time at school, and she is still developing her language and understanding. Tamsin, meanwhile, is also doing amazingly well, and we're very proud of her. So we have a lot to be happy about, and for now I will try and stop worrying about 'what happens next'.