As I put Teddie to bed he made that pretend to cry noise as he wanted me to lay with him, something daddy does every other night but mummy doesn’t fall for the same tricks.
I close the bedroom door and return to the garden where my parent’s, Gareth & Alfie is still sitting, we could all hear Teddie calling out for me still pretending to cry so we ignore him.

Out the corner of our eye, we see a big brown bear appear at the upstairs window, Teddie.

“Mommy (he’s American lately) It’s Teddie, I’m crying”

We all look at each other and bust out laughing, to which Teddie thought was highly amusing so then started to sing Tommy Thumb.

 “Mommy finger, Daddy finger, brother finger from his window”.

He was about to go onto grandad finger but as I got up Teddie legged it back into bed like we hadn’t just seen him, the little shitbag

What made this situation so funny was this time last year Teddie could barely speak 2 words.  I generally had worry and fear behind my eyes not knowing how he’d cope with what the world had to offer.

Fast forward a year we can now have a conversation with Teddie, although at times it’s limited its still a conversation he’s engaging in.

It’s the littlest comments that make us laugh out loud like;

“Cheers” whenever he has a drink with someone.

“That’s not right”  when he sees something out of place.

“Fingers crossed mommy” when we are playing Mario on Ds

“Yes, I can” when we say no thank you.

“10 more minutes” for everything we tell him to stop doing.

“Good job” to almost everything you do.

This past year has taught me that even if you have an inability to do something it doesn’t have to change who you are. Teddie has always been confident, funny, loud & proud even when he didn’t say a word now put words into the mix he’s polite, kind, caring, loving and all the above.

Teddie receives limited speech therapy, once every few months at school his successes have come from a mixture of putting in lots of work at home & at school but it’s mainly come from Teddie wanting to learn.

Teddie has a photographic memory so 95% of his learning has to be learnt from visuals. Carpet time & speaking/learning in groups are areas Teddie struggles most with as he cannot process the information like he can if he was learning from visuals

Unfortunately, as Teddie goes through the years at school the learning is taught with a teacher at the front of the class and the children listening and taking notes, something Teddie may not be able to do.

Teddie has a revised curriculum ready for September, we are hoping he can spend more time in the classroom learning his way but also seeing how the other children learn. Teddie often likes to dip in & out of class learning if something takes his eye or if he knows whats being taught.

                                  

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Teddie’s EHCP is now finalized ready for when he starts year one, although not much will change now the school will now receive a lot more money to help cover Teddie’s revised learning.

I read recently that schools are having their budgets cuts, a decision the government feel is a good move. The Guardian reported that 80% of schools are having to cut numbers of teaching assistants and support staff due to the new national funding formula for schools in England.

This is something that has affected our school resulting in only 1 teaching assistant per year rather than 1 per class. These changes open us up to comments such as;

“A teacher has 30 children to look after but special needs child has their own 1:1, how is that fair”

“My child needs help but he/she isn’t getting it but others are”

I completely agree there is not enough funding going into education, schools, especially our’s go above and beyond to make sure the children are not affected by these changes but the parents do not always see the bigger picture or help the situation by making comments although not always directed to us (Teddie)

What many parents do not always understand is for a child to receive a 1:1 procedures need to be met & put into place. Yes, Teddie has his own 1:1 that’s because I have fought tooth and nail for him to receive the funding he needs for him to attend school.

What many parents also do not understand is Teddie’s 1:1 will only be present in the classroom while Teddie is at the school, if Teddie leaves the school the funding leaves as well.

A special needs child does not start school and automatically have own LSA the parents needs to start the procedures months, years in advance, even then it’s down to the local authority to decide if a child warrants a 1:1. 

Our school has bent over backwards for us, for that, I cannot thank them enough but I think that due to us having the respect for each other. We could have sent Teddie into school and moaned about what should & shouldn’t be in place for him instead, we

worked together a year before Teddie even started school to get him what he has today.

Before you make judgemental comments on what one child has but your child hasn’t stop and think about the lengthy process we have been through just to get our son through the school doors every single morning.