Tell me what's happening...

.. has been the subject of recent telephone calls to School. Today, the SeNCo called me (in half term week....) to give me some feedback and to tell me what his plans are regarding my Son and his schooling. The school have quite a high-tec (to me anyway) approach to recording anything out of the norm. These are called "event logs" and can be positive or negative. I have been trying to get somebody to talk to me about the event logs so that I can see if the changes that have been so evident at home, have been replicated at school.

Six months ago, I always expected George to be late home from school on Wednesdays. This was because his last period was Science and he always seemed to get himself into trouble either just before, during or at the end of this lesson, and the Science teacher would hold him back for a short discussion about his behaviour. I have been told today that she now regards him as one of the most trustworthy students in this group. It seems that when she is dealing with some of the more difficult children, she can now rely on George to sit, behave, and continue with his work.

This is, for me, further evidence that we have made the right decision to follow our chosen path.

Last week, I spoke to his History teacher. She tells me that he seems to be calmer.....
Last week, I spoke to his Tutor. She tells me that he seems to be calmer...

Can anybody see a pattern emerging here?

The event logs:

In January there were at least a dozen event logs - all of them were negative.

In May there were four event logs - one of them was positive, three were negative and they were: He upset another student, by putting the childs schoolbag in the bin. He sent an inappropriate email. He said a swear word.

The SeNCo and I both agree that the negative event logs in May are nothing to be overly concerned about, because they are normal "schoolboy pranks".

Oh wow! What a difference!

English is still a problem, and we have decided that George will have one English lesson a week, out of the classroom, with 1-1 supervision. This will enable him to catch up with the rest of the class and hopefully will also stop the routine that he seems to have got himself into - not paying attention and messing about. We're going to try this for three weeks and then evaluate the situation.

We also have some appointments arranged, so that I can get regular feedback. Finally, I feel more in control.

There's just one small problem. Well... it's not small really..... it's a biggie! Dore have closed all their UK centres, and I'm panicking a little about completing the programme.

As always, the other Dore Mums have been incredibly supportive, and I feel a little guilty that I'm not able to offer the same level of support to them.

George has seemed to regress slightly in the last week or so - he has started making some of "the noises" again. However, this could be normal as I've read that children can go backwards for no apparent reason. My main concern is that George is picking up on my apprehension regarding The Dore Programme and this is resulting in his current behaviour.

Whilst I understand fully that there must be lots of things going on in the background, which we know nothing about, Dore (in my opinion) have been a little slow in coming forward with information for everybody who is currently in the middle of the programme. The announcement was made on Friday and we have spent a nail biting long weekend, waiting for information. Yesterday, a new part of the website went up, which I am told will enable me to access further exercises for George. At the time of writing, it doesn't recognise my PID, and so I have no access to it. I understand that it must be taking time to load up all of the records, but, until I see it with my own eyes, I still feel as though we are in limbo. I am happy to continue the programme, using online resources and the help and support of the other Dore Mums, although, clearly I would be happier if we still had our regular assessments but we don't know if that will ever be possible.

We are just playing a waiting game at the moment and it's hard to stay positive when everything is so uncertain.

We have enough exercises to last a few more weeks, and we're continuing with those. I'm hopeful that by the time we really need them, we will be able to get more so that we can continue to encourage our Son to develop into the person we know he can be.

It would be heartbreaking for us (and for lots of other parents) to have seen such improvements, only to have it all crumble to dust...

In the event that we can eventually access the exercises on the Dore website, I have decided that we will need to explain to George why he isn't going to the Dore centre for testing. He'll ask, eventually!

I'm going to tell him that he's doing so well, that they don't need to see him for the time being. :o)