I noticed on quite a few threads that there's a few of us on here with children with problems, so I thought it might help to share as my son is now 18 and I'm through the other side!!!! And I couldn't be prouder of him.
He was always demanding and difficult, and clearly had learning problems although he appeared to be quite bright at times. He survived primary school, mostly because he was in the same school that i was a deputy in and all the staff were very aware of his behavoural issues and learning difficulties so accomodated them. ie. needed everything explaining more than 3 times (even simple instructions), poor concentration, inability to sit still (Used to watch television hanging upsidedown on the chair) compulsive behaviour (pushing buttons and turning dials everywhere we went....often with disasterous results, .........the list goes on)
When he went to secondary school it was a disaster.........he spent most of his time standing outside the door with his hands on his head.....the staff just couldn't cope with him. He eventually got diagnosed with severe ADHD, auditory dispraxia and mild dislexia. Put on rentokill (ritalin) I thought things would improve....but then he was being excluded for longer and longer periods from school and at aged 13 the school told me he wouldn't be entered for any GCSEs at all....basically they wrote him off.
I wasn't having that! So i set about finding a new school for him. By chance I got talking to someone on the internet in Somerset whose son sounded very similar. She told me about a school down there....some 300 miles from where i lived. To cut a long story short I sent him there as a border (its a state school not private so no tuition fees). He came off the rentokill, took 7 GCSEs, achieved a few grade C levels and is now in a local 6th form topping up his qualifications before deciding whether to go into further education or the forces.
What a turn around eh? And its all thanks to the school that saved my sanity....Brymore School of Rural Technology, Somerset. Basically the only criteria for entry is that the boys are not achieving their full potential in mainstream. He had to go for an interview. Classes were small and staff really knew how to get the best out of the boys. On the site of the school is a farm. All the boys are fully involved in running the farm which was timetabled in with the academic subjects. So he'd have to get up early some mornings to milk the cows, then go to a maths lesson, followed by work in the forge, then another academic etc. He did engineering NVQ and all other things that he wouldn't have had opportunity to do such as driving a tractor or managing a garden (they produce veg for the kitchens to use) in a standard secondary school. There were lots of practial things (including loads of sport)...and that is what i think kept his attention.
I hope that little ramble may be of use to someone.
