Wow, Halloween is here again. That means it has been way too long since I last updated this blog. I am terrible at keeping up with it. But as long as no-one minds a very intermittent blog, then service shall continue as normal.
Last week we had a little get together with some friends who were in the original special needs club called Koalas.
The group was set up by Mums, for Mums of children with special needs. Zak was one of the founder members.
It was amazing seeing how grown up they have all become....and so tall! even those who were very premature, tiny, little ones when I last saw them...
It was though, quite sad to see some missing children. Those we have lost along the way. But never for one second have we forgotten them. How could we... they left such an imprint on our lives, in our hearts. Gone, but definitely not forgotten xx
So, Halloween fun aside, this last few months have been a lot of hard work. So many huge decisions hung in the balance, and lots of tears, deciphering whether or not any of them were the right decision at all.
Zaks School, who have served him well for 5 years now, have kind of come to the end of their ability to give Zak the 100% he needs.
There was no doubt in my mind, what so ever, that the staff there love Zak with all their hearts. They've cared for him, and myself, for a long time, and have felt much like family. But over the last year or two, we've seen services cut, Ofsted standards slip, and some people not fulfilling their promises to Zak. We have fought to keep vital services available. Some we've won, more though, we've lost. We spent a whole year fighting to keep hold of a nursing service on site, to enable Zak to be safe in School. We won this fight, even though the nurse only returned on a part time basis, and shared between two sites. But it was a compromise, and one I could sort of live with. But as one fight came to a close, another opened, and when we were informed that the Physiotherapy in School was going to be lost, it was a fight too many, and we decided that it was time to move forward.
In all of this, our aim is to keep Zak safe, happy, healthy, and in the best position to be able to gain something, however small, from being in the School environment.
Zak didn't return to School in September. We'd made the decision to change Schools, and were committed to giving him the best of everything until things were put in place at the new School.
Bleasdale School in Silverdale....although this means a 45 minute journey to School every day....it is a School that is excelling with children, like Zak, who have PMLD. They have full time, on site, nursing staff, and from what I've seen so far, their Physiotherapy schedule is outstanding. They have on offer everything that we were fighting for over the last couple of years.
So, Zak has a place in his new School. The uniform is bought, and I will be taking him in myself for a couple of weeks, to give staff time to learn all about Zak, his likes and dislikes, and most importantly his little Zakisms that make him him.
Our hurdle now, because of course, in the world of Special needs, there is always a hurdle.... is transport. In the infinite wisdom of those in suits, they gave Zak a start date in a new School, in another county....but neglected to organise any way of him actually getting there.
The irritating thing about this, is they promised us, last time he needed transport, that they would not mess about with his providers. They'd not put his run out to tender as there was too much training needed, and we'd spent the Summer of 2012 training the ones he has, after the last time they pulled this stunt on us. Not surprising though, they we not true to their word, and it now looks like organising Zaks transport to and from School may take some time.
So currently, I have no idea when Zak will officially start School.....until then, I will take him in when I can, so he doesn't miss out. And I will home School him the remainder until that time comes.
Never a smooth ride is it.....
No comments:
Post a Comment