Looking at the forums in TES it seems that the article on ADHD (31 July, reprinted below) has caused a number of concerns. We too have received a number of enquiries regarding the possible repurcussions for colleagues. Most concerns seem to focus on the fact that behaviour cannot be pre-empted due to a lack of understanding/training. Here at People First Education we would rather try to minimise situations where this might occur than pre-empt. This can be achieved by providing an in depth knowledge of ADHD and a range of strategies to include learners with ADHD. For more information please visit:
https://andrewwhitehouse.co.uk/trainingcoursesteachers/adhdtraining.html

Primary fails in High Court bid to overturn ruling on ADHD exclusion
News | Published in The TES on 31 July, 2009

Judge upholds tribunal decision that school made no ‘reasonable adjustment’ for violent pupil with disability

A Cambridgeshire primary school, ordered to apologise for excluding a disabled pupil who assaulted a teacher, has failed in a High Court bid to overturn the ruling.

The governors of the school had mounted a costly legal campaign to overturn a tribunal ruling that they had discriminated against the boy, who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The special educational needs and disability tribunal said the school had breached the Disability Discrimination Act and ordered an apology to be made to the boy’s parents.

Last year, it ruled that the school had “failed to make a reasonable adjustment”. It had not, for example, sought specialist advice or support from relevant services before the incident.

This week, the school governors took the case to the High Court in London to appeal against the decision. With the backing of Cambridgeshire County Council, they claimed the school had done all it could to accommodate the boy’s needs. His “tendency to physical abuse of other persons” did not amount to a disability, they argued.

The boy, referred to in court as “T”, was excluded from the school after he physically assaulted a member of staff.

But Mr Justice Lloyd Jones upheld the tribunal’s decision. He told the High Court: “I consider there was here a failure to make a reasonable adjustment in respect of a protected disability.” He said ADHD symptoms can include temper tantrums, mood swings, learning problems and aggression.

The boys’ parents were backed in court by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the National Autistic Society, which said the school’s arguments were “wrong in law and in principle”.

The society insisted that the boy’s disruptive behaviour was a symptom of his condition. Upholding the school’s appeal, it said, would have “profound and widespread detrimental implications for children and adults” who have a disability that involves a tendency to violence.

Mr Justice Lloyd Jones accepted that T was excluded for having assaulted a teacher. But he concluded: “I consider that the tribunal was correct in its conclusion that there had been unlawful discrimination, arising from the failure to take reasonable steps to ensure that T was not placed at a substantial disadvantage, by comparison with pupils who are not disabled.”

Andrea Bilbow, of attention-deficit charity ADDISS, says mishandling of the condition is common. “If a child with ADHD assaults a teacher, you always have to ask what it was the teacher did that pushed the child over the edge,” she said.

“If you know a child can fly off the handle, you have to plan for it, manage it, and anticipate that something will happen. Children don’t do this for no reason. “

Many people who attend the ASD and ADHD courses ask to purchase the resources we use. As you can see at the top of this page, we now have a recommended resources section. you can use this to scroll through many (but not all) of the books and DVDs we recommend. If you see one you would like, simply click on it and it will take you through to it’s Amazon page. Although at the moment it is exclusively on the blog, keep watching the website, as we will soon have a full SEN bookshop.

Hi,

We are extremely disappointed and angry that today the High Court has ruled that Gary McKinnon, a man with Asperger syndrome accused of hacking into United States Government computer systems, should be extradited to the US.

Autism is a lifelong condition that requires understanding and support and this is a terrible day for Gary and his family. We are collecting your photos and messages to demonstrate the huge level of support they have, so please visit our website and add your voice.

Gary’s fight continues, with an application to appeal the decision to extradite him in the UK Supreme Court. I’ll be in touch again soon and together we will continue to fight this injustice.

Best wishes,

Matthew Downie
Campaigns Manager

Today we took a petition, signed by thousands of you, to Downing Street to call on Gordon Brown to take Asperger syndrome into account in the case of Gary McKinnon. Gary has been accused of hacking into US Defense computer systems. There are grave concerns about the effect of extraditing him, or anyone else with Asperger syndrome. Please visit our website for more information about Gary’s case.

Thanks to the thousands of you who campaigned with us by signing the petition, we delivered a powerful message to Downing Street. The petition was presented by Gary’s mum, Janis, and Trudie Styler, one of a group of celebrities supporting Gary’s case, who then met with Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister’s wife, to discuss the case.

We’ve been campaigning to stop Gary’s extradition since his diagnosis, and his case is now receiving a lot of media coverage: you may have seen the Daily Mail campaign in support of Gary in today’s paper. Both the media interest and the petition are powerful tools for showing the strength of support that Gary has, so thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

Matthew Downie
Campaigns Manager

We are delighted to promote a cued speech Foundation Course at Lincoln Bailgate Methodist Church 9th October. The course coordinator is being run by our good friend Emma Smith and the training itself is absolutely inspirational to anybody living or working with the hearing impaired. Anybody interested should contact Emma:
01522 851169
07960933667
emmasmith@ntlworld.com
For more information on Cued Speech please go to:
www.cuedspeech.co.uk

We now have next terms ASD and ADHD events online at: https://andrewwhitehouse.co.uk/PDF/PeopleFirst_coursedates.pdf

To book on one of these courses please go to: https://andrewwhitehouse.co.uk/contactpeoplefirst.php

Nothing in your area? Let us know and we’ll put something together for you.

iPhone applications can help the autistic

Leslie Clark and her husband have been trying to communicate with their autistic 7-year-old son, JW, for years, but until last month, the closest they got was rudimentary sign language.
He’s “a little bit of a mini-genius,” Clark says, but like many autistic children, JW doesn’t speak at all.
Desperate to communicate with him, she considered buying a specialized device like the ones at his elementary school in Lincoln, Neb. But the text-to-speech machines are huge, heavy and expensive; a few go for $8,000 to $10,000.
Then a teacher told her about a new application that a researcher had developed for, of all things, the iPhone and iPod Touch. Clark drove to the local Best Buy and picked up a Touch, then downloaded the “app” from iTunes: Total cost: about $500.
A month later, JW goes everywhere with the slick touch-screen mp3 player strapped to his arm. It lets him touch icons that voice basic comments or questions, such as, “I want Grandma’s cookies” or “I’m angry — here’s why.” He uses his “talker” to communicate with everyone — including his service dog, Roscoe, who listens to voice commands through the tiny speakers.
It’s a largely untold story of Apple’s popular audio devices.
It is not known how many specialized apps are out there, but Apple touts a handful on iTunes, among them ones that help users do American Sign Language and others like Proloquo2Go, which helps JW speak.
The app also aids children and adults with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS — even stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak, says its co-developer, Penn State doctoral student Samuel Sennott.
Using the iPhone and Touch allows developers to democratize a system that has relied on devices that were too expensive or difficult to customize, Sennott says. “I love people being able to get it at Best Buy,” he says. “That’s just a dream.”
He also says that for an autistic child, the ability to whip out an iPhone and talk to friends brings “this very hard-to-quantify cool factor.”
Sennott won’t give out sales figures for the $149.99 app but says they’re “extremely brisk.”
Ronald Leaf, director of Autism Partnership, a private California-based agency, says he prefers to help autistic children such as JW learn how to navigate their world without gadgets. “If we could get children to talk without using technology, that would be our preference,” he says.
Clark says the app has changed her son’s life.
“He’s actually communicating,” she says. “It’s nice to see what’s going on in his head.” Among the revelations of the past month: She now knows JW’s favorite restaurant. “I get to spend at least every other day at the Chinese buffet.”
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

Eight Countries Unite to Raise Awareness and to Send a Message of Hope

National Missing Children’s Day has been commemorated in the United States every May 25th since 1983. In recognition of the fact that the issue of missing children is complex, multifaceted, and global, in recent years other countries have begun observing May 25th as a national day for missing children as well. This has led to what has come to be known as International Missing Children’s Day, a special day set aside to encourage the public to think about and remember all the children who have gone missing around the world.

This year, for the first time ever, eight countries from four continents are joining with the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) to mark International Missing Children’s Day by raising awareness of the issue of missing children and spreading a message of hope and solidarity to parents, family members, and loved ones of missing children. These eight countries – Australia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, and the United Kingdom – are all members of ICMEC’s Global Missing Children’s Network, a resource comprised of a central, Internet-based multilingual database featuring information about and photographs of missing children from around the world.

Each of the eight participating countries is commemorating International Missing Children’s Day with national events, including showing a jointly-developed public service announcement and profiling cases of missing children from around the world on balloons in the hopes the children will be recognized and brought home. A similar balloon launch in South Africa in 2007 resulted in the recovery of a missing child.

“It is wonderful to see different countries coming together with ICMEC to build a global movement to help protect those who are the most vulnerable,” stated Nancy Dube, ICMEC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “Today is a reaffirmation of the commitment each of these countries has made to keeping children safer and to reuniting missing children with their loved ones. Together, we will find them.”

Participating countries will be displaying and / or releasing balloons displaying missing children photo and details on May 25th in their respective country. An awareness video was produced with the assistance of Australian Federal Police. To view the video please visit our YouTube Channel “Don’t You Forget About Me”.

Caroline Humer

Program Manager

ICMEC

Time is running out…

Dear Supporter,

My name is Janis and I am Gary McKinnon’s mum. My son has Asperger syndrome and is facing extradition to the United States for hacking into American military computers, where he could be placed in a maximum-security prison for up to 70 years.

Gary’s late diagnosis of Asperger syndrome explains much of his unusual behaviour and the irrational fears he has had since he was a child. My son’s actions were intended as a voyage of discovery and he had no idea of the possible consequences of this, as no one has ever been extradited for computer misuse. If imprisoned in the United States, I know I would rarely see Gary, if at all, and the strain for him of being away from his family and familiar surroundings would be devastating. As I am in my sixties, it is doubtful if I would live to see my son free. Gary has always been terrified of travelling and as an adult never goes on holiday and has never left the UK. This may be part of the reason that he travelled in cyberspace.

Time is running out so I am urgently appealing to you to please take action with the NAS now by emailing your MP asking them to support my son. I’m not asking for special treatment for Gary, but simply that he has the right to be tried in his own country and – if convicted – be given a sentence proportionate to the crime. Gary needs to be where he can get the support he so desperately needs.

Many thanks and best wishes

Janis Sharp
Gary McKinnon’s mum