The Life and Times of Old Bat and Her Family

Hi Everyone!  I thought I’d bring you all up to date on the life and times of Sunbeam!  Well, he’s been at the new centre, Oakmore, since September 2007.  All started very well and I felt myself in a state of euphoria for several weeks!  He was happy and settled and a completely different boy to the one we had been living with for the last few years.  I really felt it was nothing short of a miracle!  BUT I should have know that life is not like that and by half term we started seeing signs of Sunbeam showing reluctance to go to school!  He learnt that he wasn’t to be the only pupil there and the others didn’t come up to his exacting standards!  However, one boy he didn’t get on well with at the referral unit, was also sent to Oakmore and Sunbeam’s response was to shake his head vigorously and say he wasn’t ever going, but he now plays the other boy at chess and can be somewhat pleased with himself when he wins, which is most of the time!!

 The LEA are now putting pressure on the centre to get the boys started on their academic work, but, as the head herself says “These boys are all damaged and just can’t manage the pressure.”  I feel that the LEA still don’t understand and have no intention of listening until the whole system fails.  Sunbeam only has 18 months left of school (Oakmore only has children aged 11 - 16) and there is little provision for 16+ in this area.  Sunbeam has shown a fantastic ability in engineering and has joined the Steam Apprentice Club.  He has worked on a traction engine called Olive and spent several days at the Great Dorset Steam fair working on the engines and driving them around the arena!  He was in his element and despite having OCD and cleans his hands like a surgeon, is quite happy getting covered in oil, grease and soot without a flinch!!  He is animated and enthusiastic when working on engines and will start work as a volunteer at Moors Valley Steam Railway this coming weekend!  He will gain lots of invaluable experience which will hold him in good stead for the future.

 I’ve been trying to network and have made several useful contacts including a gentleman who lives and breathes steam engines and has become a family friend.  He has taken Sunbeam under his wing and has arranged for Sunbeam to be involved in the Beaulieu Steam Railway when it starts!

 I also felt very passionate about making Oakmore a success, and as they are on a very limited budget, I wanted to try and raise some money for extra curricular equipment so I decided to do a parachute jump!  I hate flying and I hate heights so I wasn’t sure about doing it but I did and I will never do it again!!!!  It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done but, together with my friend Darren,we raised £2,400 between us so we’re pretty pleased with ourselves.

I think we are now accepting that Sunbeam will always need our support and his depression continues at such a rate that we feel he will battle with it all his life and we feel very sad about that.  I will always campaign for special needs and will continue to make a nuisance of myself wherever and whenever I can!  One day we will be heard and our children will get what is their right - an appropriate education for their needs.

 My thoughts are always with everyone out there who is going through the same thing.  I now belong to 3 support groups and it has amazed me at just how many people live close by who are suffering in silence and getting no help whatsoever.  Humour is still my saviour, without it I would have gone under long ago so keep smiling, even through gritted teeth!