Well today we went to look at The Pines special school, it is a special school for people with language and communication disorders, but 95% of their children have some sort of ASD diagnosis.
We had a long talk with the deputy head and she was lovely, and then had a look around, and if it is possible to happen i have fell in love with the school!!! I liked everything about it.
I went last year sometime to see a specialist ASD school and although i really liked it, now i have been to this school today i have realised this would be the perfect place for Seliona.
The ASD school was to do with all aspects of autism, but this was about communication and language which is Seliona's main problem.
I liked so much about it, the way there were 2 teachers and 2 teaching assistants in with 12-13 children, and then also other people helping out sometimes too.
I liked the fact that although it was a special school it didnt really look like a special school, whereas the ASD one did. I liked the fact that if the child needed to move around abit,have a spin or flap of their arms etc it wasnt discouraged, whereas in the ASD school it was.
I liked so many other things too, like in the playground there is a freindship stop (abit like a bus stop) and if the children didnt have anyone to play with they just stood their and someone came to play with them. I also noticed that in this school, even in the nursery class there were 3 children out of the 6 that were there that could talk, whereas in the ASD school there were none and in reception there was only 1 too.
So this made me think that it would be better for Seliona as she can talk, she just doesnt lol. I also saw that a girl that Seliona had her assessment with at the CDC went to this school.
When we had the assessments this girl was completely non verbal and wouldnt really do anything that the adults wanted her to do, and it was as though they were saying ' well Seliona will be ok to go to mainstream whereas this child would not cope and will have learning difficulties'. But she is doing so well there, she is just starting to talk, she also has a physical problem which is making it hard for her to form words. But she is the same age as Seliona and can read and write already!! Seliona knows a few of her letters and thats about it, so i can see she will really do well there.
When i picked the girls up from school i had the letter about her statement review, which will be on 18th March and a form to fill in to send back to the school so i need to get working on that and hope everything goes to plan!
One problem we do have though is that they told us because she already has a statement it means the LEA will move her to the nearest school which will accomodate her needs, and this could mean that they will say this this school is too far and the ASD school is closer and she has to go there, but im ready to fight it, as i have seen both and seen they work in completely different ways and know that the one i saw today will be alot better for Seliona than the ASD one. Anyway just wanted to share the good news that i found a school i love and hopefully i can get her in!

Was about to start a thread today for you and any others in Birmingham.
In todays Birmingham Mail (Ye olde Evening Mail ) there is a pull out supplement on all the special schools in Birmingham with staff interviews and pictures of them might be worth getting to a local shop and picking one up.

Im glad you liked the Pines as i said previously it comes highly recomended so glad to see another parent who sees the school in the same light.

Let me know if you pick up a Birmingham Mail and what you think of the feature.
I was quite suprised to see this in the paper to be honest as ive never seen it done before.

I havent seen the pull out but my mom has kept it for me, as she has it and im going to have a look at it today. I saw one last year in the mail, which was quite good, and it helped alot to get the feel of what the schools are like, but i havent seen it this time, maybe its different

Glad you have a copy of it,should be helpful.
Id not saw the one last year myself so it might be a yearly thing then.

The school sounds really good, I hope you get a place.

xx