'supporting each other through really tough times'

jpscloud

Wow softstuff I hope you will be safe - what scary times for you.

Let us know as soon as you can that you are ok, I'll be thinking of you.

savingqueen

Mrs VP - hope your DD gets a better night's sleep tonight

I can remember from my primary school days in the 70s, that lower acheiving children, some of whom we would call special needs children today, would be put in a separate "remedial class". I was never the sort of child to tease anyone or think differently of anyone - as long as someone was kind/fun that was all that mattered to me but the remedial class seemed to have a stigma attached to it by others. A family friend who was a couple of years older was put there despite being bright in lots of ways eg. in his teens he taught himself to strip down cars and rebuild. I think he was/is dyslexic and all he would have needed was the right support. Makes me angry just thinking about it. Thank goodness times have changed and hopefully will continue to change for the better - although I know there is still so much inequality in all areas of our society even in the so called developed countries.

fuddle - like your comment "It's not about naughty children or bad parenting. There is no cure for it and certainly not learned behaviour."

I was ambidextrous as a child and forced to use my right hand to write, cut out etc at school. My younger sister (by just a few years) is left handed and was left (pardon the pun) alone to be left handed. I remember a special trip to a left handed shop in London to buy things like left handed scissors for her to take into school as the school wouldn't supply them (might have been more to do with cuts - again no pun intended -though in the 70s)

I started school at 4 and soon after developed a stammer (which I still have) and wonder to this day how much of it was linked to being forced to use my right hand. I still sometimes do some things like sewing partly left handed. DH eats lefthandly, wears his watch on right hand etc despite being right handed and we think he is mildly dyslexic (never diagnosed). Kids are right handed but have ambidextrous tendencies (and have been left alone) and both stammered when younger - fortunately through my own expertise, brilliant school and speech therapy support, the dysfluency has virtually gone - think DS8 may have very mild and occasional dysfluency into adulthood but its nothing in the grand scheme of things.

BTW if anyone wants to ask anything about stammering, please ask away now I have "come out" - I have only skirted round my disability before. Online I am as verbally fluent as the next person if that makes sense - not meaning that other people don't have difficulties with writing/dyslexia etc - just that I am fluent on paper/screen! Its nice for me to feel "equal" as I do not always feel that way verbally - though I do feel equal as a person and equal in my right to express myself verbally.

In real life the vast majority of people are reluctant (many too embarrassed for me or most likely themselves) to ask about stammering - its been said its one of the "last taboos", even mental health is (finally) being spoken about more openly now. It's a difficult disability (if you class it as one - personal choice but I do as it can be a disabling barrier in so many ways, work and socially are obvious ones) as it can vary so much from person to person and from hour to hour/day to day for an individual (and makes speech therapy so challenging). Mostly my dysfluency is mild and controlled (after lots of speech therapy, acceptance, hard work etc as an adult) but underneath sometimes the fear bubbles away and I have to work on myself not to let fear get in the way of things too much.

Changing the subject completely - just ate a cupcake from Hummingbird Bakery (posh bakers in London). I picked my friend up from the train station this eve (save her a cab) and she gave me 2 cakes in a box. The one I had was nice but honestly no better than my own cupcakes - I am blowing my own trumpet I know . I shudder to think of the price but the box is gorgeous decorated in hummingbirds (naturally) and I will have trouble binning it (the hoarders amongst us will understand )

ok do I save the 2nd cake for DH who's gone to bed or EAT IT NOW?! If I save it for him, he will scoff it down on 2 bites and say "cupcakes are more your thing really but it was ok"

......... just off to make a cuppa .............. :rotfl:

sq:)

savingqueen

jpscloud wrote: »

Wow softstuff I hope you will be safe - what scary times for you.

Let us know as soon as you can that you are ok, I'll be thinking of you.

Thinking of you too softstuff - thank goodness you are sensible. Just stay sensible and you will be ok. Let us know later how things are.

sq:)

kidcat

((hugs)) softstuff please stay safe.

Softstuff

Thanks guys, we'll be fine. Hubby stayed in bed for a lie in and now he's up he's frankly not bothered about the whole thing! Typical Australian :rotfl:

boultdj

Seconding the stay safe softstuff.
And your not the only 1 to stutter savingqueen, only I got help off 2 of my aunt's[both nurse's] and only suffer with it when I'm tired and stressed.

stiltwalker

Had a lovely meal out with DH - we sometmes get takeaways from this Indian but it is the first tme we've been in for a meal, it's a bring your own alcohol so was only just over £25! My lovely friend babysits for us and she offers more often than we take her up on it. We promised ourselves when we got married though that we would try to get out more often and do 'couple' stuff as often as possible as the divorce rate amongst parents with disabled kids is even worse than the national average. So we were determined to make sure we still have time for us.

Off to the panto tomorrow - hope the kid enjoy it, gong to lay money though that DS sleeps through at least part of it as he is famous for sleeping through stuff. He slept through ou wedding and most of the evening do - at Centre Parcs the week after he slep through the fireworks on the Tuesday, his dinner on the Wednesday and the Panto on the Thursday, before Christmas he slept through his sister's naivity play, most of the village carol singing outside the pub and the village carol serice on Christmas Eve, and he regularly sleeps through he entire of Church service.

Softstuff

Ok, updates from the Sunshine Coast.

The worst of the weather is hitting us apparently in about 45 minutes and should last a few hours. So far we're comfortably above water, though we likely couldn't leave as our street is half flooded now (we're back a bit from that).

26,000 homes are currently without power (including the in-laws), though as you can tell, we've still got it. On the off chance we'll lose it I did what any sensible OS'er would, cooked dinner and baked a dozen muffins. Something I haven't seen before is the local TV channels have gone down.

We've moved all of our outdoor furniture in and our bugout box is ready (even if we can't get out of here!)

A mini-tornado hit homes about half an hour from here, apparently a few windows were smashed, though no-one was hurt.

So, in true Softstuff style:

Coconut catastrophe muffins

A handful dessicated coconut
2 eggs
1 tin coconut milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups self raising flour

Mix as though it's in a tornado. Pop into a silicon muffin tray (or a greased ordinary one) and bake in an oven preheated to 180 for 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. They should be golden brown.

fuddle

Soft stuff, I know my friend is in queensland, she's in the mining town of morenbah. Please would you keep an eye out for there for me. I know when she moved she said their town is at risk of being cut off in floods so I don't know if they could be flooded. I've seen some stills on reports and it looks awful.

Really bad winds here overnight but has calmed down. DH out competition fishing. It's the first time since a month before we moved. Thankfully he'll be gnome by a pond and not a river.

Chicken dinner for us this evening, although cheating with tinned peas as have forgot carrots. I calculated that yesterday I ate 2300 worth of calories. It was a shock. I'm consuming those levels each day without even realising it. No wonder I can't lose weight!

Hardup_Hester

I hope you are safe SS.
My son had lots of problems with reading & writing, no help from school, their response was 'As the LA doesn't recognise dyslexia or anything associated with it there is no help offered, therefore there is no point in getting a diagnosis'.
DS still has writing like a dying spider crawling across a page & still can't spell, but he's worked hard developing other skills & now has a very well paid job.
Hester