Quite literally Nazi propaganda.

This is excellent. Reminded me of an exchange between an autistic teenager and gov minister, Catherine McKinnell, on Woman's Hour SEND special. CK says that when we get it right for SEND kids, we get it right for everyone. The teen immediately claps back, saying she can't be in a school due to PTSD.

At last I have got around to responding to Professor Dame Uta Frith's TES piece, in which she questions the autism spectrum

In a nutshell, I disagree...

"yes, autism is a broad and diverse category — that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the category itself"

medium.com/@suefletcher...

around the next corner. No-one could admit the system was failing. Children like mine respond when their needs are met rather than to incentives - my son's godfather offered him £1000 if he'd go back to school. This was likely counterproductive.

Psychiatrists we've spoken with have been critical of schools. It's been challenging putting them back together and supporting them into adulthood, and that's with family support. We spent a long time with my eldest trying to work with the state, but it was like the promise of support was just /2

Thank you for writing this. The problem with covering attendance is that it is a multifaceted problem. Both my children were "severely" (not persistently) absent and exited the system in dramatic fashion following serious MH problems (severe anxiety/ eatig disorders, both in the context of autism).

Dr Trump at work

Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social.

Powerful speech on SEND from Chris Coghlan MP. CW suicide.

www.facebook.com/share/v/18Rm...

In Bruges scene where Colin Farrell is pointing a gun at his head and Brendon Gleeson is also pointing a gun at Colin Farrell's head

Current status of the Strait of Hormuz dispute

I suppose it may be that should my kids find a place in the world where they can thrive that they are no longer divergent in the same way. Environments IME can be more or less disabling.

neurodiversity, but both of my kids are autistic with pretty serious MH difficulties (neither are in school etc etc) and it's important to have a language that describes that experience.

Yes, I've been puzzling about this. I've seen stats suggesting that >50% of young people identify as neurodivergent and there was a graph in that recent gov report that >10% of 16-24 yr olds self id as autistic. On the one hand, I can see how people growing up in today's society wd embrace /1

Exactly the culture we aim to foster in our classrooms.

Inside Story - Mini The story of Michael - known as 'Mini' - who at 11 years old has twice attempted to burn down his house, and was designated too dangerous to be allowed his freedom. (1975)

Randomly clicked on this and discovered an astonishing documentary from 1975, which tells the story of Michael, a troubled but likable boy with a penchant for arson. He later said that he stopped setting fires for some time after the film as it had given him a voice. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Daily Mail social media image claiming: It’s grim when your child is banned from bringing home a picture of Jesus to plaster across the fridge door

I debunked the original headlines about these school guidelines when they first came out a couple of weeks ago.

But then the Daily Mail pushed this on Facebook over the Easter weekend, so I felt the need to address that too!

1/6
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Colourful, painted bench inscribed with lines from Benjamin Zephaniah's poem People Need People To walk to To talk to To cry and rely on People will always need people

Gorgeous bench in Hexham memorialising Benjamin Zephaniah

Trump Golf Track Tracking the number of days President Donald Trump spends his second term playing golf.

Today we launched a website to track how much orange assface plays golf. We’re guessing this thing is gonna get a workout! Bookmark it. Enjoy! More: TrumpGolfTrack.com

I like corridors for celebrating work and classroom walls for useful stuff - things you flip chart and put straight up. Thank goodness the days of double-backed work and perfectly manicured displays are behind me.

"To put it bluntly, an X post today receives less than 3% of the views a single tweet delivered seven years ago."
If you think it is necessary to be on Twitter to communicate your fact-based worldview, the reality is that worldview is being smothered.

Thomas coming out of his tank to shame mankind, which manifests as an extrapolation of Thomas the tank engine's grey face into a long, soft body with insectile arms/legs. The tank part remains normal.

Whenever someone says "emerging author" i picture this

Yes, though I was interested in his reasoning around distancing himself from Dawkins/Hitchens etc. painting them as overzealous and suspicious of imagination.

In my latest podcast, @mrjlauder.bsky.social told me about how the Government's proposed changes to EHCPs and the wider SEND system could affect parents like him and many others.

Listen to the full episode here: insideyoured.com

My Problem With C.S. Lewis - Philip Pullman YouTube video by Alex O'Connor

Yes, I watched PP last night discussing this. Scathing...

youtu.be/egWy_Z9nCMo?...

It's interesting how similar Sukhareva's conception of autism to that of the current DSM.

I've read it (and her other one on mental health, which is also good). I remember the stuff about popular kids not actually being that well liked.

It's a great book. Edith Sheffer's, Asperger's Children is fantastic on the history of his clinic.

Nurturing role models matter, but the school model with the inspirational teacher isn't the only way (thankfully).

Yes, I'm trying to work this one out. My eldest is doing online tech courses - mostly videos. By themselves, not inspiring or motivating, but I've been finding him short work experience placements, and it's seeing purpose/context in an accessible community/setting that are making a difference. /1

that are pretty normal for their age and may well change as they grow up.