Half Term Happiness

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The past couple of weeks have been filled with anxiety, tantrums, stress and tears.

Not only have we been having an awful time with Roo's behaviour, but we also had SATs week for Boo.

Understandably he was very anxious about them and the first day of SATs ended with him coming out of school in tears.

It breaks my heart to see him so worried and fretful.

We have made sure he knows that we are proud of him no matter what grades he gets.
He knows that we love him, and we have told him that a test does not define who he is.

But it still feels very unfair.

Surely there should be a better system in place for children with 'Special Education Needs' who are attending a mainstream school?

Boo has autism and suffers with anxiety.
He often finds it hard to understand questions that are written down for his homework, tests, etc and he struggles to concentrate on the task he has been given.

Normally, in the classroom, he has an adult sit with him to help keep his mind focused. To remind him of what he is supposed to be doing when his mind wanders and he forgets what the task was (due to his short term memory problems).

He is a year 6 student who achieves the same grades as a year 3 student, yet he is still expected to sit the same exams as the rest of his peers.

Not only is it a struggle for him to do the actual tests, but it puts a lot of strain on him emotionally.

He feels the stress and the anxiety a lot more than most children and it has a massive effect on his behaviour.

We have had meltdowns in the evenings and very quiet, anxious mornings.

And this is 'just' the SATs.

I dread to think how he is going to cope when it is time for him to do his GCSE's.

Thankfully the SATs are now over.

The sense of relief from Boo was palpable and he had a massive smile on his face when he came out of school on the last day of tests.

I am extremely concerned about the years to come, and the stress that will be experienced by Boo when he has to sit the big exams.

Fingers crossed a better system is put in ace before that time comes ..... But I won't hold my breath.

Thankfully, we are now enjoying a much needed, and very chilled out Half Term break.

My sister-in-law invited Boo to stay at hers for a few days so that he can enjoy some 'down time' with his cousins, and my mother-in-law has had CJ and Roo stay with her as well, which means that it has just been me and the 'triplets' for the last few days.

We have been having lots of fun in the garden, when the weather allows it, and it has meant that Daddy D and I have actually had some time to ourselves in the evenings.

CJ, Boo and Roo are all coming home today and I am looking forward to spending the rest of our half term break together.

I hope you are all having a lovely Half Term break?

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of your week?

Missy x

About Missy B

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Marissa Bird is a busy mum of six, blogging the realities of parenting, whilst trying to keep her sanity by reading books and taking photographs in her spare time... if she can ever find any!