It's only a number...
Find out exactly what is going on in the world... at a glance.
Gossip by any other name
Have a chat with the literary geniuses of our history... and find out all you ever wanted to know...
Photographic evidence
Hands up everyone who has a computer full of great photos that are becoming resigned to their digital destiny... we have the solution!
Mum's the word
A gift to all mums for Mother's Day... with no calories!
Wake up in style
If you could invent the perfect way to wake up, this may just be it...
Mischief Making
Want to throw a custard pie at your least favourite MP or celebrity? Be my guest...
Zzzzzzzzz...
Join me and indulge yourself in the best National Something Day ever!
This is a path that I have experienced. I mentioned to my son that I was featuring this site on Web Watch and asked him if he was happy for me to mention that he has ADHD. The answer came back quickly.
"That's a relief," he said with a big grin across his face. "I thought you were going to ask me to come on the radio! Of course I don't mind."
Having brought up a son with a behavioural difficulty, I know how important support and interaction, as well as professional advice, is... but it is not always easy to find. And, although I am an advocate of the Internet as a research tool, you do have to be very selective and very careful. There is as much rubbish in the virtual world as there is in the real world. And it's easier to stumble across!
That's why the information available via the Dyscovery web site is, in my opinion, so valuable. I wouldn't normally mention a site that I have helped to develop but Dyscovery is an exception as it genuinely offers support, advice, education and access to professional help. I even passed on the factsheets to my son's school together with tips on getting the best from a child with specific behavioural difficulties. The school took copies and distributed them throughout the classes!
Initially, you could be fooled because the site looks deceptively simple and yet there is a huge amount of information providing much needed support to individuals with both living and learning difficulties as well as healthcare and educational professionals.
I went in search of some statistics on the number of children and adults living with learning, emotional or living difficulties. Although I didn't read through the entire report (they are extremely long and my attention span isn't!), the National Statistics Office tells us that a massive 10% of children are dealing with learning difficulties. Among children aged 5 -15 years, 5% had clinically significant conduct disorders; 4% were assessed as having emotional disorders - anxiety and depression - and 1% were rated as hyperactive. The less common disorders (autistic disorders, tics and eating disorders) were attributed to half to 1% a per cent of the sampled population.(approximately 10,000 surveyed). This gives an overall rate of 10% which includes some children who had more than one type of disorder.
So what are learning and living difficulties? Maybe you have heard the medical term but are unsure as to what it means... or you can see the symptoms but are not sure if the symptoms have a title. Whilst the Dyscovery site does not pretend to replace the need for a professional diagnosis - it is a site run by an inter-disciplinary team of professionals and much of their work is aimed at educating the professionals you will go to to get a diagnosis - help is at hand via a huge range of factsheets that you can download for free, including:
What is Adult DCD
What is Adult Dyslexia
What is Adult ADHD
What is Adult Aspergers Syndrome
What is DCD/Dyspraxia
What is Dyslexia
What is ADHD
What is Asperger Syndrome
What is Autism
What is DCD
What is Dyscalculia
What is Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
What is Neurofibromatosis
What is Oppositional Defiant Disorder
What is Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome
What is Tourette Syndrome
What is Verbal Dyspraxia
What is Obsessional Compulsive Disorder
What is Angleman Syndrome
What is Prader-Willi Syndrome
What is Marfan Syndrome
What is Fragile X Syndrome
What is Noonan
There is a links section available to allow you to search for a specific organisation related to the difficulty you or your child is experiencing. You can search by the name of the disorder, by keyword or you can browse through the entire library. All the contact information is included so you can get straight on the phone.
The piece de resistance has to be the message board. Now I have built a fair few message boards for various companies over the years but this one has been busy from day one. Professionals, parents, adults and children all use the board to ask advice, offer support and generally swap notes on their experiences. It has turned into quite a community and is a valuable resource especially as it is easy to feel very alone when dealing with difficult behaviour - whether it's your own, your partners or your childs.
This is a path that I have experienced. I mentioned to my son that I was featuring this site on Web Watch and asked him if he was happy for me to mention that he has ADHD. The answer came back quickly.
