Rachel Filmer

She is suffering.

She is not well.

First thing to say is that as a mum, I think the majority of parents and mums want to just do their kids the normal way.

And bit by bit, across four children, we began to see that life was going to be a little different.

Now, that didn't really show up

before school so they were quite happy at home but when they started going to school particularly our second child we really began to see there was there was an issue and the school did have a little bit of training but not nearly enough and so bit by bit that child began to withdraw even though they were hitting educational targets they would be getting home and you could see a seven-year-old depressed

And I know that there are people that are going to listen to this and go, how can a seven-year-old be depressed?

Well, they can.

Until you've dealt with it, you don't know.

But once you're dealing with it, you feel like you're on a different planet.

So every day is a fight.

Every day is a battle because my child was refusing to go to school.

And I was so terrified of the attendance officer that I thought, my gosh, you're going to go to school.

So I just need to shout a bit louder.

And of course, that didn't work.

All of our children have struggled with school.

So it raises the question is how can schools cope with and deal with and cater for children who are different?

That's an understatement.

Parents are absolutely gaslit at every step and every stage.

And I'm quite rejection sensitive.