Genuine silly anecdote.

I am a teaching assistant in a secondary school. I happened to be going to the same resort two years ago as my school. I missed out on the the free staff trip but I got my own back. One of the students who is renowned for being totally disorganised and not particularly sporty required " special" lessons because he was so bad at skiing but what made me laugh the most was when one of the teachers told me that he had managed to put on 2 left ski boots.....and if that wasn't bad enough he didn't even realise until one other child couldn't find his. :mrgreen:

Had a lady guest who turned up with nothing for her feet but high heeled shoes!
Couldn't get from the coach to the minibus and then no chance of getting into the chalet through deep snow and up steps.
After having to be carried on the first night a friend went and bought a pair of moon boots for her the next day - she hadn't actually realised there would be snow around!

My experience is that non physically disabled/limited kids who struggle in ski lessons, almost always have a learning, or cognitive disability. These kids can learn to ski, but require a different approach. Often they struggle so much in a regular group lesson, that they end up exhausted, totally losing motivation,and self esteem. So even if they are eventually able to get an adaptive lesson, a lot of damage has already been done.

Schools should always discuss a student's cognitive disabilities with the ski school before booking the trip. If the ski school isn't able to meet the student's needs, book elsewhere. Absorbing the cost of adaptive ski lessons for a small number of students, should be part of getting the school's business for a ski school. This applies equally for students with physical disabilities.

Sorry, should have said...he has no special needs whatsoever. Just a plain old teenager. He also,thoroughly enjoyed the ski trip.

I think enough time has passed to share this one...

A few years ago we received a quite irate email from a Korean gentleman who had booked a hotel stay via J2Ski.

Sadly I've deleted it, but it was very close to...

You have sold us a useless holiday and we require compensation. Firstly, we had to drag our luggage across icy pavements from the bus, and ask directions to the hotel as all the signs were covered in snow. Our luggage was covered in snow also. Our stay was completely ruined by the dreadful weather; it snowed all weekend and it was much too cold to go out sight-seeing most of the time. There appeared to be no organized tours of local landmarks and the hotel could not guide us. We did try to walk but the snow was too deep, except for a very dangerous and slippery hill where we were shouted at by rude people on skis. We have made a complaint to the hotel, that they should not be open in such weather, and want our money back.

I sent them a link to onthebeach and suggested they avoid St.Anton in January for future holidays... :lol:

Michelle63, sorry I didn't mean to lecture. There are a some kids who take longer to figure it out, but not many. That a child doesn't have a diagnosis is not unusual, especially in the UK where the bar is set by finances, rather than by needs. Two left boots, and then struggling in a group lesson would have got my attention.

No offence taken. I am a special needs nurse in a previous life and have come across many seemingly "normal " children in my teaching assistant job who have unidentified needs. Mostly dyslexics who often suffer from dyspraxia too. They have just been labelled as poor spellers. I am also a trampoline and gymnastics coach and find that a lot of dyspraxic children can improve physically by a regular sports programme.
Back to my post...this lad has given me endless hours of laughter since year 7 ( he is now year 11) because he just does daft things. Ironically he is a very good rugby player....he is not going on the school ski trip next year tho :mrgreen:

Glad we're on the same page, and thanks for looking out for the kids who need a little more help.

Would love to see some research into the diagnostic preference for dyslexia in the UK, vs ADHD in the US. From my perspective, when ASD is considered as well, it all becomes one spectrum, as wide as it is deep. I think that most children with Dyslexia, or ADHD are a little on the ASD spectrum, and vise versa, and as it is a spectrum, some on the thin end, are just thought a little spacey, or eccentric.

My son with PDD NOS (but later ASD/ADHD when that became accepted) was noticeably dyspraxic, but his movements became quite fluid on a snowboard after a couple of seasons.