You may remember my thread about ds1 putting his head through the window.....

[yurt1]

well social services have moved amazingly quickly on the disabled facilities grant and we've been sent the paperwork to sign....

but....

when the original guy came round he suggested secondary double glazing- which I agrred to- it would prevent ds1 climbing onto the window frames and would presumably withstand headbanging. Then someone else came round and has changed that to putting a 'pane' of 6mm perspex on the inside of the window frames. So there would be our ropey glass (in ropey frames) a gap, then this 6mm perspex. Gawd knows how it will all fit.

I have several problems with this 1) ds1 isn't going to be able to see out very well presumably. Looking out of the window is the one bloody leasuire activity he has - and he is likely to complain loudly and physically if he can't see out. 2) Doesn't perspex crack when hit hard (by a head for example?) 3) Our windows have very bad condensation problems currently- I'm concerned we'll end up with a pool of water between the glass and perspex.

Has anyone haggled over a DFG? DS1 is climbing up on the upstairs window and I am seriously concerned he's going to kill himself falling through them, so currently I have to spend half my time running upstiars to get him down, but on the other hand I don't really want all my windows to be covered in 6mm thick perspex. Surely that's not unreasonable? I did speak to a friend who had perspex for a while and she said it was awful and they only put it in as a temporary measure. I don't think it was 6mm thick either.

Honest to god I wish we had the bloody money to put in double glazing ourselves. We've replaced the window in ds1's room ourselves and have put in toughened glass on the inside so I'm going to ask them to leave his room, and try again for secondary rather than blinking perspex.

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

yurt - no experience, sorry, sounds like a money saving option (no surprise). Apart from the things you've already flagged, how does this leave you from an escape point of view - in case of fire? Hope you can get the glazing you want.

[wrinklytum]

Oh YG sounds like a nightmare.I did not see your other thread.Didd ds go through a window?(Poor ds)I have no idea re grants and stuff.Can you challenge the decision?If it is something he loves,looking out the window,could you say this is a quality of life issue?I am really sorry if this is a laughable suggestion as I really know nowt about it.Hope spomething gets resolved and a wiser person has better suggestions.

[yurt1]

Ah that wouldn;t alter- all our windows are locked and we'd have no chance No seriously it would be like having standard double glazing except one side would be made of f perspex

I really don't know how to argue this one. Part of me thinks we should accept it and try and find the 8 grand we need for double glazing (actually that was a quote without toughened glass so I guess it would be more) asap. It is bad timing for ds1 to start climbing again he stands on the thinnest ledge, leans on the glass and our windows are paper thin.

[yurt1]

He headbutted it wrinklytum (out of the blue, I was standing next to him). This was almost a year after I'd first requested a disabled facilities grant for reasons of safety, so SS were a bit contrite.

[wrinklytum]

Poor ds!!!I am sorry,my suggestions are probably really trite.I am in the early stages of the whole SN thing as dd has only just had input,but reading threads on here I can see how nmuch parents seem to have to fight for their childrens needs.Bloody hell 8k I mean,its not a drop in the ocean,is it?

[mymatemax]

Can you ask them for a sample of the perspex?
Does it reach the same safety standards as glass (kitemark etc).
Surely cracked perspex would be dangerous my ds2 licks all our windows & it would cut his tongue, so maybe you can argue it is not a suitable safety measure - after all you are not having it installed for warmth etc it is an essential safety enhancement.

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

I thought you might have to do that yurt (lock the windows). Dh is a firefighter and had a close call with a family here who had to do the same because of their child.

[yurt1]

Oh that's interesting saggar. I had a bit of a barney with dh as I insist on leaving the front door undeadlocked (but alarmed and with a bold and chain)) when we go to bed. (to stop ds1 getting out, not people getting in).

I think cracked perspex would be dangerous too mymate.

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Actually I suppose dodgy window frames plus perspex would actually be easier to break through in an emergency. Locked and keyless UPVC double glazing is pretty unbreakable.

Difficult to cover all eventualities. But it's a damn shame that ds1's viewing should be curtailed for lack of cash.

[yurt1]

He was up at 5.30 this morning looking manically out of ds2 and ds3's windows. If his view is blocked he'll be screaming in ds2 and ds3's bedroom at 5.30 am . TBH the upstairs windows are a bit high to use as an escape route (but we do have a roof terrace, the key to which is kept next to my bed).

Mind you the little he's sleeping at the moment, we're not exactly asleep for many hours of the night!

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

I can sympathise with the lack of sleep - although mine at least is a calm awakening dd is managing a little over 5 hours at the moment - she'd get up by herself but I hate to think of her rattling around on her own in the early hours.

It's triple rollover at the weekend. You could do with winning it and putting up two fingers to the DFG people.



How does ds1 get on with the fireworks? Does he cope OK?

[yurt1]

ooooh if installed like secondary so they can be removed that wouldn't be so bad. I was imagining them as a permanent fixture.....

[yurt1]

oh i noticed the rollover saggar.

[Pixel]

Our last place had secondary glazing on sliding panels that we could lock to stop ds opening them. We could have them open if we wanted to.