How likely is 1-1 support?!

[mjmooseface]

Hello!

(This is my first time starting my own thread on Mumsnet! I have been glued to the special needs boards since my son was diagnosed with ASD and developmental delay in February of this year! You are all so lovely and helpful and inspiring! :))

I'm hoping someone may be able to help. I know all nurseries and areas etc are all different but here is the situation here:

My son had been at nursery for nearly 2 months before being diagnosed. (We told Nursery he was on the waiting list to see the paediatrician before he started and they called us in after a month to say that they'd picked up on his delayed development and got the SENCO involved and put together an IEP which I have yet to contribute to or even see!) (Also, my son is just over 2.5 years now.) He is non-verbal and has had a handful of sporadic speech and language therapy sessions.

On this coming Monday, SALT (a different therapist to the one we've been working with 'til now) and someone from the early intervention team are going into nursery to see my son and I'll be there, too. The nursery manager has told me that the purpose of this appointment is to make a Multi Element Plan to support my son's overall development while at nursery.

Can anyone tell me what a Multi Element Plan is and what sort of things it might cover?

The Multi Element Plan will be written up 7 days after the visit after nursery have received a written report from SALT and the early intervention team.

The manager also said that the early intervention team will be able to advise if my son is able to access 1-1 funding while at nursery.

I am completely new to all of this. Are these good, positive steps in the right direction? And how likely is it that my son will get the 1-1 funding? What sort of things do they look for to see if a child is able to access it?

And will SALT and the early intervention team talk to me about what I think is best for my son?

Because if it were up to me, I think he would benefit massively from 1-1 support. And that's not just my biased opinion. I have countless accident reports, a trip to A&E and the fact he had a mouthful of stones and dirt in his mouth when I went to pick him up after playing outside - despite staff telling me he'd already been putting bits of plastic in his mouth earlier on when outside - to back my opinion up!

I guess I'm just looking for other people's experiences. This post wasn't meant to be this long, sorry! :)

[Lesley25]

My ds was dx with asd whilst at nursery at just under 3. Unfortunately no one spoke to me about 1:1 although they gave the impression he was being kept safe and we followed Ieps. He was happy so I was and tbh I didn't even know till we left nursery that 1:1 for 15 hours should have been given. Instead we switched to a preschool 3 days a week once he had just turned 4 and got the 15 hours for that provision. The 2 days he was in nursery at the same time he was happy and it was a v caring and nurturing environment so I was happy. The preschool were happy to have him in when he was being fully supported and they received funding. A different matter when it came to school but that's another thread! With a dx we got the funding within a term of being dx. I was more preoccupied with school and making sure that the 1:1 would be provided during the whole school day so spent that year fighting tribunal for that.

[Ineedmorepatience]

In my LA early years settings can ask for upto 10 hrs per week for one to one support! I feel this is wrong it should be 15 but again that is another thread!

Ask you early intervention worker how the setting can access funding to support him while you are all together at the nursery!

Good luck

[StarlightMcKenzee]

I refused to send ds any hours he didn't have 1:1. The LA only agreed to support him for 80% of the time he attended.

Interesting stand off I can tell you.

[senvet]

The eating you describe (called PICA I saw from the NAS webstite) is potentially dangerous, eg choking or ingesting things that are bad for health, so i would major on the need for a 1 to 1 to be able to intervene to stop that behaviour.

I would ask for an EHCP for a full time 1 to 1, obviously to keep him safe, but also to implement some speech/language strategies AND some sensory strategies to try to reduce the PICA. The sensory strategies may be to do things like exercise breaks, and carrying a weighted back packs. It may just reduce the urge to mouth stuff.

So steps would be

1. Praise nursery for being brilliant (this is to make them sing like canaries and give you lots of info you need) Ask what they see, what their concerns are, and get a rough idea about how many eating incidents they have seen/stopped ("well done for stopping that, thank you").
   
2. report eating problem to GP and ask for a referral to a sensory OT
   
3. ask nursery if they would like a one-to-one so that they would not be liable if dc had a choking incident. Obvioulsy, he is entitled to outdoor play as much as the others so they wouldn't want to discriminate by keeping him in....
   
4. ask if they will apply for an EHCP for you - see IPSEA website for how to apply
   
5. if they don't feel able to, eg because their LA is leaning on them not to, then apply for one yourself.
   
   My guess is that dc needs a full time 1 to 1 first and foremost to keep him safe from PICA hazards, and then also for SALT and OT strategies to help him on.
   
   Good Luck

[mjmooseface]

Thanks for all your replies! :)

So I went in today. The meeting was brought forward an hour and no one thought to tell me! Cue me being wrong footed and hopping into a taxi to get there asap! grr It was mainly a meet and greet of the new people who will be working with my son now. I got a whole folder full of information and have my name down on some language, sensory integration and autism courses. They're going to refer us to an occupational therapist, too.

Husband and I go in next week to help them make this Multi Element Plan.

Staff at nursery are going to receive some ASD training, too.

So we shall see how that all goes. I mentioned the PICA and my concerns around that and having 1-1 support but I got the idea it's more training the staff and risk assessing the outdoor area etc rather than there being actual 1-1 support. But I'll talk more about that with the manager next week.

Lesley25 shocked no one spoke to you about the possibility of 1-1 support! Although I didn't know anything about it either until it was mentioned in passing in an email last week! Did you get the 1-1 funding for the whole school day in the end?

Ineedmorepatience It would make sense that if the LA are funding 15 hours of nursery, that they would fund the same amount with 1-1 support! As I've seen someone write on here before, if a child needs full time 1-1 support, that should be for every day, not some days - they're not going to magically not need that support for a session a week, are they?!

StarlightMcKenzee what was the outcome of your standoff? Well done for standing your ground!

[StarlightMcKenzee]

Hiya,

Good luck with the next steps. If I had my time again I would insist that they received the same number of hours they were going to get for ASD training, in MY CHILD training, delivered by me. But then, even in those days I was confident that the ASD training would be bollocks and having attended it eventually, I know I was right. But it is a good start, and the strategies 'might' be helpful for your child.

The result of the stand-off was the that LA only provided funding for 80% 1:1 but the preschool funded the rest and he had full-time. Even still, I only sent him 3 days a week.

[mjmooseface]

senvet Thanks for all your information and tips! I hadn't realised that the eating had a name! We told the paed about it in the initial ASD assessment and she never mentioned PICA or anything about an OT.

I used a lot of what you wrote today and will use it again next week when I meet with the nursery manager and the SENCO to draw up this Multi Element Plan. I will ask them their intentions of applying for an EHCP, too.

I just wish I could just do it all now, instead of going through these processes and the waiting lists and things taking forever!

[Ineedmorepatience]

Yes mjm this is an on going discussion that I keep having with the early yrs team in my borough!

I remind them at regular intervals that a disabled child who receives DLA is entitled to upto 15 hrs of free nursery/preschool from their 2nd birthday but if they need one to one in my borough they cannot access their full entitlement without one to one support.

Yet a child whose parents are on a low income but without a disability can access their 15 hrs from their 2nd birthday no problems!!

Sounds vaguely like disability discrimination doesnt it!!

Our early years officer doesnt like me when I say that but I will continue to say it and tell the parents of children in my setting until the unlawful blanket policy is removed!!

Good luck with moving things forward for your Ds