dd starts reception on Monday.
She has selective mutism, didn't speak at all at nursery, fine at home. All seemed to be going very well in the planning for school - we'd identified the problem, got home visits from school, spent time in the empty classroom, made some friends with other children, done lots of talking it up and dd has become very excited about the whole thing (was vehemently against it a few months ago).
And a key part of my strategy was agreed early on by the teacher; that I could be flexible about when I left her each day. Not for the usual separation reasons, but because when I am there, she finds it easier to speak and managed this incredibly well during the settling in sessions. So the idea is that by me being available for a while each morning, I could get her relaxed, warmed up and communicative before leaving her to it. This is like an informal version of the "sliding in" approach that is used for SM kids.
But school suddenly seemed to wobble over this in last week of term and I've been left all this time not really being sure what is expected of me next week or why it is such a big deal for me to be in class a bit. I can see how it could be disruptive with older children, in an established group with a lot of work to get through - but the first few weeks of reception?!
I think that because they did see her speaking during the settling in, they think I have been exaggerating the problem. But she only managed this because I was there and we need to build on this now...
Help me understand please and does anyone have any suggestions for how I can get around this? If I do just leave her to it, she'll almost certainly regain her "silent identity" making it then much harder for her to ever start to speak there.
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teachers - explain to me why dd's school is desperate to get me out of that classroom
30 replies
jamsandwich · 05/09/2009 22:18
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