Are nursery doing enough for DC with language disorder?

[Tigerlion]

We are going through the statementing process at the moment for my DS, aged 3, and hoping that he is given a place at a special language unit in September. He turns 4 at the end of August so will be very young for school.

He sees a SALT once a week and the Educational psychologist follows him up on a regular basis. His comprehension is delayed by around 18 months and expression is delayed by 12 months.

The staff at nursery have been lovely and the SENCo has really helped my son but I feel that he is not being helped enough. Early Years said in October that he could have funding for 1 to 1 help starting in January but whenever I ask the SENCO about this she says that the forms have been filled out and they are waiting for a` reply. The teachers have all been at the school for a long time and call me cynical but I think that the head does not want anyone new coming in and interfering (in her opinion) at nursery. DS is left to do his own thing at nursery as teachers have great difficulty making him join in with activities. The EP said that he seems very oblivious as to what is going on. Should they not be pushing him more?

Also, nursery is split into two rooms - one for the younger children and one for the older ones who will be starting school in September. DS is kept with the younger children in the big room which makes me really cross as they are really not preparing him for school.

When I asked to increase his morning sessions to five next term, I was told that they did not have enough spaces. Priority is meant to be given to older children and I know for a fact that a child who is not starting school until 2010 is in the session that I have asked my DS to go into. When I mentioned that if DS goes to the language unit his days will end at 3.30pm from September the head said that all children were in the same boat. The nursery has not yet had a child with SEN and I do not know if I have the right to complain about their treatment of my DS as I really think that they should be preparing him better for school due to his SEN.

I find the whole situation quite a lot to cope with and it really makes me fume that they appear to be making so little effort with him. Am I over-reacting?

[Tigerlion]

It is an Early Years setting and it was the Early Years people who came into the school last year who said that they could apply for the funding as DS is going through the multi-disciplinary procedure

[coppertop]

I don't think you're overreacting at all. I also think that the nursery is on very dodgy ground if they are treating him differently because of his SN. Refusing him 5 sessions while giving them to a much younger child would be enough to make me fume. Keeping him with a younger age group would have me liable to explode.

It's possible that they are right about the paperwork taking ages but in the meantime they should be doing more with him. My ds1 had no extra funding at pre-school but was still given a lot of help and encouragement by the staff. He had disordered language development as part of his autism.

Does your ds have an IEP?

[Tigerlion]

Yes, he does have an IEP

[lou031205]

This is a bit odd. My DD1 had no outside agency involvement in September, when the preschool felt she needed assessment for SN. Within a week of me signing the form, the Inclusion Officer had been out, and she agreed 1:1 funding on the spot. The preschool put it in place, and then the funding went through backdated to the session after her visit.

She now sees a Consultant, and is having various interventions planned, but until then she had had nothing.

Perhaps you should contact the Early Years section of your LEA directly to find out what the hold up is?

Also, the head could use her current staff for 1:1 then recruit to make up the shortfall. That is what DDs preschool did.

[Tigerlion]

I will try contacting the Early Years section. Do they treat information confidentially? I would not want it to get back to the preschool that I am doing things behind their back as they have already done a lot for him.