to think the school are just giving me an issue but no solutions.

[arrrghhhhwaiting]

My DC's (age 3 in nursery class) primary school have told me my son has speech delay, and that I need to get his GP to refer him to speech therapy. I got invited in to a meeting to say he'd been assessed with the SENCO.

It just feels like they are telling me he is having problems but not offering any kind of support (to him, or me) to resolve it.

Can anyone advise if they should be offering him some specific help? They said they'd try to give him more 1:1 time, but couldn't say how much or who would be doing (i.e. Teacher or TA). They also said he was behind on development matters on everything except creativity.

Having said I'll have to wait about a year to get the speech therapy referral, I feel like I'm just being left to worry about him for a year.

Someone has mentioned he should have an IEP if the school are saying he needs help. Does anyone know whether or not it's reasonable of me to ask for one (I suspect they haven't done one, they haven;t mentioned it).

Thanks (sorry its long)

Geez he's only 3 why does he need an IEP~???

IME once we'd been assessed by SALT and given exercises to do the nursery staff were excellent at going through them with my dds so they got practice at home and nursery.

I would also ask for referral to get a hearing test done as well.

Ds's iep isn't huge, just a few targets that are agreed between me, the preschool and the other therapists involved in ds's care. It is good to have measurable targets to assess his progress and see how much extra support he needs - so one of them at the moment is to introduce a makaton sign each week and identify a picture card to match the sign. Another one is to play a game/do a puzzle with involving another child, with support from an adult.

We have a meeting every 3 months to review, look at areas where ds needs more support, see what progress he has made etc.

Randommess- If OP's child is regularly attending a setting and has been assessed by his teacher/carers as having some gaps in attainment in several areas- then it is absolutely vital that he has an IEP!!!

Then staff can discuss strategies for improving his involvement and experience in the setting, plan activities & interactions that might support him in developing the skills that he hasn't yet demonstrated at nursery yet.

It may be that he is a very capable child at home- but is more reserved at nursery. If that is the case they wouldn't be able to assess/observe him in several areas. That doesn't necessarily mean he has delays/difficulties in all of those areas but it would mean they need to focus on his PSE (personal, social and emotional development) because of the impact that has on other areas.

An IEP is not just about the child. It is about the child WITHIN the setting.
Every nursery plans for individuals anyway, an IEP just adds more detail and consideration. Acknowledging that this child is not thriving in the setting for whatever reason- so they can review their practice/planning/provision and make referrals to appropriate intervention (SALT etc...)

It ensures everyone is aware that he needs some extra consideration and puts their heads together to monitor and help him in the best possible way. That is just good practice.

Sorry I just don't like the whole name of "IEP" for dc who are 3 and don't even need to be in any sort of formal education setting at all. Just my opinion.

Yes the setting should be doing the best for the child and helping them with their skills but why on earth is it called an "IEP" at the age of 3, ridiculous.

My daughter had speech delay, and was referred in the first instance to an educational psychologist by the nursery (local authority) at 4. Turned out she has atypical development (behind in some aspects of development, ahead in others)

It meant we got funded for an extra year at nursery so that she could be deferred for school entry to allow her to get speech therapy. Having the psychological assessment was really helpful in understanding that her speech delay was part of a larger issue, even though the speech aspect was the only apparent part. She seemed to get the assessment pretty readily and everything flowed automatically from there. I'm in scotland, don't know if its different elsewhere.

Randommess- IEP only means individual education plan. Since they plan for all children anyway, all this means in practice is that they spend a little extra time when planning for him & write down and share the information in a specific way- so that everyone is clear on the information, updates & reasoning.

I get what you are saying, but it is not like they are giving him a diagnosis or a label. It is literally just spending more time thinking about what this child needs in order to thrive in the setting. Clarifying the adults roles, thinking about the set up & provision of the environment. In an ideal world we would give this level of planning for all children!

Early intervention is always best. For many children an effective IEP means they can often resolve/drastically improve difficulties before starting school.

Having a document like an IEP- just clarifies & ensures staff commitment & gives a framework for monitoring/communicating the situation with parents, so they can be involved & ideally start using similar strategies at home, if appropriate.

If it is kept too flexible or nothing is done that child will potentially fail to thrive or things could get worse (especially when there are social communication difficulties)

In the past I have worked with children/families where they have only needed 1-2 IEPs (6-12 weeks of specialised planning/intervention) The issue has resolved and the child has improved enough to not need it any longer. Time/effort well spent when you think of the difference that intervention can mean to a child's well-being.

I know what it means - 2 of my dds had them at school.

It's the "education" bit I object to at such a young age! In early years they should all be getting individual stuff anyway

Perhaps I should campaign to get the label changed to IPP - individual progress plan

They sound like they are on the ball to me. I'd be pretty pleased with that sort of response.

All my DCs had speech delay and with the last one, when he started pre-school, I told them he was seeing the speech therapist and also wrote this on the forms.

A few weeks after he started I got taken to one side and got the head-tilt "did I know he had speech delay." No shit Sherlock.

If your child isn't getting speech therapy currently you can apply to www.cerebra.org.uk for a £500 grant for private SALT

insanity - I've looked on the linked website, but can't see anything about them funding grants to see a private SaLT - can you give more direction please ?
Seems so unlikely, as there are hundreds of children sitting on SaLT waiting lists in our authority alone.

www.cerebra.org.uk/English/gethelp/speechandlanguagetherapy/Pages/default.aspx hope this helps

Brilliant, thanks insanity - that will be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO helpful to so many of my families.