To report this? Incidents at nursery I work at

[Hooii]

I work in a nursery and I over heard a member in a different of staff say that a DC with non verbal autism and pica, had drank from a cup that had paint water in it as it had been used to rinse paint brushes. This isn’t the first instance though as he often wonders into our room as there is just a baby gate separating as they have two parts to their room, main bit and a separate bit that’s used as a home corner. They often leave this baby gate not locked properly. So no one noticed he was in there and I looked up and he had cardboard in his mouth that I had to remove. This happened again and he had a shell in his mouth this time and laid down and I had to remove it. I can see slightly into their room from ours and he was sat near the fire extinguisher by the door playing around with it and I don’t think they were paying attention to that either. So if I’d have not noticed then obviously something could have happened. I feel like they’re leaving him to do things and wonder round and not paying him attention.

Sorry, meant to say member of staff in a different room

Just have a word with the manger or your supervisor

Yes. Report. And make sure the parents are informed.

The shell in the mouth worries me. He should have a care plan if that is a likely occupancy

Yes it worried me. They use them for play doh, he was laid down with it too in his mouth and I had to quickly go and get it from him

It sounds to me like he needs 1:1 support to continue safely in nursery. Staff need to have a very honest conversation with his parents and apply for an EHCP for him.

Report to your manager tonight.

Yes absolutely report it before something terrible happens. Please don't turn a blind eye. See how your manager responds. If they try and brush it under the carpet consider reporting to the Local Authority and or Ofsted.

I have a child with PICA in my class - we're not allowed to leave her unattended. She's fast - I'm surprised 1:1 has not been raised based on the choking risks?

Yes please do report to their manager. This child should have 1:1 supervision and if they are able to wander off to a different room unnoticed, the staff are not paying enough attention!

It is super hard with kids with pica sometimes as PP said they can be so fast. I’ve been a 1:1 to a 5yo with pica, few years ago, I considered myself quite experienced, but one day I bent down to tie my shoelace and he had gone into a small sensory den tent type thing, I looked in and he was chilling out, literally turned my head to say “aww look Danny is chilling in the den!” And he’s ripped a foam cushion thing open and was eating tiny foam balls by the handful. Nightmare. Then trying to clean it up he kept grabbing them and I needed 2 extra staff to keep him safe whilst I swept them up. This child needs 1:1 and extra support funded or they need to consider a specialist nursery provision. An early help needs to be completed as a first step. Can any occupational therapy be accessed - maybe chew buddies could be purchased or do lots of things like edible play dough, edible chalk, edible sand, to satisfy the needs. Recipes are online. You don’t need to go nuclear and start making safeguarding allegations but maybe the staff don’t realise the needs of this child, I find when they’re nursery age with additional needs like pica, ASD, they can sort of blend in up to a point and then needs become more apparent and need more support when they get past 2.5/3