nursey or pre-school for ds who's nearly 2.5yrs but not talking much!!!

[Nointhemood]

His brother has speech and lang delay and now im seriuosly worried about his younger brother. Ive decided to send him to a childcare setting to gain more interaction (even though we go to alot of toddler groups)to encorage him to talk but because of his age and size (he's very tiddly) I can't decide where he will thrive best.There are pre=schools that take them from two but they are mixed classes. He does talk a bit but not alot and has a 6mth wait to see SALT which i had to beg for.Any advice???

Can you visit a few places and see which settings have staff who are knowledgeable/supportive re speech development?

some pre schools have SALT coming inot schools which would give some support until his appointment comes in. Go and look around them tbh, you'll know the right one for you

Are you sure a pre-school will give him more opportunities for speech? I would have thought it was the opposite. Unless you are having difficulty finding time to spend with him I think he would be better speaking in a quiet environment with lots of individual attention. This is more likely to be at home than in a pre-school or nursery.

I'm not saying he shouldn't go to a childcare setting. I'm just saying I'm not sure it would achieve what you want it to.

Al1son, I think the idea with a childcare setting is that specifically because there's less individual attention, the child learns to speak more because they have to, in order to be noticed, if you see what I mean?

My youngest nephew had two older brothers and he spoke barely a word until he was three. His oldest brother [6 at the time] was delayed in speaking as well but the middle one was right on the average track. The little one though didn't need to speak at home because everyone could interpret for him. He was perfectly able to understand what you said to him and make his own needs known.

Literally right after he started playschool, his speech just exploded. He went from barely one word here and there ['car', most often] to proper sentences within about two months.

What happens does depend on the child though - a shy child is probably going to find it even harder to speak more, an outgoing child will pick it up quickly to get involved!

DS has some language difficulties and at the same age I ummed and aahed about whether to do the same.

I went to my local pre school and was convinced it was the right thing. He would be with 2 care workers (both mums in their mid 40s) who both had children with difficulties of one sort or another. I send him for 2 sessions even though he now qualifies for 5 free of charge.

9 months later, he's still not talking 'properly' but his confidence has improved I'm sure. The day he said 'here me am' in answer to his name in the register was a massive step which made the staff and myself over the moon.

I do spend alot of time with him one to one so he's not short of attention and we go to toddler groups. The thing is even if he mumbles something completely random that makes no sense i seem to instintly be able to understand what he's saying . so i feel i may need to be cruel to be kind and put him in an environment where he will need to talk for himself and also to mix with others.Id rather be selfish and have him home with me to be honest but im not trained to deal with these sort of difficulties. I want to try and do what ever i can to help him if it isn't helping him i will stop him from going. His understanding is great but its just his speech. If I could afford SALT i would . But im just wondering whether nursery would be more suitable or preschool as the ages are older.

I would go with whichever place seems to align the best with your thinking. Certainly at the pre-school I work at, they pay special attention to those with language delay/English as a second language in terms of talking to them individually, especially during free play. The SENCO will also call in SALTs for assessments if they feel it's necessary. The progress these children make in the 2 years they're with us is fantastic .

I really believe you're doing the right thing - if he gets to school and hasn't yet found his "voice" in a class of 30, it'll be far more difficult for school to give him the individual attention he needs.

I would have a look round and see which ones you like best. My two boys went to a pre-school where there were children aged from 2.5yrs to rising 5. The staff were great and very supportive.

(Ds1 didn't speak at all until 3ish and ds2 had limited language skills)

Nointhemood, I think you've answered your own question. You would like to send him to an early years setting because you are "not trained to deal with these sort of difficulties". I've worked in early years for ten years so I know that most early years practitioners are not trained to deal with them either. You need to find a setting where there is someone who has done some of this sort of training and can support your son effectively.

Nointhemood - it sounds cheesey, but you are the expert in your child. Don't feel pressure to send DS to nursery/pre-school just because you feel the staff will be more skilled than you at bringing on his language. This isn't always the case. My DS's language was behind at 2.5 - and his first nursery was crap quite frankly, he learnt to sit in a group for snacks and to use scissors. But that was about it . Nursery doesnt always bring on a huge improvement in language IME.

If you do want to go down the nursery/pre-school route, than ask very pointed questions as to experience of supporting children with language delay. Also think through whether you suspect he has any problems understanding language - you dont want nursery to be stumped as to whether your DS is being naughty or not understanding, as happened with my DS .

Is there any way he could spend time with other family/friends ie adults who won't understand him in the way you do but will give him one to one?

look at cerebra website - they can give vouchers for speech therapy where there is a long waiting list.
Can you access portage? You should be able to self refer.

NotintheMood,

"not trained to deal with these sort of difficulties".

I think your biggest challenge is to gain confidence in dealing with these speech and language difficulties. You were the expert on these children before the language worries cropped up, and you are even more the expert now.

Did I recommend It Takes Two to Talk on your other thread? Published by Hanen, available from Winslow Publications. www.hanen.org

This is the book you need to increase your confidence. If you do nothing else, please order it from the library asap. If I knew where you lived, I'd be tempted to jump in the car with a copy right now!

As for pre-schools, just make sure you chat about the language issues to the staff and see which one seems most eager to be part of the team helping him.

You can get more confidence to deal with these problems. You are not the only one, don't feel alone.

Gosh, sorry, one more practical point, see if totalchaos agrees with this but i think she will -

go for a state-run nursery/pre-school rather than a private nursery if at all possible. The reason is that the relationship between the nursery and the local SALT service will be much more seamless. It is very hard to get NHS SALTS to work with private nurseries.

However, if someone in a private nursery hugely impresses you, then cancel that advice.!

Can't answer your question, was having a nosey for the answers you got, but FYI your local SureStart centre will have sessions with SALTs. They are 'normal' play and sing session but with SALTs involved. Mine's called chatterbox, not sure if they are all called that, some are drop in and some are sign up so give thema call.