Calling all teachers, I'm not sure what to do for the best.

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my daughter has been at a nursery linked with a private school since she was 2.
In September she'll be going in to "Transition" which is basically reception. Transition is in the nursery building.
We absoluitly love the school and they have been a fantastic help to my daughter. She used to be shy and now she's really confident, happy and has a wonderfull caring disposition.
She does have verbal dyspraxia though, which makes it very hard for people to understand her including me a lot of the time. She also hase other developmental issues which are under investigation. We can't afford to keep her at the school for much longer though.
We told the head of nursery today that she'd have to come out in December, as she has a school place for January.
I said that I'd really like her to stay for the whole year of Transition as I think it would be beneficial.
She agreed and said that they could get her up to a good level before she moves on.
I think this would be good for her, but is it worth loosing her place at the state school?
We do live in an area of good state primary schools and out of all of them, there are only two I wouldn't want her to go too.
What do you think? I'm not sure what would be best for her.

Is she statemented? My DS3 (also Verbal Dyspraxia) started Reception with a Statement of SEN, and so has had daily support and speech therapy exercises/re-inforcement (1 to 1 support). He has come on amazingly well - now Yr 2 and almost always intelligible.

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it, and the decision is made for you - you'll have to move her to the State school. But make sure you get as much additional help as you can, and make sure it's a school with a positive attitude towards SEN.

I've thought about her not starting with her pier group, and I'm not sure if that would be a bad thing or not.
She gets easily overwhelmed in big groups of children, especially if she dosn't know them.
She loves indevidual attention, so being the only new girl would probubly suit her better and the rest of the class would be more settled, so she'd be entering a calmer environment.

Thanks, she is seing the consultant and is going to be fully acessed, to try to see the bigger picture.
I'm sure they'll let me know if she needs a statement. In a way, I hope she does, as she will get more help in school.

If she has been offered a place at a good state school and you cant really afford to send her to private school - take the state school place now, before they retract it

She has years and years of school ahead of her, crunch time will come eventually I would settle her in a state school now

She will be fine and make lots of new friends
(though do check and check again re the schools approach to dyspraxia specifically)

You are very fortunate to be offered a place for her at a good school - I wouldnt hesitate in accepting it

My daughter has been in group speech therapy for over 2 years. She has been working on 1 sound for 9 months and still hasn't got it.
I do feel as if it's a waste of time.
She really needs more from speech therapy. She's bored to tears with it. All they say to me is "she finds it hard to concentrate".

Thanks Yurtgirl.

Group speech therapy is shite. It might work for some children, but it was a complete waste of time for DS3. If she hasn't been progessing after 2 years, it's time to start making a nuisance of yourself and demanding one to one.

She used to have one to one but they stopped that because she wasn't making enough progress, so they thought she would benefit from watching other children do it.

I think a Statement is probably the way to go then - daily reinforcement works wonders, and if she has someone with her every day, she'll get that help.

Put her in the state school and pay for private Speech Therapy?

That's what I plan to do when she starts at the state school. They also have their own speech therapist at the school. She wouldn't see her old theraoist anymore. (Yippeee)

It is going to be even harder to take her out of the private school if she does the transition year. I know that you are finding this really difficult, and that you would like to keep her at her current school. I honestly would send her to her new school ASAP. I am quite sure that you will be pleasantly surprised by her new school.

You said on a previous posting that your dd has been given a January start date. I would push for a September start instead. If you cite her special needs, the school may make an exception for her. Most schools are moving to a single point of entry anyway because of the Rose report. If she goes in September, she will go into a smaller class (at least that is how it was done in our school).

Of course they want her to stay - it is going to be harder to fill her place mid year especially inthe current climate. You could yet be a long time getting help let a alone a statement, particularly while she remains in the private system, and the advantage of having a place at a school with a specialist unit may be lost if you delay. She will be fine.