I didn't mean that a child who has a speech delay would have a negative impact on other children at all, and that's not what I said. I work in a pre school and we have had children with speech problems, it has had no impact on the other children at all, positive or negative, but that's really not the point.
We would encourage all children to put any belongings (comforters or just toys) that they bring in in their own trays, and encourage them to leave them there until it's time to go home. Unless it's circle time and they are showing the others, or using things like photos. We tell them it's to stop anything getting lost or broken, especially if it was a comfort toy that was of special importance to a child. But if a child was very upset and needed a cuddly toy to calm them down I would have no problem with that at all, because they would probably be recieving individual attention if they were upset anyway. Then when the child was less upset, the cuddly toy can be given a job like 'teddy can sit up here and watch to make sure we are playing this game properly' or ' can we use your blanket to keep this baby (doll) warm?' You can't do things like that with dummys, it simly has to be taken from the child and put away. You can distract them, but surely most pre school workers would try and do that anyway, and an intelligent child will see that they could play most games with a dummy in their mouth. I would be much less inclined to give an upset child a dummy, and would definately not allow a bottle. This would be for the reasons I gave above, it's just not fair on those children who have been told that they can only have their dummys at bedtime, or that have recently been weaned off them in preparation for going to nursery. What are parents expected to say to a child that has been persuaded successfully to leave the dummy at home when they get to nursey and see that someone else is allowed? There is also the added thing that children who like a dummy will often be happy doing most activities with a dummy sticking out of their mouths, which if we are involved in cooking or messy play, is just not hygienic. If they are playing on the climbing frame and running outside, it's not safe. It's harder to understand what children are saying if they have a dummy in their mouths, so communication between other children and adults is hindered. If every child was allowed to suck a dummy, we would spend alot of time tring to get them out of mouths to hear what they were saying or to do other things, and we would spend alot ot time trying to match the right dummy to the right mouth. Even if it were only allowed for a short amount of time, we would still have to coax the thing out of their mouths at some point, and that is something that parents should do, not pre school staff. It would simply be impossible if every child had a dummy. They are not allowed at school, and I think the transition to big school can be hard enough for very small people, with out that being the time that they also have to give up their dummy. That's one good reason why it should be taken away way before then. If they know they are not allowed a dummy at nursery either, then they only have to cope with a much shorter time without it, and in an environment where other forms of comfort can be easily given, unlike in a school.
Bottles imho, shold never be used as comfort past a year of age, it teaches children that food equals comfort, which could easily result in overweight children and adults who don't have any other way of relaxing themselves.