Could do with some advice please think ds is being "dumped" in the school nursery

[mummyto2boysandagirl3]

The title sums it up really

Ds1 started reception in sept he's a summer bday so only 4 I posted a while back re him not settling and possible glue ear. Glue ear and moderate hearing loss has now been confirmed. I was aware the prior to this he had been put in the sen group so they could spend more time going over phonics etc and these sessions would take place in the classroom inside the nursery. However ds is coming home every night saying he's playing in the nursery with the nursery teacher not the sen teacher ds2 and my nephew also attend the nursery and have been saying they're playing with ds1. My other nephew is also in reception with ds1 and he hasn't been going to the nursery to play he's said it's just ds1 and another boy. Am I reading too much in to this here? I'm aware he struggles to concentrate and he is difficult but I didn't put him in to school to mess around in the nursery for 6 hrs a day

that doesn't sound right. The school shouldn't be sending him down to nursery HOWEVER is it possible that a group each day play with nursery for a certain amount of time? Many schools with a nursery attached do link nursery and reception some of the time.

I think it would be perfectly valid for you to ask the teacher at the end of the day that 'he says he is playing a lot in nursery at the moment, is that usual that some of the children integrate with the nursery children every day?'

I know they were wanting to spend more time mixing reception and nursery but as far as I was aware it was Friday afternoons. I'm just concerned it seems to be everyday and my nephew isn't in nursery that often. Also my nephew brings stuff home about the topic they're learning and ds1 never has anything he doesn't know anything about what they're doing in class or the projects the other kids r doing at home and bringing in. I did think it was cos he can't hear but now I'm not so sure. For example the other children all had torches & candles this morning. Ds1 knew nothing about it so was quite upset surely she should b putting a note in his book bag to inform me as she knows he can't hear? When I said was he supposed to have something I got " I wasn't expecting to have brought something it doesn't matter"

It was the Xmas fair last wk I had a nosey in the classroom no work of his on the walls and there's a big award chart and he's the only one with nothing next to his name :(

I'm a bit anti school/teachers (wanted to homeschool dh thought school would be better so I am trying not to let that cloud my opinion) so I don't want to go in moaning if this is standard practice and I'm being out of order

molding it's not private but a v v tiny village school the nursery is on site but separate building to rest of school and has separate classrooms at the front that they use for sen. His teacher told me he was jn the sen group for more help with phonics etc bcos he doesn't hear in class. She's also told me he can b quite disruptive and lacks concentration so when they're on carpet and she's teaching he often just gets up and walks off to get the toys out. I'm starting to think he's been shoved in nursery to play cos it's easier than having him in class. She's told me it's very frustrating teaching him. I know he's a hand full but am I out of order to expect her to get him to sit with the rest of the class? U make a good point where would she b sticking him if there was no nursery?

Thank u I think I'll go and speak to her tho she never seems to have time to talk to me rumour has it she has her favourites and if ur child isn't one then forget it.

I'm finding he's "learning" more from the work I do with him at home and I'm prob over reacting but I'm feeling like I'm doing her job for her. I dread to think wot would happen if I wasn't able to go over things with him at home.

I'm not surprised he does not hear in class, my son has a moderate hearing loss and wears aids, he is in reception. He also wears radio aids (bit like a walkie talkie between him and the teacher) purely so he can hear what's going on and esp for phonics. When they tested him with a 60decibel back ground noise which is the usual level of noise in a classroom he could only pick up 40% of speech. Having to cope with a hearing loss makes children incredibly tired and they do look like they are disobedient and misbehaving when in reality they purely can't hear. You need to get in touch with the NDCS (national deaf childrens society) either phone or via the website and ask for every booklet they have on hearing loss and its effect on behaviour, speech and learning phonics. When in class doing phonics is he sat at the front and directly opposite the teacher? Is the teacher stood with her back to a window? That's not good, acoustically is the room large with loads of windows and hard flooring? The last two are dreadful for people with hearing loss. Sorry for the ramble, I am so cross for you, the school is not meeting your sons needs, a loss at his level is like hearing everything in a permanent whisper, I'm not surprised he gets up and goes and plays with the toys. Everything the teacher is complaining about is because your son cannot hear. The school need to be made aware of how to meet his needs and the NDCS can help.

cathpip thank you for replying she said she moved him to the front but the room is quite "busy" and has lots of windows so loads of distractions. It's a big airy room too all hard floor except a tiny bit of carpet where she does her teaching her back is to a window tho. I'm getting so fed up of ppl thinking he's naughty all the parents think he's just disobedient as I try to call him back when running in playground in mornings I know he can't hear but I hope my nephew will tell him I'm calling him 9/10 he does. He continues to run round after the bell has gone as he's not heard it he's lip reading and taking him to parties is an absolute nightmare! He's so so tired and I know it's from working hard just to hear all day I desperately want him seen privately by ent but I'd need to borrow the money til after Xmas and my mum doesn't seem to think it's that urgent. I really could just cry. I'm off to look of ncds website now thank u x

You do need to have a conversation with the school and in all honesty with the head teacher, not the teacher. If your child is in the nursery all day then that is wrong. Is the nursery a state nursery or is it a private nursery using the facilities of the school? If it is a state nursery then one might expect more interaction between the nursery and reception year children but not to the extent of being in there all the time.
The other issue is that the school needs to make reasonable adjustments to cope with your son's special needs. It is not as though they do not know what the issue is and they should be coping much better with this. We have a number of hearing impaired children and they are always sat a the front of the class to ensure that they can lip read from the teachers, the class rooms have a loop in them to aid hearing and the teachers have all been on suitable training to ensure they understand how best to handle children who are hearing impaired. The question for the head teacher is what has the school done to make reasonable adjustments to allow your son to be a full member of the class.

You ds sounds exactly like mine, but mine has the added bonus in the fact that he wears hearing aids, at least people don't judge him then. Apart from when he is having a swimming lesson, then he is a nightmare and really naughty :).People don't realise that there are levels of deafness, my son was watching the weather report the other day and he stood there and said "mummy it's going to be bright and wild for two days" the forecaster had actually said "it's going to be quite mild for two days". Enjoy the website it's full of fantastic information.

just reading your replies it does sound like they have sent him into the nursery to make their life easier.

I think therefore you should be asking for a meeting asap with the SENCO to discuss whether there is any way the school can speed up the ENT appointment and what they are doing in the mean time.

I agree he should be in with his class and if he gets up to walk around then they need to explain to him that he should be sitting down or the poor boy will never learn that. Obviously not being able to hear will make him extremely bored so they need to deal with that urgently. They can presumably access picture cards etc to help communicate to him what the teacher is talking about.

My daughters are at a school where half the children are EAL so a lot of lesson are accompanied with picture cues and sign language in reception. when I told my eldest to calm down the other day she and her sister immediately did the sign language for it.

Iv just been on the ndcs website it's brill used the live web chat and they're sending me some leaflets for the school and getting audiologist to call me for advice also my lovely dad is going to pay for him to c an ent consultant the treatment will need to b on nhs but we can bypass this monitor him and leave him suffering malarkey. Anyone who read my post couple of wks back about him not settling and going backwards will know he really is unhappy at mo as will my poor neighbours who r listening to the tantrums every morning trying to get him ready for school. admission ur right I need to talk yo the school but I didn't want to cause trouble as her flagging the issue is why he now has the diagnosis however he's my boy and hopefully I'm wrong but I don't feel they r helping him as well as they could. There's another child in his class with glue ear but he doesn't seem to be having problems and isn't in this sen group. The nursery is part of the school the nursery children r involved in all the whole school activities etc so I was expecting him to spend time in there and also in the sen classroom located inside the nursery (it's separate so he wouldn't b playing with his brother if he were in here) but I wasn't expecting him to b in there on a daily basis. I know there's more than him in his class but I just feel like she's given up on him

peri sorry for sounding thick but wot does senco mean? Is it like the special needs dept? He's my oldest and I was v v lucky to b top sets for everything all through school so I have no idea of who to speak to/how to sort these things. Him being separated is my biggest worry like u said he will never learn how he's expected to behave in class if he's not in it. Also he's struggling to make friends due to his hearing loss and I'm worried them keeping him out of the class is only going to make this worse

SENCO = special educational needs coordinator.

School will know what you are talking about if you ask to speak to SENCO

I'd be a bit about a tiny school having a separate classroom for SEN.

You could ask to see their inclusion policy?

mirpuppet thank you :)

Also a suggestion at your meeting, would be an agreed timetable of how much time you allow in nursery per day.

Does ur son use that as down time, as time when he doesn't have to fight so hard to hear that it let's him recharge his concentration etc. If you think it helps him then I would arrnage it as a one hour break/day and then back to class.

baloon inclusion policy says include techniques that allow hearing impaired children to learn about sound in science and music and use assessment techniques which reflect their abilities the rest of the disability part applies to children in wheelchairs and with vision impairment. I feel bad looking at that really as I didn't really think of him of having a disability just glue ear but he has hearing loss in both ears

holiday that might b wot they're using it for and iv got the complete wrong end of the stick

If you have noticed how young children interact they start talking at different pitches and speed then mumble, turn and run off whilst still talking as it's all so exciting, my ds prefers to play with much older children as they stand still chat normally about what they are going to do and then do it. It's very hard to make friends if you don't hear or mishear, young children are too young to make allowances for why a child is doing something completely different to what they have said. Glue ear can also fluctuate esp during the winter, colds can also affect hearing, my ds has an added 20decibel loss when he has a cold.

It's so hard watching him he's trying but he hasn't got a clue Wots being said half the time and looks so lost. I'm trying to drop in in conversation with other mums that he can't hear in hope they'll tell their dc to b a little patient with him but I don't know if that's even the right thing to do. Audiologist tried to tell me he had a cold when he had his hearing test he didn't he had absolutely no cold symptoms and hasn't had any since so wouldn't have been brewing either. She said there was nothing I could do to help him other than just go through the motions and hope ent would offer grommets. She's not making him wait as long as she was going to due to swollen tonsils and adenoids and fact he failed 3 newborn hearing screenings due to fluid but said ent will need proof it's not new sigh. Hopefully the lady from ndcs will b able to tell me some stuff I can do to help him even if it's just a better way to teach his phonics as he's struggling to hear the sounds properly

Nursery and Reception are Early Years Education and in some schools they are very connected, especially in very small schools. I suspect it is not a private nursery.

Did you check out the ability of the school to meet his needs before he went there? Also, his needs should be spelt out very clearly to the school and you must get his hearing sorted out otherwise he will never access the curriculum. Your area should have a school for children with hearing loss, so have you explored this with the Local Authority? Althouhgh he may not be bad enough to qualify for a place, but they would possibly have an outreach programme to assist his school. I would also find out why the school (SENCO) has not contacted their Educational Psychologist to work through, with you as well, how they can provide for his needs. Did they know his needs before he arrived? Was he in the nursery or have you just arrived, unannounced, so to speak?

I would become far more actively involved with his education because sometimes village schools are not the best places to deal with "problems" as they are not used to them. Some schools have a track record so to speak. I do think your son should be in his correct class, however, and he definitely should have something on his award chart and work on the walls. I, personally, would be furious. They should have discussed everything with you.