Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any advice, I’m not sure what to do next really.
My DS is 2yrs 8 months, and I’ve been trying to get him into nursery (we’re eligible for 15 hour funding) since April. I think playing and being around other toddlers will do him good.
The first nursery I tried asked how his 2 year review went, & when she found he wasn’t talking and waiting to see Paediatrics about possible autism, said she can’t have anymore special needs kids. I was kind of shocked. I didn’t think a nursery could turn down a child. Nursery 2 did the same.
I spoke to someone at the children’s centre about it and she recommended applying for SEN before he starts. It’s taken about 10 weeks so far, but she said it might take a lot longer because the board have only just started meeting up again and there’s a backlog, so we’re looking at December time before a decision is made.
We moved a few miles away, and there’s a small nursery just down the road that’s attached to a school but is in a separate mobile so it’s not too noisy or big for DS.
I asked the lady from the children’s centre if we could try there, and she called and made all the arrangements for a couple of settling in sessions and then DS could go on his own.
I took him and he loved it. He was quiet and mostly ignored everyone but did his own version of playing.. he sat at the little table and drank milk with the others and wondered around the little garden. He wasn’t clingy or upset except for one child was particularly noisy but he calmed down quickly.
The nursery manager tho, was very negative about having another Sen child (she had 2 out of the 8 kids there) and said they’d be tons of paperwork to do, and funding would take ages to come through, and by the time it did and she interviewed around hired a 1-1 (she was adamant DS would need a 1-1) it’d be April and wouldn’t he be better in a special school?😳
I said I thought he’d need an EHCP for that, and I wanted him to try mainstream first. I think she’s just trying to put me off the nursery so she doesn’t have to see to him.
She said he can continue to go an hour a week if I stay with him until half term, and then she’ll decide if we can carry on going an hour a week, but no more until she has another member of staff to see to him. Otherwise she’ll recommend we go elsewhere.
Am I wrong, but this does seem like discrimination against a child with a possible learning disability and probably ASD?
He had his appointment with community paediatrics last week and they said definitely ASD, but they’d like him in nursery for 3 months first before an official diagnosis is made.
Any ideas on what’s best to do? I would like DS to try nursery even just a few hours a week. I’m up with him for a few hours every night, and I’m exhausted and have no family round to help. DS is bored because he doesn’t know how to play properly and can’t entertain himself for longer than 10 minutes. He slams cupboard doors over and over and even though we go out every day, I feel it’s not enough for him and he needs more stimulation. Any ideas please?