I'd welcome thoughts on whether my son's pre school is acting appropriately with regard to his suspected SEN (likely ASD.) My son is 3. To summarise:
They gave my husband a consent form at pick up one day to sign saying they wanted a woman who comes in to observe our son. They said it was nothing to worry about and just that our son's speech was occasionally repetitive.
Later my husband was again caught at pick up and asked to sign a form allowing them to apply for Inclusion Funding to help with his communication. We've never been told the outcome of this but again were told it's nothing to worry about.
I emailed in with some questions asking what about his speech was causing their concern but didn't get a clear answer from the SENCO, she directed me to a website of helpful activities.
My son's key worker left early this year and I met with her before she did. She raised some futher concerns about my son's development and communication and she seemed under the impression that the school SENCO had been in touch with us, but she hadn't.
I thought I would let my son bed in with his new key worker who is also the nursery lead and then ask for a meeting with her. We then met with her and the SENCO this week who agreed that my son likely would benefit from a formal diagnosis, they are also going to provide him with some one on one time with a woman who visits (though we don't quite understand her role) and they have now referred him for speech and language therapy. We are going to look in to an ASD diagnosis.
I'm just unclear if they are doing everything they can and taking the appropriate steps or if we should be expecting more?
I just wonder when or if they would have initiated any of this if I hadn't asked to meet with them. I also asked if an EHCP application should be thought about and was told let's wait and see. I asked if they felt he would be able to attend a mainstream school and they were noncommittal and said a lot can change in a year. Reading up afterwards, I'm wondering if I should ask for for an Individual Education Plan for him now? They didn't mention anything about this to me though.
It's a lovely village primary but quite small (15 children per year group with 2 year groups per class) and he's been very happy at the nursery. He goes to school the September after next and I had thought I would keep him there but now I'm starting to wonder if their SEN provision and intervention is robust enough. I still don't feel totally clear about what they are going to do to support him and how we will know if it's working.
We have always known DS was slightly unusual and he has been slow to meet all his milestones. However he is always making progress and is bright and learns well. However, he hand flaps, dislikes changes to routine, has some auditory issues and tends to play alongside rather than with other children. We totally accept at this point that a diagnosis will be beneficial and just want to make the right choice re his school.
He has a year of nursery left come September and I'm just thinking that if he is going to need to go to a different school, I'd like to move him to a new attached pre school for it as he will struggle with the change.
I'd really welcome people's views on whether the pre school and SENCO are handling this well or not. I'd also be very grateful to hear the experience of others in similar situations.
I'm fretting away and just don't know what's best! Thanks very much in advance for reading and I hope it all makes sense.