proud mummy moment re imaginary play

[pigletmania]

In a nutshell my dd is 4 and has social communication/speech and language developmental delay, the Paeditrician is going down the ASD route but is not making a definite dx until a multidisciplinary team meeting after we see him next in September.

Since she turned 4 in March her expressive language is getting so much better. Today I had just changed the sheets on our bed, and dd went under them and said that she was in a Pyramid, looking for treasure, and that it was dark in the pyramid , she then said that it was now a submarine underwater looking for fish more , she then said that she was in her treehouse, and then back in her pyramid looking for Dora's lost toys

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that! She was using one thing being under the sheet) to imagine it was a multitude of things and situations, all spontaneous from her imagination

Lovely, piglet. Clever girl.

Thanks Ellen, wasn't expecting that. I needed a pick me up after the disasterous parent/child meeting at school last month, wherby all the nt preschool children got told of their Childs progress, whereby I attended a special meeting with the head and dd nursery teachers to be told how she is making little progress and all bad things, and that because of this we definitely need to statement. Well I know, we agreed why can't dd have a normal meeting too!

yay clever little piglet :)

Thanks Janet

Well done little piglet!

I know how you feel about the parent/child meetings. We aren't allowed a parent's evening appointment, because we have an IEP review 'instead', but we aren't allowed to discuss everything in the IEP meeting that we would be likely to mention at a parental consultation because there isn't enough time. It really bugs me.

Thanks moose it is bad to do that. So much so that I demanded a second meeting to talk about dd progress which the school did do, I felt that dd deserved that like any if the others. The second meeting was a lot more positive, sometimes you have to speak up but not be rude, but assertive.

That's a bit odd! We have always had a normal parents' evening as well as reviews. It's a different sort of meeting. Mind you, parents' evenings are 10 min appts and reviews are 3/4 to 1 hour.

That's it though, our reviews always run over to 1hr 45 mins at least, so there's no time to discuss basic stuff that doesn't actually relate to SNs. Add to that a teacher that refuses to speak to parents before school 'for any reason' who says she is too busy after school with 'meetings' and asked for the comments/notes section to be taken off ds's feelings diary and it doesn't make for good parent/teacher communication.

On the odd occasion she is available after school she does spend a decent amount of time with us, but there are often times we need to let her know something before school, that is relevant to how ds will be during that school day and then its really frustrating.

Well this was meant to be a parents evening of about 15 mins, but instead I was ushured into a room with the head teacher and her pre school teacher, and they proceeded to bombard me with negatives and that we have to highlight the negatives if we want a statement. That is not what I came for, I wanted to hear about dd progress, if they wanted a separate meeting they should have arranged one, not do it in parent evening . This is what we had discussed in a previous meeting a few weeks prior, so no new information and that we had given the go ahead for a statement, and that we would write a report from the parents perspective highlighting dd difficulties. They had to do another meeting anyway, later as I wanted to talk about dd progress at preschool What a waste of time!

Piglet I'd explain to them as you have to us, you need things to be as 'normal' as possible for you and your DD. You want to hear some positives as well as the necessary negatives. Everyone makes progress, and your DD's is, if anything, more precious and significant. She's still your little girl, not a list of problems.

Moose, 1hr 45 min is a long review! We've never had one that long. Mind you, I have a decent home school diary and a good relationship with the TA. The last ofsted questionnaire raised the problem of unapproachable teachers and ours all come into the playground at 9.00am and 3.15pm each day now, as a result. If I have a minor issue I put it in the diary. If major, I collar the teacher, so reviews are simply that, a second view of how he's doing. Maybe another visit to the new head about poor communication and closed door policy?

Thanks Ellen that's what I said to them, the next day, wish I told them there and then but was too upset. So therefore was assigned a proper parents meeting which was quite . It was nice to hear her strengths and where she has made progress, every child makes progress whether SN or not.

...but getting back to the point...a sheet / pyramid / submarine / tree house! What a fantastic imagination! Clever wee piglet!

Thanks farne was I just sat still and let her get on with it. Her speech really improves where she is most comfortable, and not necessarily at nursery.

Ellen, it only ended after 1hr 45 mins because we were thrown out of the room!

I wonder if its worth fighting issues with this particular teacher now we are in the Summer term. It will be a new set of problems with a new teacher come September. Most of the teachers are really good and approachable, but this particular teacher is very rigid - in fact dh and I are convinced she's on the spectrum.

Yes quite right fearnelinen, well done again little piglet!