New here, advice please.

[mishymashy]

Hi My Ds who is now 3 has been at his nursery since last Sept. He has GDD and even though he is very mobile now, his language and communication are very behind. He can talk (echo) but his receptive language is very poor. We had the full support of area senco and his team, SALT, Portage and paed and everything was put in place for his support inc IEP at nursery. To cut a long story very short, none of the recommended actions have been implemented ie visual boards and use of pecs or any support provided for him. The IEP's have been a complete waste of time as the targets set are so low that they would be more appropriate for a 15 month old ie walking from A to B without falling! The nursery applied for funding back in March but failed to mention that Ds had been awarded a good sum of money from our LEA almost immediately. It was only when we went to a multi agency meeting last week that we found out. They were asked what they had done with the money as Ds's team were also unaware of the money and we were told its been put in the school pot. They have had the money for a month and yet no extra support has been put in place. They stated that staff ratio wouldnt make it a viable option. We left the meeting feeling very let down. I can only presume words were crossed after we left because this morning after dropping Ds at nursery they said that they will be offering 15 mins a day of 1:1 support, he only attends 2 days a week! i phoned parent partnership who did say that the school can do what they want with the money but surely they have to account for what its spent on and who it is spent on. They are sending me out relevant information for me to look at. We are looking to move him to another nursery but the waiting lists are so long. Are we expecting too much, we have absolutely no experience when dealing with schools so are at a loss of what to do. Everything states that the more support he gets before the age of 5 the better his outcome will be in the education system in the future. I feel as though we are letting him down.
Any advice would be very helpful. Many thanks.

I would think if they received funding to provide support for your DS that they would need to spending it providing support for your DS. And I would think they would need to keep records so that they are held accountable for it.

How often are they reviewing the IEPs? Are you going to the reviews? They should be advising you well in advance of any IEP reviews so that you can attend and provide input. And if they are not appropriate targets, you may need to push for some that are more appropriate for him and his needs.

When you say everything has been put in place for his support, do you mean statutory assessment and all? Or just the nursery and IEPs? Are these visual aids, PECs and other support things actually noted on the IEPs?

It certainly doesn't sound like they're doing their best to help your DS. I'm a bit puzzled over the "staff ratio wouldn't make it a viable option." Are they saying they are too short of staff? Or that the staff ratio is low enough that he is getting some 1:1 attention already? (although I suspect it's the first)

Are there any other nurseries which might be more amenable to working with you? The funding should follow him to a new setting

And if he has extra resources, they might bump him up their waiting lists.

Thankyou for the replies. Everything Ds needed was written down by the area senco after gathering info from everyone involved with him so that his nursery had a good understanding of his needs before he started. when we have the IEP reviews the school senco nods and fills out wonderful paperwork and we leave feeling positive then nothing is implemented. We clung onto the fact that it was because they needed extra money to help with providing the extra care so were very shocked when it came out that he had already been awarded it and nothing had changed. The staff ratio issue is because they dont have enough staff to cover all the children. Its a bit of a mess really. I am waiting to hear back from another nursery as i really do think thats our only option. I will try not to make the same mistakes again in being so naive about what they are actually doing and taking things at face value.
Thanks again

His IEP doesnt comform to the SMART guidelines at all

Have you asked the nursery/LEA about the money that was awarded for your ds and where, exactly it is and what it was spent on?

Put everything in writing and start asking questions!

My DS1 (3.10 ASC) is in a private day nursery and gets funding for 1:1 support. He gets exactly the amount of hours stated on the report and often more due to the nursery being totally supportive of him.

Is your DS going to a pre-school nursery or private day nursery. The extra money should be for an extra member of staff to provide support so the staff ratio explanation is not acceptable. Can you ask to look at the paperwork so you can see if it specifies hours/time etc your DS should be receiving from the allocated monies.

Sorry, just re-read your post again - "not enough staff to cover all the children"? Is that legal?! Hopefully someone more experienced will be here soon to advise you?