Getting to school 45 minutes late every morning?

[skewiff]

DS is 4 and is due to start school this September. He has a statement, as he has hemiplegia/cerebral palsy. It is mild in the grand scheme of things but there are still many many areas of his (mostly physical) development that we have to constantly work on.

At the moment I do about 2 1/2 hours of therapy scattered throughout each day. I am worried that once he starts school he'll not progress or perhaps even go backwards, physically - as I won't be able to do this much any more.

This morning I met with the SENCO of his new school and asked if she would allow him to start 45 minutes late every day in order for me to get all his physio/massage and stretching done - whilst he is awake enough to do them and also to relax his body for the day ahead.

To my surprise she was absolutely fine about this.

I am really pleased, but also worried that he'll miss out on making friendships and other stuff if I do actually go ahead with this.

Have any of you done anything similar? Do you think it is a good/bad idea?

Thank you.

I haven't done anything similar but I would say go for it. As you say his physical development is what you need to work on at the moment and as you have got the support from school do it. Yes, he will miss out on things at the beginning of the day such as sitting in a circle, answering the register, assembilies (can't think of what else they do first in the morning!) but he certainly will not miss out on friendships. Reception is mainly play based so there is lots of oppotunities throughout the day to play with the other children.

DGS is a september baby and also CP (2.9 at the mo). He would be eligible to start school at 4ish but DD has decided he can start school when he is 5 (legally entitled to do this) and not be pushed into an earlier start. Her reasoning is exactly the same. We can continue with his therapy and at 5 he should be physically more able and hopefully settle in better because he'll be able to do more than struggling and going backwards if he starts later.

Children on the continent don't start school til 6 and DGS will attend 1 morning a week nursery this sept and gradually increase it until he starts school. Formal schooling is much overated imo and a gradual move to school seems much more sensible.

Each child is different and each family is different. Your SENCO recognises the importance of your work with DS and it makes sense for the long term. DS will have no problem with making friends so I think you are doing the right thing and I'm glad you have support and understanding.

The 1st 45mins in class, certainly in reception, isn't going to affect anything. He'll miss his registration and probably the plan for the day and assembly. I would go for it. It certainly won't affect making friends. My ds (reception) has been doing half days (afternoons only) and he has plenty of friends.

There's a boy at my dss' school who has CP and he has his physio while the others are all in assembly, he has a physio come into school to do his, but as he also uses the main entrance instead of lining up in the playground (because its easier for him to manage his walking frame when there's not a huge crush of children in the cloakrooms etc) I don't think he actually sees his classmates until after assembly each morning and it doesn't seem to have affected him making friends, in fact he's one of the most popular boys in his year.

45 minutes sounds just right timing wise to get him in and settled ready for when the rest of the class come back from assembly.

Oh. Ok.

The only thing is I don't think they have assembly every day - I'm not sure they even have it once a week - at this school. The SENCO didn't mention it to me this morning when we were discussing what he would miss. I'll check with her next week.

She just talked about table top activities and free play. Its a 4 form entry school and that hall is not all that big.

Thank you for all of your reassurances. It does feel like the right thing to do, I think. My dad and partner have just got me a bit worried about DS feeling different. Would he notice that he was coming in later? Would the other children notice?

I know that he is already different but kids don't seem to notice his physical differences at the moment and neither does DS seem to. I think he does, but also doesn't if that makes any sense.

I don't think I'd do this after reception. Just for this year. After this year I hope he'll have a bit more energy after school to do his exercises.

Yes your DS would probably notice he was coming in later than everybody else and so would the other children. They would probably ask "why does DS come in late?" but they could be told something like- "he has to do extra exercises" or whatever you would feel comfortable with the teacher telling them - that should possibly satisfy their curiosity