Nursery dropped bomb! Worried about assessment. Help please x

[Charl75]

Hi,
with 3 months until my DS finishes nursery (he's been going there 3.5 day per week since he was 7 months old) they have told me during a parents consultation that they think DS has 'significant' problems with communication and understanding.

Of course I'm upset that after saying all is well day after day, they have dropped this bombshell!!! DS does have speech difficulties and has had some mild comprehension and understanding issues which I have addressed and am addressing by pursuing speech and language assessments both through the NHS and privately.

Tomorrow someone from the LEA is coming out to do an observational assessment on DS and I will have feedback on Thursday. This was arrabhed 3 days ago so is happening very quickly compared to schools.

My two main issues are that he is not displaying the difficulties outlined to the same extent at home. Nowhere near. I was shocked when they said that he finds it hard to follow instructions when he does quite easily at home.
Secondly, we have just had his school place offered and on the letter it outlines that the offer is provisional if a statutory assessment is due to take place. Nursery say it's not, but they haven't always been correct and totally truthful and I'm worried to death.

Has anyone please got any ideas on how I should approach this. I really need help. Thanks :(

I've asked MNHQ to move this to SN Children as very folk come onto this section of the board.

Nursery seem to have handled this very insensitively but, if they have concerns about your child's development they have a legal duty to try to identify and needs he may have and ensure he's supported.

You also seem to have had your own concerns as you've commissioned private assessments. You'll be able to show these to the LA Ed Pysch and other assessors if you think they will help - or you can chose to keep those private assessments to yourself.

Addressing your 2 main concerns:

1. Nursery are comparing your child to a broad range of children with varying abilities. If they've raised concerns they are right to do so. Usually it's the other way around i.e parent has a concern and no one will take them seriously. Getting the right help at an early age produces the best outcome in later life.

2)This is just warning you if the assessment identifies needs that cannot be met in the school you've chosen then he may need to go to a different school that can support his needs. I expect that would be highly unlikley as the default is Mainstream with support and if he is issued with a Statement then children with Statemnets will have priority admission at the school of your choise - as long as that school can support their needs.

So I wouldn't worry at all. Best wishes

bump - anyone with Early Years experience?

I agree with everything wet has said. My ds was picked up at 19 months at nursery, but only because his key worker had experience of asd. It is quite common for little ones to display more pronounced traits in the nursery environment. The good thing is you are already addressing the issues with speech and understanding. From my experience we, as parents tend to adapt our parenting skills to 'fit' our child when the present with issues at a young age, this is more so when dc1 or dc2 of different sex, I see it a lot at pps.
Do you need ds to start school in September? I ask this because he doesn't actually have to start till the term after his 5th birthday, so may give you a bit of breathing space, so to speak. I would presume that it is someone from you local early years who is coming to see him. They will be able to give you more information as to what the next step is. The biggest thing I can tell you is that nothing will happen as far as statutory assessment is concerned before September, there is just not the time for the correct graduated response to be done, also there maybe nothing in what nursery are saying. It is possible that due to his mild difficulties, your ds is struggling with the way nursery give instructions not that he has difficulty in following instructions in general if you see what I mean. All the assessment may say is that there are ways that your ds needs to be given instructions and he may need to be on School action + when he starts school and no more.
Just remember, just because nursery have 'red flagged' him doesn't mean there is an issue, just a concern and if nursery didn't flag it up they would be seen to be negligent. SEN code of practice is what the LEA have to abide by, although there is always an element of local interpretation, and will give you a good idea as to where they will go next. Things are slightly different for early years, which is up to year 1.
I hope this makes sense, it is late and I know I won't get on here till late tomorrow. Good luck with the meeting, it will be fine I am sure.

I agree you are just going to have to let the process take its course. If has coped well in mainstream until now then almost certainly will go on to mainstream school but the advantage of any issues being picked up now is that if extra support like speech therapy or work on social skills is needed there is time to flag this up to the school and get extra support in place
Many children get picked up once they start at school and there is an awful period of waiting for support to kick in.
Its come as a shock and clearly the nursery must have decided there might be an issue more than 3 days ago so it is not good practice for them to have sprung this on you.
But if there is a problem then its better to intervene early.
Can you go along to the appointment and speak to the person doing the assessment afterwards? Not sure what feedback you are getting but I would always prefer to hear it from the professional involved than second hand from the nursery.