GDD ds starting preschool - any pointers, what would you have done differently, what to look out for, very anxious about it all

[babiki]

Hello, hope you lovely people can help a bit. Ds will be 3 in November, functioning at about 15-18 months in all areas except for fine motor, which is OK. He is going to the same preschool where my nt dd went, they were lovely, altough I don't know how good they are with SN kids. Preschool applied for inclusion funding, so hopefully he will get 1-1. Haven't seen ed psychologist yet- is this a must, are they any good and how to get hold of them ( Essex ). His OT and salt will visit preschool, his private therapist advised to ask preschool for a daily mini report describing how he was in order to trace potential triggers of tantrums etc. Any other ideas? The more I think about it the more it seems maybe I should have arranged a SN preschool, but it's too far and I don't drive ( waiting for Family Fund Grant to take lessons). I just can't imagine him coping around so many nt kids... Also, this may sound silly, but until recently his sn were not much 'visible' and it's going to be really tough to see him compared to his peers everyday :( Sometimes I wish there was an island just for families with sn kids, with no staring and sorrowful glances etc... where we would be all happy forever and ever :)

Pre-schools will have a member os staff that is the SEN liaison, but ultimately, the LA has the responsibility for assessing needs. It could be worth giving them a call and asking for the number of the Early years SENCo for the area that the pre-school is in, just to touch base and organise an early visit.
Although, they might want to wait until he settles in to get a good idea of where his needs are.

Hello Babiki, I don't have any advice unfortunately, but just wanted to say that I can relate.
My DD (3.6) is starting also starting preschool next month, the same one my NT DS went too. I had no worries about DS starting at all, he just skipped in on the first day and enjoyed it so much.
I am so worried though about DD starting though. She is delayed, and I haven't been able to explain about going to preschool. It won't really mean anything to her until it actually happens, if that makes sense.
I had contacted the lovely staff when I was registering her, and mentioned that her difficulties have been identified so far as social communication and interaction, & gave them copies of her reports. I was nervous about this - I was worried that they wouldn't want her to attend. However, they were very welcoming and said that they have had children before who were attending the same child development centre. A couple of weeks later, a beautiful booklet came through the post, showing photographs of all the staff, her coat-hook and name symbol, activities etc, with a lovely note saying that they thought it might be of help to DD. I have to admit that I had a few tears that the staff had been so thoughtful.
I think every mum is apprehensive when our babies start school, but maybe more so when you know in your heart that they are a bit different...
I really hope it goes well for your DS. It sounds positive that the preschool have applied for inclusion funding, and that the OT & SALT will visit. Good luck to both of you for the first day!

Auntevil, thanks and yes, I think they want to see how he is doing at first, as no educational psychologist contacted me yet... Marchduck, thank you, your dd sounds similar to my little man. Are you going to apply for a statement? I'm just waiting till ds is 3 and will do it. It's lovely from tour preschool to send the booklet - altough my ds still wouldn't understand, the only thing he would is that I say 'mama bye bye now' I think it's the lack of understanding that causes us to worry so much, with my dd everything went so smoothly as she understood everything. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

babiki,

I would put the statement request in now to the LEA and not wait until DS turns three in November. This is also because statements can take six months or longer to sort out even if the LEA agree to assess. You need to get the LEA in question to agree to assess asap.

Have you heard anything to date about whether the preschool received any inclusion funding for DS?.

Attila thanks, I might do it then now, tbh I'm really dreading it all. The teacher was positive they would get it as ds needs are severe, I don't have a means of contacting her now unfortunately. Attila do I need to send anything else apart from the letter ( I have downloaded the sample letter from Ipsea). Do letter from private therapists count or it must be all NHS staff? Of course was told by everybody to wait until he goes to school, so don't expect much support anyway.

If you make the statement request yourself you can appeal the decision in the event the LEA say no to the statement request you make. School cannot appeal in the event the LEA say no so its another reason for you to be making such a request. Also you know its been done then, some schools can wait and sit on statement apps for ages without doing anything, watching and waiting is really no option here.

You do not have to send a great deal of correspondence with the initial letter and the LEA staff may not read it all anyway. If you send additional material do not send original correspondence, would send photocopies.

Ok thanks a lot, I will send just the request then and see what they come up with.

Hi Babiki, your DS and my DD do sound alike! And I so get the worry about the lack of understanding; that was what caused me so many sleepless nights. I think looking at your original post that my DD is about 10 months older than your DS. Her understanding has really come on over the last three months -still very delayed, but so so much better than it was.
Definitely agree with Attila that it would be better to put the statement request in now. It seems to be a lengthy process.... DD had a review meeting with multi disciplinary assessment team in May - the paed referred her to the educational psychologist then. I got an acknowledgement letter a couple of weeks later advising that they accepted the referral but it would be months before she would be seen. I am going to phone them in the next few weeks to chase up - the statement needs to be sorted out before she starts primary.
Would it be an option to check with your LEA to see if the inclusion funding has been sorted - I'm in NI, so not familiar with the LEA set up.

Thanks guys, Marchduck yes, they do sound similar :) Hmm that's a good idea to check about the funding - however my experiences of trying to contact anybody in our LEA who actually knows anything are pretty grim..
Thanks again as I have kicked myself and just finished the request, and going to send it off tommorow!
Marchduck I hope your DD will be fine at preschool, did the preschool sort out any funding for her?

babiki, I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't thought about funding for pre-school until you mentioned it in your OP. This is why this board is my life-line - there are so many things I need to learn. I will make phone calls about this tomorrow - but I suspect any additional funding here is based on statements.
Let's hope we can both get through the statementing process!

Marchduck, maybe they have additional funds available..the whole system is so complicated..good luck with it all!