Handholding for reception in September part two !

[autumnsmum]

Hi autumnsmum here I thought I would start another thread for those of us with Dcs starting reception in September. I have two older children and dd2 who has autism and will be going into the reception class of her special school where she attends nursery in September . I would love to hear from others

Hello Autumnsmum and everyone else waiting for September.

I have 6 and 8 year old dd's and a 3.8 yr old ds with a genetic condition - he is completely non verbal, has GDD, low muscle tone and health issues. Hopefully (statement pending) he will be starting at a special learning unit within a mainstream infants, in September.

Statement wise, all the reports are going in, and if everything goes smoothly (ha ha) then we should hear in early May.

Have a meeting in May about transition to school, which is next door to the preschool that ds attends at the moment. His 1-1 has been taking him down to say hello to everyone, and get used to the faces there, but we will need to work with him getting used to a new key worker, as he is very very clingy to his 1-1.

Hi hazey methinks we need to drag perspective 21 hither

Hi guys again! Hazey fingers crossed for your statement. We received final statement for MS with no hours 1-1... So there we go, Tribunal again. I want to hold ds back a year and have him started in SS next year, when they can take him.

Worst case will be HE.

Hello babiki what a rotten situation

Hello, my DD will b starting mainstream school in September when she is 4 years and 8 days. Not so good for someone who is developmentally delayed!

I am in the diagnosis process at the moment (awaiting a developmental paed appt at the moment, but have written report from preschool and health visitor observation to take as evidence).

Suspect it is either dyspraxia, sensory processing disorder, ADHD or high functioning autism. Or a little of all of them probably. She also has hypermobility.

I am going to try her in reception and see how she gets on. There is no way she will have a statement by then, and if she does, I doubt she will get much if any help. The preschool and health visitor have both said she might not qualify with her behaviours and levels of delay. Seems like it is all about minimising cost more than anything. A really good friend had to fight for her son to get one to one help and he is at the severe end of autistic spectrum.

If it all goes wrong, I am considering HE and will read about it in advance of her starting in case it all goes wrong. Not sure how it would work with a 6 month old (which I would have in September) though!

Join the dots lovely to meet you

How strange I should have opened this section today! Waves to autumnsmum and hazeyjane. I have a son 4 yrs 3mths with Down's Syndrome who is heading to Reception. We are at the stage of waiting for reports to be back to LA for their ruminations. I'm waiting to hear about Ed Psych in Nursery, as a meeting will follow this. I alternate between confident that we'll get Statement organised, joy at pending school and then awful feelings that my DS is largely pre verbal but will need to go and get on with it. For no real rational reason, I admit to being a bit of a wobbly mess and will feel better once a plan is in place. I feel very in limbo at the moment, trying to stay calm but I notice I've got a lot of stress type headaches lately.

all round, it's not easy is it?

Hi perspective it's v tough isn't it ! With dd1 I just filled in a form but statementings
A whole new area

Yes, perspective - wobbly here too! I just can't imagine ds going to school every day.

I'm glad I'm not the only wobbly one, lovely to have the support on here. DH tries to understand and I think he does but I know he thinks I'm quite emotional about stuff anyway (one of the reasons we make a good team) that he would maybe just get on with. I do think though, he's been very used to leaving DS at home for hours anyway for years! I've been the SAHP and I'm worried about DS coping for longer periods in the week away from home.
I know he does 3 days nursery, so school is the next logical step, but I find myself feeling very illogical about it all!! I'm going to push for a staggered start, to satisfy myself that it's working well for both school and DS.

I really think, for me, it's because it's a big step out of the family and I'm just plain worried about DS being understood.

Staggered start sounds great ! In a way dd2 has had that for a year as her nursery place is in the reception class.

Hi everyone, nice to have a part 2 thread. Yes, time is relentlessly moving on to the dreaded school start when DS (diagnoses of verbal dyspraxia and ASD plus hypermobility) will be 4 and a bit, probably still unintelligible and needing lots of support with self care.

On the plus side we now have a draft statement and have submitted our choice of school and a whole load of amendments to LEA. Now anxiously waiting to see if he will be accepted by speech unit where we want him to go.

Even if all goes to plan and speech unit offer him a place we will have the dilemma of transport...

Good luck to everyone in the battles with the LEAs.

Dd2 goes on transport and her driver and escort are lovely and she sometimes mentions the names of the children who share her minibus

A staggered start is a really good idea. I shall consider that, and book an appointment with the reception teacher and school SENCO when we hear which school we have. We wont have a statement by Sept but it will be important for them to know something about DDs needs before she gets there.

Can you explain the Staggered start? Do you mean just doing mornings or something else?

Ds is as yet us diagnosed. He will start school in sept, one intake very small village primary (70 kids in total). He is currently at preschool next door - run separately from school but with links.

Ds is, well we often say very active. A bit like a puppy, flits from one thing to the next round and round. When he wants to put his mind to something, he can. But it is very much on his terms and if he doesn't want to, well. Wild horses couldn't make him!

I'm worried for several reasons. 1, I'm hoping dd's old teacher returns from maternity leave. The new one is a very uncertain nqt. Even though she has been here a year now, she still looks like a rabbit stuck in headlights when you approach her about anything.

1. While in preschool ds is fine because he can be left to play with the trains if that's what he wants. There is no real push to encourage the children into another activity. But in school he will be expected to move on to the next subject or so on.

1. If he doesn't want to do something, he really, really kicks off. He will run and hide, he will scream, fight. Anything to avoid doing what you want/need him to do. How is this going to help him, his classmates and his teacher. I'm hoping adore said old teacher is back as she will have a different way with him.

But mostly, he is still such a little baby boy to me. He doesn't have to starts until the following September due to his birthdate. But it's not going to help launching him straight into year one either.

Hi mini nice to meet you

Hazey, yes you can negotiate on just mornings or maybe 2 or 3 days instead of 5. Very much down to the school to negotiate with though. I hear some are more open to it than others.

Mini - do you have the male version of my DD?! She is exactly the same, and going to a small village primary too, just 6 other girls in her year, and 8 boys. Feeling so scared she will hate school, have no friends and be labelled a pain in the backside by the other children, parents and teaching staff when I know she can be so wonderful (if given her own way 100% of the time!)

Wow the schools where I am have four class reception years

Certainly sounds like it . I'm rather fed up of the discipline/smack him/ etc school of thought coming from some people glares at parents particularly my dad I'm sure once ds chooses to get to school he will be fine there. And he seems to have 'friends' from preschool. Although I've noticed he tends to play with the younger ones. Probably because they are easier to tell what to do .

I do worry about him being labelled a pita when he gets to school. Hence pursuing various avenues of help right now. That and because one very nearly 4 year old pretty much rules the roost.

There is hope. DS was turned down for SA and we appealed and the LA conceded - we got the draft statement through last week. It's not perfect but with amendments, it will hopefully get our first choice school. If it can happen for us then no reason why it won't happen for all of you

Sorry, just come back to this thread. The staggered start I hope for would just be an extension of what my older two did for settling in school nursery; mornings at first, then stay for lunch but go home approximately 2pm and then finally be doing full school day by week 4. I haven't spoken to head yet (as not been allocated school!!) but informally, I believe that they think this is a good idea, whilst DS and school get used to each other.
If he walks in confidently ( which he may do, if he can transfer his skills from attending nursery) then he may not need it, but I'd like to think we could build up time slowly if we needed to. Have heard in another authority, one child doing a four day week (one homeschooled) and one doing mornings only for first half term.

I'd just like to have the agreement that we could go slowly, if needed.

We have just heard that our request for SA has been accepted, so waiting for all the reports to come in and a decision to be made in May. Fingers crossed.

The mainstream school we hope to send our son to seems very happy to do a very staggered start and have even talked about doing a lot of transition visits with a few of his friends in June/July too.

Ds has started going down to the unit, with his 1-1 already, we have a TAC meeting in May to discuss transition in more detail. Hopefully we might have heard about the statement by then. The head of the unit has already said that half days can go on for as long as necessary, which is good, because I can't see ds coping with a full day for a while.

Well done on the request being accepted, Siphon.

Hi all just seen this. I was on the last thread but have had a name change. Ds will be very nearly five when he starts reception in September. All the assessments are compete for his SA and have been told I should receive a decision or draft by end of April. I am hoping for my nearest ss, I am as sure as I can be that ds will not cope in mainstream at the moment.

I've not been on here much as have had to take him out of his mainstream preschool as he was just not coping and meltdowns were becoming daily poor mite. There are no sen nurseries in my area and he already had full time 1-1 and ss outreach

I'm now trying to prepare him as much as I can at home doing a sensory diet and trying to take him out for as much controlled social interaction as I can. He has been referred for asd assessment now and to a neurologist to find at more about scarring he has in his brain. So we are getting there!

Good luck to everyone