Not sure what to do about nursery

[vicimelly]

I'm hoping someone could give me some help on this as I'm not sure what to do now. My daughter is 3 and was born with a spinal abnormality which has left her with very limited mobility, she can walk, but only on flat even ground and only for a short time, she also has very bad balance, so any small knock will send her flying. She also suffered nerve damage which has left her completely incontinent.
She started at the nursery of the primary school after easter, I spent a lot of time with the headteacher before she started and made sure her needs were well understood, the school seemed very understanding and more than willing to do what they can to meet her needs, which was actually the reason I chose this school. But we are now having huge problems, DD needs a carer with her at nursery, as she needs more supervision than the other children and she also needs help with regards to the toileting, she has to be changed every half an hour.
This was made clear to the school well before she started by myself, the community peadiatrician, and the early years board.
My mum offered to step in and act as DD's carer in the short term until a suitable person was found.
We still don't have anyone, my mum is unable to do this anymore and It's really impractical for me to do it. The school have now said that they are not going to get anyone in until September, which means that DD after starting and settling will now be out of school until then.
I really don't want this to happen but I can't see a way around it, after speaking to the early years board about what's happened I've been told that legally they don't have to accomodate a child of 3yrs until the september after their 3rd birthday.
I seems to me that the school were never intending on doing it until then and didn't see fit to let me know! If I was aware of this before I would have just had her start then, she's only been out for a week and she really misses it already, as do I!!! lol
I just wondered if anyone had any advice on any solutions there might be?!
I'm desperate for anything that will allow her to get back.

I'm not an expert on special needs but I can't understand why they let her start if they then had to take her out. Seems ridiculous. I know that the nurseries of state primaries take them the school year in which they turn 4. Some won't take them until 2 terms before they turn 4 (if that makes sense). For example, my daughter turns 4 in August and started at the nursery in out state primary in January (2 terms before she is 4). If she had been born before March, she would have started in September 2003 at the nursery. But most schools just let them start in the September.

Still seems absolutely ridiculous to start her then stop her as that's not fair on anyone.

Who would be funding the helper? I had soooooo many problems with funding for helpers when ds1 was at nursery. EVERY term there was a fight about it. I found the best way to get a result was to phone up the LEA and shout at them about it. This gave a positive result every term except the last (by which time he was in part time school anyway- the nursery is still fighting with the LEA over it).

I've been told that the funding comes from the school themselves, apparently they get an ammount each year for special needs, so it's all down the to the head, and he obviously knows he doesn't have to do it until September!
I'm just so annoyed that no-one thought to tell me this before now!!

vicimelly
sorry but have a crying baba at the moment-will try and look up the info i found out last year when my dd started pre-school (she has cp)

vicimelly has she not got a statement? I really think she needs to have one if she needs this level of support at nursery/school. As for the helper issue, we are in the same predicament atm and we HAVE a statement

Agree with Fio. If dd needs this much support then she should probably have a statement, although as others have said it doesn't always make that much of a difference in reality.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I often wondered about a statement, nobody has ever mentioned this to me though.
I wouldn't have to a clue were to even begin!
Any suggestions?

well ours started with a refferal and assessment with an Educational Physchologist, but I know this varies. Our paed reffered us for this.

I think davros is usually the expert on these matters!

From my very limited understanding you can phone up the LEA and request a statement and this will be quicker than the school getting it.
Also you may want to check early years provision - again phone up your LEA - they are under some obligation to provide early years care for SEN - but again I am not too sure about this only picking up bits from my mother who is an infant head. I think its complicated because your daughter is not of statuatry (sp???) school age so I guess the school don't have to provide for her, but I may be talking rubbish! Also if they get support - there still may be problems if that carer is ill just to warn you. The school may not be able to provide a supply SA and so you may have to keep her at home.

Good luck!

Thanks again everyone, I think I will call the LEA and bring it up with them see what they say about it.

Will let you all know how I get on

Vicimelly, you can refer yourself for statementing , but I would go for a professional to do it, like a paed, hv, physio, or whoever you have that knows your daughter. Reading your intitial post, my first thought was why didn't you have a statement. She will undoubtedly need one if she is going to need so much help in the school day. We are just going through the draft statement for ds2, before it becomes final, and so far (touch wood) it has been pain free and fairly easy. Ds2 is 3 btw.

I must say though, that where we live in sw surrey, is one of the few counties who routinely statement preschoolers, so this might be why you haven't had statementing discussed as of yet. I would still push for it though, as it takes about 6 months to complete.

phone up your lea and ask for the name of the Senior Education Officer and put a request in writing to him/her requesting an assesssment for a statement of special educational needs(keep a copy of everything you do as invariably things always get lost!)
mention to your hv/consultant/gp/nursery that you would like them to put their comments down in writing to the above SEO by a certain date
contact your local early years partnership(sometimes called Children's Information Service) and see what advice they can offer you..

my dd received a grant arranged through the early years partnership last year which enabled the pre-school to employ an assistant for my dd for her first 4 months and then by the time that was up her statement was in place,it wasn't exactly what we wanted but last year i was pregnant(high risk)had two meetings with lea but then gave in as didn't feel well enough to continue the battle, this year we are now going through the process again and if it's not what i want they will have a battle!!!(dd starts school in september)
ps-do i remember correctly that you are in liverpool????i have a relation in that area with a child with autism and she has to fight for everything...(so do i mind you but at least we found out about the early years scheme)

good luck and sorry it's so long

I am in Liverpool Chatee, and I have been in regular contact with the early years board, they are the ones who have been onto the school on my behalf about DD not having a helper, but as I said earlier no-one has mentioned statementing to me at all.
I didn't get a chance to call the LEA today but I will call the lady I've been talking to at the early years tommorow instead and see what advice she has about it.
I think I might have a fight on my hands, until we had this problem the head at the school has been very good at making sure they get all that they can for DD, although I'm not sure her nursery teacher is of the same opinion!
She keeps asking all the time when DD will start to improve, when will she learn to use the toilet, despite being told that it will never happen continuously, her response always being, "but she's so capable I'm sure she'll get better" ARRRGGHHHH!!!!
Sorry little rant there! She just seems to be on another planet, either that or she thinks we're lying!

Agree, you can request a statement yourself, I think there's a sample letter on the IPSEA website. It would be better to get a professional to do it but don't delay for a prof, do it yourself. The difference a statement makes is that the provision has to be provided BY LAW. I know that doesn't mean its necessarily there but at least you have some recourse, at the moment you are just in limbo. Ignore any rubbish about age limits for a Statement if she's over 3. Some professionals think that a child must be 5 before they can have a statement but that's not true.

Sorry, I mean over 2

I requsted a statement myself when dd had just turned 2 - didn't seem to delay things in our case. Once the letter has been received by them they must adhere to a certain time limit (can't remember exactly how long, sorry). I wrote a formal letter saying that I was requesting statutory assessment for my daughter with a view to issuing a statement. I explained dd's difficulties briefly and gave a few examples of how they affect her when she is at nursery, and also gave examples of the things nursery did extra for her, such as increased mealtime assistance, carrying her when going for walks etc. Don't bother putting too much, they will send you a lenghty parent's questionnaire as part of the assessment later.

I've just gotton off the phone to the woman at the early years service, and she told me that statementing at this point is unnecessary, she said that the system has changed and through the support of our peadiatrician and the early years service we should get all we need for DD, she assured me that they are working with the school to find a solution to the problem we have at the moment.
So I suppose I just have to wait!

She is correct in that the system is changing, but afaik it isn't up and running yet, or else ds2 wouldn't be going through his draft statement right now. I would ask them to clarify exactly what they mean by changing, and how your daughter will be catered for , specifically mentioning points you are concerned about.

Nope you don't have to wait (sounds like a brush off to me) you are still perfectly entitled to request an assessment to see if they will assess and they have to consider it. RexandBen have been through something similar recently with their 2 year old- and they won the tribunal!