Have a niggling feeling I am being fobbed off by Early Years adviser/nursery re:DS

[mummytosteven]

Hmm - not sure whether to be pleased or not with upshot of Senco visit (she is from Council Early years service). Apparently Senco and nursery have no concerns about behaviour, or S being on spectrum, they are just concerned about language. And since they have a copy of the private SALTs recommendations, Senco just thinks that nursery need to follow through on that, and no further advice/help needed from her - oh apart from me being told to take S to more toddler groups . I feel that me getting the Private SaLT involved has given Senco the perfect excuse to do naff all.

I would love to actually believe that, but then when I see DS lying down on the floor watching the wheels on his toy car, and hear the "telly talk" I do have to wonder...

Does he have an IEP? At the very very least the Senco should be setting targets for this and advising staff about how to help ds to achieve them. Telling you to just take him to more toddler groups sounds like a complete cop-out IMHO and also pointless.

No, no IEP as far as I am aware. He is at a private nursery - does that mean they don't have to do an IEP? Or is it bad practice for them not to do an IEP? I feel that the Senco has copped out of all responsibilty, by just saying - oh, just follow the private salt's written down stuff.

My son had an IEP in his private nursery setting. It was written by the nursery SENCO with advice from district early years SENCO.

When I had concerns about my son I called by Health Visitor, she came out to the house to see us then referred him on to the CDC. He started at the private nursery because playgroup just couldn't cope with him and we told the nursery his problems and that he had a referral at the time he was placed.

This was 3 years ago now and I had been led to believe that there had been a real effort to make private nurserys more aware of SN policy.

If you scroll down this link to the section about pre-school provision this will tell you what a Senco should be doing here. The Senco has apparently recognised that ds has difficulties with language but doesn't seem to be interested in following this up or monitoring his progress in any way. It sounds very wrong IMO.

thanks chugnuts and tibni, that link makes it clear that he should have an IEP. I will have to have a word with nursery manager/senco.

DS was referred in March this year to SALT/multi-discplinary assessment. Apparently he is expected to be seen in January. But they don't bother sending out appointments until a month in advance. . I had naively hoped that the early years senco would help speed things up.

I am trying not to rant, but this just makes me so mad! mummytosteven, the Senco is being an arse, sorry.

Private nurseries must improve their understanding of SN, in particular ASD because the diagnosis can only be arrived at by observing behaviours. DS1's (private, expensive and coveted by many) nursery, lovely though it was, didn't have a clue. I raised my concerns about six month before I sat them down and told them that he is autistic, we have a diagnosis. Every time I picked him up, I was told that 'he had a lovely day! He had lots of fun and he really enjoyed himself, he has been fine!' It transpired that for months he had been pushing a toy train around on his own, not talking, not participating in any group activities, being increasingly withdrawn. During handover the girls often just made things up (e.g. said that he had a great day although the person making the comment hadn't even been in the same room with him, so had no idea). 'Fine' for them meant he was no trouble. I told the manager when I pulled him out that nurseries and other early years settings have a huge responsibility in recognising when there might be a problem and communicating this, because the best chance these children have in being as independent as possible in the future, is if any concerns are addressed early. Unfortunately, as long as the fees are paid in time, many nurseries have no incentive or motivation to train staff to be better informed.

You know your son better than anyone else. Go with your instinct. Wishing you all the best
x

thanks kitegirl, that's my concern as well, that because DS's behaviour isn't troubling to them, they aren't all that interested iyswim. hopefully we are moving soon, and then I want to try and get him into a Surestart/children's centre nursery, where hopefully the staff will be more experienced with SN/and or have good access to people that do know./

Makes me angry too

I was fobbed off for 5 years by "pros" insisting my dd wasn't on the spectrum when deep down I knew she was.

The hard thing is of course us parents want to believe these pros but for me not knowing was worse.

I am not saying for a minute S has asd and I hope to god that the senco is right of course.

I have always gone with gut instinct and over the years have learnt, especially with things like sn, mum does know best!

given that I was told all last year "his speech is within normal range", I've lost faith in anyone but the specialists now to assess S properly. In my heart of hearts - the criteria for SPD (what would now of course be diagnosed ASD) seem to fit him so much....

only good thing is that there is a psychologist doing the Hanen course, so hopefully she will know enough about ASD to advise, or even (not holding my breath) getting a quicker referral than Jan 08!

ds2's playschool & area senco gave us similar feedback, actualy the area senco never observed ds just discussed him with playschool.
I really think the language delays are within their scope of knowledge & was something they felt they could deal with & as he is passive he isn't disruptive so really behavior stuff is of no concern to the playgroup..basically he isn't giving staff a hard time & he has CP so doesn't exactly run around.
However when assessed by the develop paed & psych he was described as one of the most complex characters they'd ever observed.
His OT said sadly in her experience support/statements are increasingly given to provide the education settings support rather than looking at the need of the child.
If you feel their assessment is not correct keep pushing until you get some answers.