DS4 has just met his new Portage worker - she is lovely - but I have a few questions.

[MegaLegs]

DS4 was v.sleepy and under the weather but she was great and soon livened him up and had him involved with a game. She explained that Portage workers worked with the family, aiming to get the child doing things we want him to do. She asked me what I wanted DS4 to do? I couldn't answer the question. There is so much we would love him to be able to do.

If you have experience of Portage, what sort of skills did your children learn through it?

My DS has GDD and hypotonia and hypermobility.

Our Portage worker was fab. Ds1 has cp and much of Ds1's portage was built arround his physio exercises at the same time, e.g when he was in his standing frame, she would find activities for him to do like reaching up for things, playing games on his little tray he had etc, playing games on his affected side to encourage him to weight bear etc. She played 'posting games', arranging things into colours, lots of matching games, lots of sensory stuff with playdough, cornflour and water, bubbles etc. It was a lovely time and Ds1 really enjoyed it. I myself learnt a hell of a lot about the 'best' way to play with him when he was little and she was always very encouraging when he did things right. I wouldn't have been without portage and was sorry it had to end when he started school. I would say Portage tought Ds1 how to concentrate really well on things. It seemed to be all about positive praise aswell which encouraged Ds1 even more and made him persevere with puzzles he would normally have left.

That 1-2 hours a week was a fab time. I think Portage should be something which all kids would benefit from

Our portage worker had a portage assessment booklet that we used together to see what skills DS had developed and identify which ones were 'emerging' and then suggested activities to work towards 2 or 3 of the emerging skills. I could also ask her to bring us toys that I thought might be useful eg. very simple shape sorter/ form boards. She was a lovely lady, my Ds responded well to her and would sit and do things for her that there was no way he would do with anyone else. After the negativity of the paediatrician I found our portage worker's positive approach to his abilities and her ability to get excited about the sort of things other people wouldn't even notice, very refreshing and felt that se really got to know him.
She did the initial request for DS's statement and the re[ports she wrote were a really good reflection of his abilities and needs.
My DS has GDD, started special school in reception last September, we were sad to end our time with our portage worker.

She mentioned the assessment booklet, said she would bring it next week and tick off all the things he can do.

I am really excited, as well as the Portage he starts theraplay on Friday and the singing group he loves starts again tomorrow. I have just had the letter confirming my place on a MAkaton course. I feel like we are really getting somewhere at last.

Our portage worker was a Godsend, she mostly concentrated on PECS and TEACHH with our DS1 (ASD).

She was also invaluable for helping with other things such as mediating with the assessment nursey, accessing benefits and other support available to us.

It is unfortunate that a lot of help that is available to you is somewhat hidden, Portage helped to show us what exactly is out there.

She also provided us with a lot of emotional support and was someone we quite talked to, to see if we were being unreasonable with our concerns etc.

But mostly we thank her for giving us the ability to connect with our son for the first time. Before we started PECS it seemed we lived in seperate worlds, PECS helped us build a bridge.

My only negative was that it didn't last long enough and was he went to reception, that support along with much other just seemed to drop away.

However we realise there are lots of other families who need access to Portage and limited resources.

Any fundraising I know do gets split between Portage and DS1's SN school.

Mr Graciefer