nursery for toddler(undiagnosed ASD)

[shiny1]

my health visitor has just secured a nursery place for ds (2.5).He is painfully shy so it will take ages to settle him.he is more than likely on the spectrum,will nursery really help him with all the social skills and speech,hes only got a few words and his understanding isnt great,anyone elses dc benefited from nursery at this age. Thanks

DS (very delayed speech, not got a diagnosis but suspect ultimately HFA), started nursery at 2.5 at a private nursery. TBH I think that it helped enormously with basic social skills - i.e. with fitting in with group for activities/snacks, but made no difference to his speech. Having said that I don't think the nursery was very knowledgeable about special needs - so although they were very nice and patient with DS, they were clueless as to how to help him progress with his speech. Hopefully the nursery the HV has sorted out for you will have a better idea of how to work with him.

DS2 went to a private nursery from the same age, for two mornings a week. I agree with TC - it helped with basic social skills, following routines etc and it expanded his horizons but didn't help with speech. If the nursery already has experience with SEN and the staff know Makaton, use visual timetables and understand about ASD it can be good. But tbh DS2 learnt all his speech at home and then very gradually transferred some of it to nursery. This has also happened at special school though!

DS (no diagnosis, but I suspect on the spectrum and being assessed now) started nursery at 2.9

He hated other kids, screamed if they went near him, but loved adults, even strangers.

I thought I would be staying with him for the first term to settle him, but he stayed on his own on the second day !!

He loves it and even has 'friends'. They follow a routine every day which works well for him, but they don't push the children so he is under no pressure (which is so important for him to be happy).

I would say that he has benefitted greatly from being in a nursery with VERY SUPPORTIVE, UNDERSTANDING STAFF. I would not consider any nursery or school that did not have this support tho.

Good luck. You know your DS better than anyone and you will know whether he is happy or not.

Thanks all,i think ill stick with it and hopefully he will eventually settle.

My DS2 is 4 in April. He has settled happily in state nursery, although no friends. Waiting to be dx (likely to be ASD).

But he wasn't happy for a long period of time in private nursery at 2.5 screamed and cried himself to sleep and I am not sure if he was ready being as he couldn't tell me. There were a few incidents that happened (another story) and I don't think they were geared up for DS and his SN. However, if we hadn't gone through that experience I think the transition to state nursery would have been too much for him. It didn't help his speech or social skills but did help him with adults and social structure. He seems to thrive on nursery routine.

Trust your instincts. I ploughed on cause thought DS2 would be like DS1 but they are all different hard to know sometimes isn't it.