Non verbal child nursery

[Zara84]

Hi,

looking for some advise please

my dc 3 years old has started nursery in September and he seems to have settled well ( we no longer have tantrums at drop off and pick up and his teachers say he has settled well)

my son is non verbal and awaiting asd assessment; he doesn’t have many typical traits except for speech regression..his social anxiety has improved massively since starting nursery.

my worry is I can’t obviously ask him how his day went and I am new to the schooling system and new to asd… I just want to ask if anyone has been In a similar situation how soon did you get SEND involved or even apply for a EHCP… I really am not sure where to start, or if to apply at all. The nursery havent raised any concerns at all but I feel like my son could do with extra support if available at all.

any advise welcome please

Same boat as my daughter she can’t tell me how her day is either she speaks a little bit but not full sentences or back and fourth conversations. I applied before she started nursery for an IDP through an educational specialist, who liaised with the alenco for the school. My daughter has been there since March this year and we are now looking at an EHC and maybe a specialist placement if she meets the threshold. Im in Wales just for reference. I would apply straight away because it’s such a long process and it does take a long while to get things in place.

Yes, request an EHCNA. You can do this yourself. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

Request a meeting with the SENCO. What support are they providing? They don’t need to wait for a diagnosis or an EHCP in order to provide support. If they need more advice on how to support DS, they can request advice from the Area SENCO. If they need more funding to provide support, they can apply for early years inclusion funding. And if DS is in receipt of DLA, they can apply for Disability Access Funding.

If you are in Wales, you can’t apply for an EHCP/request an EHCNA. EHCPs only apply in England.

My tag didn’t work but my last 2 sentences were for you @Ull.

@EndlessLight yes I’m aware it’s a different thing so an IDP and then an EHC different process in wales.

and then an EHC

@Ull there won’t be an EHC at all in Wales. That was my point. They don’t exist at all in Wales.

@EndlessLight yes all new to me as I’ve only recently had the meeting for this I meant a ALP additional learning provision we are trying to get to grips with all this as it’s all new to me

@Ull it is worth reading SNAP Cymru’s website to understand the Additional Learning Needs system and IDP process better. Some schools/nurseries have a school/nursery level support plan called an additional learning plan or one page profile, but this isn’t more important than the IDP. ALP in the Welsh ALN system stands for Additional Learning Provision. The IDP contains the ALP that is required.

Could you ask for a home school book? I think it’s really helpful for those who can’t communicate verbally.

Thanks for your responses

I think I will request an appt with the Senco at the nursery and take it from there…

praying our non verbal babies can soon tell us how their day was at school x

Update - I spoke to the nursery teacher and she said they will need an official diagnosis before they can help with SENCO support or ECHP support at the school.

does this sound right ?

No that sounds ridiculous. Ask to speak to the head, explain that you will be applying to be assessed and then do it. Support in school is based on need not diagnosis.

You don’t need a diagnosis for an EHCP. They are based on needs, not diagnosis. Make the EHCNA request yourself.

Absolutely not.

My son doesn't have a diagnosis yet and has been on the schools SEND register since the first half term. EHCP also been applied for.

Please push this as it's a need basis not a diagnosis basis

Thank you for your responses.. really having a challenging time with the nursery and questioning whether it’s the right place for ds

I am going in tomorrow morning to speak to them as they keep fobbing me off on the phone

My 3 year old is also non verbal. I self referred to speech and language although we're currently waiting on an EHCP assessment. Speech and language can offer some advice at least and feed into the EHCP so worth getting in touch.