Let down by Portage again!

[mm22bys]

DS2 was referred for Portage a year ago. His regular sessions started in May, but they were very irregular and then suddenly stopped at the end of June because the Portage worker was only agency staff and found herself another job.

I hoped that after the summer (no summer service here) things would improve, but so far it seems not.

She came last week, and was supposed to come today, but she has just rung so say she can't come because her son has a cold.

I don't think it's good enough. If I wasn't a female with a child, I could almost understand why some employers are not keen on employing women of child-bearing age, I would think they are unreliable and let others down.....

The upshot is that she is coming next week, so DS2 misses yet another week.

We've had similar problems getting a SALT in place, first she got lost trying to find the nursery, then she disappeared on her honeymoon - very nice but it must be the longest honeymoon in history as she is still not back - 17 weeks... Someone else is supposed to be starting on 18th Oct.

Our locally provided support has generally been atrocious. We have had the same SALT and OT, but as for physio...

She first came in December, after the September referral, and came about once a month till April. Then she left to get married in Cambrige, so we didn't see another physio till July. She told us it would be the only time she would be seeing DS2.

Then at the end of August we saw another physio, it was hard actually getting an appointment. She would offer an appointment, but quite often we had something booked already. She then told me she would ring in another week or 10 days with another appointment option! After the second time she tried this, I stood my ground and told her it wasn't good enough, and guess what, she had an appointment for three days later .

What amazes me, is that these professionals have to rely on public transport to get around. Surely their time is worth more than that? (Not as bad though as seeing police officers waiting for a bus...)

Well I think 'mine' had a car but no sat/nav !

Portage is a bit of a dirty word in our house too! We waited 6 months for a visit, the portage worker was lovely, told us all the things she would be doing with dd3 and what would happen, how often she would visit etc. She made one more visit to finish the portage checklist and that was it. She didn't ring me, she rang dd3s teacher of the deaf and told her that as we were getting support from her we would no longer get portage. It's not like they do the same sort of stuff, you end up feeling totally let down.

Physio on the other hand have been great. Our service run a developmental group everyweek at the surestart centre using the sensory room, soft play and a large hall, not quite the same as an individual session, but each child gets some 1:1. Dd3s physio pops in to see her at the group or at home about every 8 weeks to see if her programme needs changing.

It seems to vary so much depending on where you live. I know round here every service seems to be understaffed and I can understand that but dd3 is getting further and further behind

Our local child development team has just started a playgroup for children with additional needs. It's only once a fortnight, but they have a physio, SALT and OT there. Last Friday was the first one, and I got to speak to all three of the professionals.

I should just let Portage drop itself, it's caused me more stress than it seems it's worth but then I hear such good things from most people here I think maybe I should give it another go.

We've been "dropped " by the hearing impaired service too....haven't seen them in months either!