Age appropriate skills??

[delllie]

Sorry, full of questions tonight!!

Had ed psychs report today, On the whole my DD who is 3ys 3 months is about 12-18 months behind in her development apart from her social skills and gross motor skills which are apparantly age appropriate. Although DD has made a lot of progress gross motor wise, she can walk, run and jump, she is quite unsteady probably due to her hypotonia. There is a little boy who lives across the road from us who is exactly the same age as DD (yes I know we shouldn't compare) and I feel there is quite a difference in their motor skills being as DD is supposed to be 'age appropriate' in that area. This little boy is whizzing round on a scooter and pedaling his bike and generally running all over the place whereas DD falls over quite a lot, struggles with kerbs etc I could never let DD play out like this boy does. I just cannot see how DD is assessed as being age appropriate in this area. I am a bit worried as DD may not be able to have her place at the special needs nursery she goes to for much longer according to the EP as the nursery is mainly a 'physical needs' school and she feels that DD's place could go to another child with more needs, but okay I know DD has caught up quite a lot, but I feel she still needs help in that dept. We may be able to go to another special needs nursery she mentioned but I am wondering whether this is all down to LEA politics and not neccessarily in the interests of my DD IYSWIM.

Just edited to say that when she runs she usually falls and when she jumps she usually falls, so she doesn't do them well.

Hi

Just emphasise that dd has done so well bacause of her current placement.

I felt the same as you. My dd who is 5 and a half and has a language disorder attends a ms school with an attached speech and language unit.
Instead of being pleased when she made loads of progress in her language I was so scared that they would take the placement away.
At dd's annual review I made my thoughts quite clear that dd was progressing due to all of the specialist/extra help and if they took it away she would fall behind. They all agreed!

My 3 year old that can't walk, jump, stand unaided, can barely crawl and can't talk was also said to be 'developing age appropriate skills'! It's bollocks, don't let them get away with it. Age appropriate my arse. Fight em girl, you''' win and it'll feel great. Let us help if we can, TC x

Our nt dd is 3 1/2 - she can pedal a trike and manage a scooter but not to the extent of the boy you describe. She can jump from 2 or 3
steps up and land solidly on her feet. ds who has motor skill issues probably could not have done any of those things at that age, but nor did he then stand out as particularly delayed. Basically I would suggest that their definition of "age appropriate" could be very wide. If she is very unsteady I would have thoguht you could ask for a review especially if her nursery place ocmes under threat on that basis .

delllie - do you know how they assessed to come to the 'age appropriate' conclusion? If it was a 'tick box' type thing then I can see how it would happen. Can she stand unsupported? yes, tick. Can she run? yes, tick. They don't allow for the 'yes, but she falls often' scenario.

I would question it. Also, is an edpsych really qualified to assess gross motor skills? Do you have a physio who could give a more thorough realistic report?

yes at 3 our dd apparently had age appropriate skills. Totally agree with HITC, its usually a cop out for not giving as much support in the statement

Thanks again to everyone for posting!

HITC, yes I do think that is how DD was assessed by the EP, ticking the boxes so to speak, certainly doesn't take into account her unsteadiness. Don't worry we aren't going down without a fight!

bumping this purely for teh purposes of the juxtaposition thread

Hi just wanted to say best of luck in your fight for your little girl to get help APPROPRIATE to HER needs, sod what all the tick boxes say!(& that i do read other peoples threads just rarely feel exp.enough to comment)My ds is very similar and needs alo more suppervison than othr toddlers if we dont want to end up in casualty every 5mins Appreciate your support and right back at ya.