Nursery/day care

[eidsvold]

Hoping to go back to teaching part time next school year and so will need to be dd into childcare/nursery. (Big step here) We do think it will be good for her in terms of socialising and other stimulation to assist with her development.

Am looking into daycare centres etc and am not sure where to start to be honest. It would only be a couple of days a week and don't know what to look for... obviously one that will take her and cater to her needs effectively BUT my worry is - how the hell am I to judge that?!?!?

How would I go about finding out nurseries that would cater to her special needs? Ofsted reports?? If they are quite old what next?

Sorry for all the questions...

Word of mouth! The ony reliable way imo. Can someone in a local support group recommend somewhere? If you were hear I would recommend ds1's mainstream nursery as they are great with SEN children. Ask everyone you see who has a special needs kid!

Good luck.

ahh, well, we've just had a bit of a saga with nurseries this week (that's why I've been slow at replying to emails). Both my girls (3.5 years, 25 months with DS) attend our local village nursery. It's a small, good nursery and has an excellent Ofsted report, but dd has the dubious priviledge of being the first and only child with special needs there. This wasn't a problem when she was little but has become one over the past few months. I am now looking for somewhere else for her and have also asked for a statutory assessment of dd's needs.
Anyway, I would look for: a place that has been around quite a long time, because they will have come across all sorts of needs and hopefully have experience of dealing with it; somewhere that doesn't have a telly or radio on all the time in the baby room - our nursery does and even if your child just has a mild hearing loss it makes it much harder for her to understand what's being said; somewhere that has a nice outside play area, a good range of good-quality toys that are actually being played with whilst you're there; ask what their staff turnover is like - if the staff is happy it's likely to be a good nursery; ask about meals - I have heard of places that do pureed chicken nuggets and chips for the little ones! - we provide packed lunches for our girls but it's a real pain in the mornings, so I'd look for somewhere that provides cooked food; ask what their policy on cuddling is - apparently nursery workers aren't supposed to cuddle kids (some child protection regulation gone crazy!) but ours does anyway (which is what I want). Mh, that's all I can think of so far. And of course just see how you feel about it when you're there and trust your instincts.
Does your dd get Portage? The Portage worker would be a good one to ask. Also, your health visitor will know other families with children with special needs and which nursery they use.

Definately personal recommendation is a good thing! Take your time having a look around and trust your "gut" instinct. Also, after having had a look round - go back another time (without prior notice!). Take your children (if poss) with you to have a look around. When I was looking for DD1 - we walked into one nursery and she screamed blue murder and clung to me! I also had a bad "gut" feeling about it - so we walked out. When we found the one we have now - DD1 ran off to play with the children/joined in with the snack and drink time and then cried when she had to come home!

The nursery I work at (and all my children have attended) does provide cooked meals or children can take their own packed lunch.

2under2 - I haven't heard of the nursery workers not cuddling children - we all cuddle them/sit on our laps and I personally would turn a nursery down if they wouldn't cuddle my children.

my penny goes to a special needs nursery 9-3 every day but in order to get her into there she had to be referred to an educational pschologist and is currently at the nursery whilst her statutory assesment is undergoing(she hasnt been statemented yet). Penny did go to a private nursery before this but I felt there wasnt enough staff although she thoroughly enjoyed it and it brought her on loads.

by the way this is my first post so hello everyone my little darlings are penny 3yrs and Louis18months. penny has a global development delay(just thought id drop that in)

mmm thanks for that everyone... keep the ideas coming - if only I could work from home and that would not be an issue... although socialisation will be good for Dd.

2under2 dd does not get portage?!?! What is that ( pardon my ignorance).

We have received one prospectus...( head hurts just thinking about this) They provide meals or we can provide meals....

I did ask the health visitor and she simply told me that she had not heard anything bad about any of the nurseries in the area. Children with special needs are not in abundance here for Health visitors etc to deal with.

I might ask the children's centre when we go to baby group next week.

eidsvold, Portage is therapy done at home once a week with you and a trained Portage visitor and provided by the education authority. They do a mixture of cognotive, speech and motor stuff following a Portage checklist which splits development into tiny pieces (does this make sense?). For instance, when dd was still a baby we worked on getting her to pull a string attached to a toy car, posting blocks through a hole, that kind of stuff. Our activity this week is getting her to match objects with picture cards.
You get a set short activity to do every day and have to record if your child does it with help/without etc. It really works for us and it's so exciting to see dd do something by herself that only a few days ago still required help. Dd loves Portage.
They have a web site explaining it all a bit better at www.portage.org.uk
You can refer yourself or ask your health visitor or GP to do so.

oh yes go for portage- it's been great. DS1 really likes his sessions. They leave great toys to play with as well.

Just to let you know am off Tuesday and Wednesday to see three different nurseries for Dd have spoken to them on the phone - no mention of Down syndrome yet..... they seem okay on paper - but will have to see the reality.

Also Portage - am going to ask Health visitor at clinic on Tuesday to recommend/refer dd for that.

So thanks for all your information and help.

well saw the first one - and just a question - do you know when you walk in that it is right/wrong for your child?!?! I just had a really bad feeling about this place... mind you it is the first I have visited but there was something that just did not sit right with me - not sure what it was?!?!

2under2 have got the health visitor to assist me to try and get portage for dd.. might not be possible.. will email more later.

I would say if it didn't feel right then that's good enough reason eidsvold. Go with your instinct.

There is on our town a childminder who has DS children and their sibblings... I think she is fab - she takes everyone with her at our playgroup - hence I know her.
As you know a friend of mine has a DS baby and I have suggested to her that she looks into a childminder who has some experience... for example this one knows sign language - she is fab with the kids (and it doesn't look to me as she is treating the DS child differently from the other girl with him). She is aware of the challenges and quite well-informed about DS in general.

As for instinct - GO WITH IT!

just want to say - saw two fabulous nurseries today - we are applying to them - both part of a group and a little distance apart but very flexible and able to give dd what we want her to have in terms of development and interaction.... I felt good about both of them - at the second one dh and I even left her for a while whilst we inspected the rest of the complex - she loved it.....

Wonderful news Eidsvold. It's a relief having one less thing to worry about isn't it?

all we have to do is hope they have the days available we need.... looks like it - ifnot we are hoping she can move between the two campuses.