Went to check out a nursery for Lottie on Friday. it's linked to my church and the primary school I'd like her to go to. I was amazed that the teacher just wanted to talk about what Lottie's 'special needs' might be and whether they could cater for them etc. I was amazed, we're talking nursery group here, finger painting and playing with lego bricks, or whatever! There's a possibility that she might not quite be walking at 2y 10m, and also a slight chance she won't quite be dry, but soon come. I don't understand why they were making such a big deal out of it. What's going to be SO different about her at 2/3 from any other child? She might be a little slower, might, but why would that cause a teacher any problems in a nursery group? They said she wouldn't get any preferential treatment, whih is great, I don't want her to, and that she would get a place, or not, just the same as everyone else and then if she did get accepted we would discuss her 'sn' , so why then did the woman ask me to write on the bottom of the form that Lottie has DS? It was just a form registering my interest in the school at this stage and if they weren't going to let DS effect whether or not she got a place why ask me to make a note of it? Of course all this struck me on the drive home, I think I was a bit shell-shocked at the time.
Also she didn't talk about her school to me at all, instead talked all about another school in the area, in the Mencap building, which took lots and lots of sp children. That got my back up staight away, I thought, do you not want her here or something? I wouldn't have minded her just letting me know that it existed but that's all she was talking about. She then called over another teacher to ask her to tell me about it. This other teacher started talking about a little boy in her son's class with DS and said 'they walk home together and everything' -!!!!! So bloody what?! Then she said that this little boy EVEN (!) came to tea now and then and she said that her little boy once said to her 'Mummy you have to talk to him like you do everyone else'. What the hell was she talking to him like before?
Why do people have to make such a big deal of it?
I spoke to another school and said to them at the end, look by he way Charlote has DS so there is a vague chance she might not be walking. she said 'oh right we've not had one of those before, we had deafness once but not one of those'!!!! Ohhhhhhhhhhhh it just makes me SOOOO angry. What the hell is up with these people? Have any of you guys come across this type of thing (I would gues that you have), how do you deal with it, what do you say to help educate these people? I just want to tell them to stick their school and march strraight out with Lottie. I know that' not the right thing to do, but this is all new to me and I wasn't prepared for such ignorance and for people trying to pidgeon hole Charlotte so much. If it's this hard now at he pre-school stage, what am I ging to have to go through with primary and high shhols and possibly colleges? Sympathise or tell me I'm being silly and to toughen up, I don't care! I just need to talk about it with you guys.
XXX