Meeting about transition plan to reception for DS, what to ask for?

[genieinabottle]

Hi, DS is at MS nursery 3 afternoons a week and 2 mornings a week at SN language unit.
He has SLI, many ASD traits and is currently waiting for Ados assesssment.
There are a few professionals involved with DS. His community paed., autism team at Cahms, SALT, area senco, and EP.

Atm, the plan is DS will enter MS reception next september on action+. The salt from the lang.unit will be meeting his 'future' teacher in June to discuss DS's difficulties re: langauge and communication, and to give school details about his IEP and specific targets.

Next month we are having a meeting with EP, nursery teacher, reception teacher to discuss what we need to do about transition.
DH and i are worried about several things, One of them being 'lunchtimes at school', DS currently has his lunch at home, he is a very slow eater, very picky and needs constant prompting and reminders to eat or he will fiddle or get up and basically eat nothing. Unless someone is really watching him at the school cafeteria i don't think he will be eating anything. What sort of things or plan could we request the school do about this?
The same applies to toileting, DS will go to the toilet but forgets to wipe and wash his hands unless someone is there with him to help and remind him.
DS hasn't the most severe needs but he does struggle a bit with getting dressed for instance, he seem to forget what he is supposed to be doing and start fiddling or wandering unless someone keeps a close eye on him and frequently prompts him.
That goes to for activities within a classroom setting.

We have already decided to get photos of the classroom, cafeteria, ...and make a story book about it so we can go through it with DS during the holidays as he still has no idea that he'll be going to a different place in september (that is a bit too abstract for him to grasp atm)

What sort of things or plan could we request the school do about this? Bearing in mind a statement isn't in place atm. We want to be reasonable in what we expect but it is clear to us that DS will need extra help and support in some areas when starting school.
Thanks for any pointers ot tips.

my ds is sounds similar to your's. he is now in year one (he is 6). he has 22q11 and this affects him in all different ways. he takes forever to eat a meal and always needs prompting. we did try school meals at the beginning of the school year but had to give it up for two reasons, the first was when they asked him what he wanted, eg A or B he would say B because that is the only thing he could remember and sometimes didnt like it, secondly because it took far too long to get through he queue and then eat it. he now ha packed lunches with easy bite sized foods. we can the monitor what he has eaten. you could ask the school to ask a dinner lady to monitor hi but there isnt much they can do as they have other children to watch as well. i always make sure my ds has a big lunch so that if he doesnt eat alot he won't be too hungry when gets home. by giving him packed lunch if he hasnt had a lot i give him a snack to put him over until teatime.

my ds still cannot do buttons and zips and often puts clothes on inside out/back to front. the teachers will let him do it himself but if he is struggling too much they do help. You have to be careful because if you do everything for him he will become lazy rather than try to do it. i have learnt that the hard way with my ds.
ds doesnt like change at all! he got upset the other day because it was another teacher in his class and not his usual one. the school know that they need to keep him in a very strict routine or prepare him in advance for things that will change.

i always meet his new teacher before the end of the school year and discuss with them what things ds struggles with, what extra help he needs etc. make a list of all the problems you come across over the day, mine was things like loud noises, dressing, eating slowly, needing to keep sentences short and repeating myself millions of times, also write a list of things YOU do to help so it gives the school an idea of things they could do.

could you ask the school to let him play in his new classroom at the end of the day for half an hour or so with you present to get used to the surroundings or perhaps during the day with his current teacher/support staff with him to get used to it?

Countydurhamlass, thank you for your tips. Writing a list for new teacher about his difficulties and how i deal with things sounds good, will do that.
I know that his current nursery teacher is planning to take him with a few other children to the school for an hour or so.
I think 2 or 3 sessions of this would good.
About the lunchtime issue, i reckon DS will be on packed lunch from the start. Provided he doesn't give his food away we should be able to monitor what he is eating.

My ds is very similar and we're already stressing about the transition. I've already met the primary school's senco a couple of times to go talk about ds and his needs. We've decided which of the two reception teachers suits ds' personality best and have requested that his best friend (and interpreter) from nursery will be in his class. We're lucky that the nursery is in the primary school's grounds, so he's going to have lots of extra visits before the summer holidays with the nursery senco and his best buddy.
The list of how you deal with things is a great idea, I think that's one of my greatest worries, that they won't understand how ds 'works' and if it takes too long to get familiar with him and his quirks, he'll lose interest and give up on everything.

'DS hasn't the most severe needs but he does struggle a bit with getting dressed for instance, he seem to forget what he is supposed to be doing and start fiddling or wandering unless someone keeps a close eye on him and frequently prompts him.'

might be worth a try. ds used to take ages to get dressed, often find him half dressed down stairs, or playing with some toy or looking at a book, or all of the above before he'd finish. but now he has a 5min sand timer, he gets dressed by the time the timer finishes, i could not believe how effective it is. now have a cow timer for lunch/dinner, not so good, but better.

could you ask for a communication book.

Thanks for replies.

Yes a communication book would be definately something to look into. It would save me hanging around waiting to have a word with teacher all the time.
He has one at the lang.unit and we have found it very useful. The MS nursery never introduced one.

We use a kitchen timer but sometimes it 'forgets' to ring and DS gets very cross , also it isn't so good at showing the time left so have been pondering on getting a few sand timers, i think it is possible to get 10 mins and 5 mins ones isn't it?

Genie

I would actually be applying on his behalf for a Statement to the LEA if you have not already done so. SA plus is not going to cut it here; its really not worth the paper its written on. On SA plus as well there will likely be no lunchtime support and this whole plan can be very limited (there is little funding for it).

If SALT does not continue on a formal basis as well when DS is in reception then I would certainly be applying for a Statement asap.

IPSEA's website is very good and is a mine of information:-

www.ipsea.org.uk

got a 5 min one from a kitchen shop, but you can get lovely timers 10/5/3/2min at www.sensetoys.com under non-verbalplay/self help for about £10.

takemesomewheresunny cheers for the web address.