formalising nursery 1:1

[phlebas]

ds currently attends nursery 6 hours a week (2x 3 hour sessions). This is not in my mind an 'educational' placement - his therapeutic/educational needs are met by our ABA programme - but he enjoys nursery, it is a lovely environment (have a great garden/animals etc) & he likes the staff & children. He has a key worker who has been his informal 1:1 up until now but she wants to formalise funding for 2 hours 1:1 a week - EYS have offered the money & the nursery have said they will send us the CAF forms.

I agreed initially but now I'm freaking out - we do not want a statutory assessment/statement for ds - the only statutory involvement we have is 20 mins SALT every 6 weeks which consists of her noting ds' progress & looking at our ABA targets. I don't want any more input - it has taken months to get rid off the unhelpful services (EY, portage, autism outreach etc) - he won't be attending school in September. Am I opening us up to more meddling/heaven forbid SS by agreeing to the CAF?

You may be able to refuse in a nursery setting however you need to be aware that should your child's problems persist when he starts school the school itself has a statutory duty to identify, assess and support SENs and if they choose to apply for a Stat Assess they are legallt entitled to do so and you cannot stop them.

I expect you're hoping that he's fine by the time he starts school then

Thanks Star I spoke to my HV today & have decided that if they are making a single agency referral I'll agree because I'll only need to do the front page - if it it multi agency then I'll decline - way too intrusive.

The extra 1:1 would be nice but not essential in that environment.

And yes, ds will be home educated like my other kids - last thing we want is a statement hanging over us.