Statement through, what to do next.

[skewiff]

I've never posted on here before, but been directed to you all.

My son is about to start nursery and has cerebral palsy/ hemiplegia. The effect is like a stroke. He barely uses his left hand or arm and has poor balance, walks slowly and weak articulation.

The statement reflects what I think he needs - mentions a lot about one to one support and small group help, but qualifies or quantifies nothing.

I'm actually pleased with what we've got so far, but realise that I do have to push for more. Don't think that my son needs full time one to one support. I want him to be free to make friends and find some independence. But with his difficulties he is not going to be able to access all activities and will be in danger of falling off climbing equipment (which I know he'll try out).

What kind of support should I be asking for?

He'll only be at nursery for 4 or 5 days a week - 2 1/2 hours.

Yes - you are right.

I am just thinking that he is very sociable and confident, but he's had such an unreal life so far ... I've taken him to therapy after therapy and now I feel that he needs freedom and to be able to make friends and just play. I don't want somebody else (rather than me) breathing down his neck the whole time.

The ideal would be a one to one support worker - full time - who stood back to let him play on his own some of the time, but helped him with stuff when he could not do it.

The trouble is also that my son is very bolshy and does not like other people interfering. A one to one supporter might not get very far with him. Once he's worked out that everyone else is being left alone, he'll wants to be the same. I can just imagine they'd both end up driving each other mad.

Can I ask the statement people for a full time one to one support (guessing that we prob won't get that much anyway) and then if we do get it ask the nursery to have the one to one support stand back a bit and just help when necessary? Or should I explain this and be upfront about it with the statement reviewing people ... ?

If you contact IPSEA (see search engine for website and helpline number) they'll help you. Sounds like he needs 1:1 support but that the school should natually be allowing for independence development. You cannot just ask for more help, professionals have to make recommendations in their reports and they are then put into the statement. Without quantification and specific details the statement will be interpreted by the school which may be ok, but if they get it wrong you can't blame them. Take advice - he is young, it's worth the effort.

skewiff If you do nothing else, get IPSEA to check through the statement. It is extremely likely that what you believe you are getting is written in a way that won't hold up in law.

Many people think that the statements are okay, and accept that and then, when their child doesn't get the provision they expected are pointed to all the caveats that the statement contain.

You need independent advice on this.

One-to-ones shouldn't be glued to the child in most cases. J has full-time support which, in Reception, was needed very much to be by him all the time as his behaviour was so dangerous and unpredictable.

However, now he is in Y4, the TA often steps back (literally and metaphorically) when things are going well, as we do want him to be independent. So the Statement says 1:1 full-time, as (like in your case) we can't predict when he will need intensive 1:1, but in reality, she can and does step back and it's good that the improvement has been such that it can happen.

I describe the role of the TA that I want for my ds as 'attentive wallpaper'. She/he should be as invisible as she/he can be, with her focus on faciliating independence with interactions and work.

scuwiff my dd has just started nursery april she has development delay and speech delay and is very clumsy so i have managed to get school liason officer to give her the full two and half hour one to one support. They have been good they dont stay with her all the time but have to watch her and encourage her to play and join in with the other children. My dd would fall of slides backwards as her balance is bad and she has no fear . So if your son is simular try hard to get one to one

please do get a 1-1 support worker for your child as if you are seen not to be "too keen" the lea will back off as generally the better statements are to those parents who are aware of mumsnet and all the good sen advice given, would second running it by ipsea or sos sen
a good 1-1 should be just casually watching your child all the time and only offer assistance as and when needed- would you really want your child to have to have an accident on climbing equipment or even worse(imho)wait until a member of normal nursey staff can help him to access all areas of the curriculum when they also have to help out up to 24 other children???

it is not only the 1-1 time that is needed on the statement but also the specialist advisory teachers/physio/ot input

PLEASE do not be 'just grateful' for the statement make sure it is worth the paper it is written on
(and then have a quiet word in the nursery managers ear about how you would like the 1-1 to work with your son in the setting and how when ever they have to fill forms in about your son they must emphasis the negatives against what his peers can do-not what he can do!!(nursery staff all want to be positive but that does not help!!!!)

so sorry to go on but this is an issue close to my heart

good luck x

thank you - this is all really helpful!

I am definitely going to ask for 1-1 now.

With regards to OT/physio input etc ... do you think its Ok to ask OT to do a 6 week block (once a week for 6 weeks), then Physio to do the same (this is how they work in our borough) and for speech and language to assess my son once (I think he needs this input least) each term. Or is this too much??

What do specialist advisory teachers do? How do they get involved?