Reception teachers? Help with SEN child

[laurzj82]

Hey,

DD starts school in Sept. She has sensory issues and probably high functioning autism but we are still waiting for an assessment. She goes to pre-school and gets informal extra support because she struggles to stay on task.

When children move over to reception, how long are they expected to stay still and concentrate for at a time? She really struggles with this, well because she is 4 but has a shorter attention span than her peers.

I guess I am worried she is going to feel constantly in trouble. Any tips to help me try and increase her attention span?

Thanks in advance

Has your DD got a ‘my plan’? When my ds was in preschool I pushed for him to have a plan written before he went to school so that the reception teacher would have a good idea about his difficulties before he started so he would not be considered a ‘naughty boy’. In reception they had children with a wide variety of attention spans so were used to working with that. I was really pleased I put so much effort into ensuring the teacher had an excellent understanding of my ds as he had a great year. I wish I had spent more time with the year 1 teacher as she did not really ‘get’ ds so then in future years I always asked for a transition meeting.

Does the nursery have any paperwork relating to her SEN in place? This might be called an IEP or a One Plan?

If so, hopefully you are having regular review meetings and can raise the issue of transition at the next. Often the school senco will come in for a transition visit.

Will an EHC plan be needed?

I wouldn’t worry too much about attention/concentration this point, just focus on a successful transition. YR is very play-based and child-led, she won’t need to sit and listen to endless literacy carpet inputs just yet.