in July 2021 Babies 🇬🇧

Anxious about sending LO to school

Is anyone else l anxious about their LO’s starting school in September? I’m honestly dreading it 😫 My girl is non verbal and very behind on her development and I just feel really anxious about it all. Shes currently on the waiting list for an autism referral but that won’t be until next year at the earliest. We’re currently trying to get an ECHP in place for her as well. I just hate the thought of her going to school and not being able to understand or communicate with anyone. I don’t know how well she’ll cope in a mainstream school. I know that they’re good with sen children and have a lovely sensory room but I’m really worried that she won’t receive the support she needs. It also doesn’t help that we’re still trying to get her into a nursery as well. We moved last year and have struggled to get her into one as the waiting list in our area are really long and we haven’t heard back from any of the nurseries😩

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Same as you, very anxious! My boy is also on the autism waiting list but we do have an EHCP in place, this was granted around 3 weeks ago. I would be chasing the nurseries RE: waiting lists as when the EHCP is in place, it will start asap - ours started at nursery this week. Are you also under speech & language? They’ll be able to support too x

@Gemma I’ve been calling up regularly and even my HV has been calling around to help get her a place but still nothing as of yet. I’m waiting to her back from a couple of child minders so hopefully one of them will be able to help 🤞🏻 My LO has just been discharged from speech and language for the time being as there is nothing that can offer her atm as she isn’t even trying to communicate. We’ve been left with a 6month open appointment but that’s it. It’s honestly so frustrating.

Oh that’s really annoying! We re-referred ourselves back to speech & language just before Christmas but asked to have a different therapist this time round & it’s done my boy the world of good. Now that you know your little ones school they should also be in touch with you so you could ask if they have any advice with regards to support?

Same with my boy who's non-verbal and also waiting on his autism assessment which should be this year. Been going through the EHCP process and soon the council will have a meeting on whether to proceed 🤞🏻 it's hard but I'm hoping the school he gets into has a good structure in place for him and that he'll be able to improve and also have the EHCP in place by that time so he can get the 1:1 he needs. We also are putting him in private speech & language therapy until then as well as waiting on our next NHS appointment. Sorry you're not getting anywhere with putting your LO in nursery. I hope you have success with that soon! X

I'm anxious about this too. My son has cerebral palsy which affects his ability to talk so slightly different than your situation. We're in Scotland so he doesn't start school til next September, we also don't have ECHPs and don't need anything like that to be able to go to an additional needs school if that's what we choose. He is currently in a mainstream nursery and is doing well there but doesn't really communicate at all when there. I'm so unsure what is the right route to take for schooling!

Exactly the same position as you! I’m very worried. I’ve received advice from all school SENCOs that non-verbal children who have a delay don’t usually end up doing full time school hours and will only go in an hour at a time then slowly after a month increasing to 2 hours and so on. As a single parent I can’t afford to do that. But I don’t want to force her into an environment she’s not comfortable in. It’s all very stressful. I’m so worried that she won’t get the support and she won’t feel safe but on the flip side, that she’s just pushed aside if she’s settled but she won’t be engaging with the group, causing her to fall even further behind.

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