Pre-school concerns (keyworker) what would you do???

[wtbmummy]

Just a warning this is going to be a long post

Ok so ds went to nursery from 7.5mo as I worked two days a week. (In a preschool and I am fully qualified myself) At 18months he moved to a new nursery (as did i) just before he turned 2 i gave up work and therefore he stopped going to now preschool.

He was out of preschool for 5months. This was because I knew I was sending him to a particular preschool in the September and didnt want to move him once again. However I got lucky and a space opened up so he went in from the May 16 instead of waiting till September.

Before he had started there I had tried to get him refered for speech and language through the health visitor due to a potential lisp. I was refused as he had just turned 2.
So when he started at the preschool I explained I wanted something in place for him and to be refered again as with more than one referal they should at least give him an assesment.

Come September after the school holidays and after still hearing nothing and not even having an IEP (individual education plan) in place I mentioned it to the manager. She then got his key worker to get him refered THAT DAY!!!

He still has not had an IEP put in place which has been driving me mad. In fact on days hes in school all day he comes home with even worse speech n I spend the next two days correcting his mistakes This is further proof his key worker isnt working with him on it at all.

Again I spoke with management who suggested I use the "home link book" (its book myself/husband and keyworker can use to write things down when time is short) as then I will find out what activities he is doing.

The day I gave her the book she gave it back to me (at end of the day) saying that ds does one session of letters and sounds per week and he joins in well (it is a group activity so hes still not getting the 1 2 1 he needs for his speech!!!)

He finally has his assesment next week and I can not wait!!! His key worker said that the speech therapist should then write to her with the action plan going forward. (But he should of had something in place since May 16)

Ok so that issue is ongoing and dh has been very unhappy with how his keyworker has handled it.

Now today........

I go to pick up ds and he has a scratch next to, above AND under his eye!!! At home time he sits with his key group at the table and they have a "chat" about the day with their key worker. As soon as I walked over to ds I saw these scratches and asked him how it happened he immediately knew what I was talking about put his hand on the largest of scratches and told me his friend pinched him!!!

His key worker didnt even see the three massive scratches on his face!!! There was no accident form for him and she brushed it off just asking how did that happen and went and spoke to another parent!!!

I left and rang dh who was fuming..... also not happy with me as I had left the setting!! I rang up and the manager is getting an incident form filled out for me to sign on Monday morning.

I have taken photos of ds with his scratches and feel kind of awful for him. Hes full of cold atm aswell

Dh has expressed his distress about everything that has occured (he has been collected before with the odd mark etc.. with no form or explaination) and has told me to get ds a new key worker. One that is right for him and will help him grow.

I am going to go in on Monday and speak with management and express our concerns but I find it very, VERY difficult what with me being on the committee and being fully qualified in childcare myself. Dh said he doesn't want to go as far as putting in a complaint but he wants a new key worker.

I do agree, tbh I wanted a new key worker as soon as I realised ds didnt have an IEP in place but it is very hard for me. I also suffer with GAD and worry about how I will be percived by other staff if I get him moved.

I spoke to ds's nan about the situation but she didnt want to discuss it with me as she actually works in the setting (even though she has previously spoken to me about ds and his progress and how he should have an IEP etc.. but said she is uncomfortable talking about this) I have to respect her feelings but I could have done with her view on the situation.


What would other people do????
Are we over reacting????
Or would other people be just as appalled????

 

[Eleanor ace]

The scratch thing would bother me but not enough to put in a complaint. I'd mention it and say that I was bothered by the key worker not noticing the scratches as it makes it seem like your DS isn't getting much attention.
With regards to the IEP, has he been accessing SEN services or is he still waiting? If he hasn't been receiving any official extra support then I guess the IEP won't be in place although obviously once you're on the referral and assessment path it must be. If you're DS is already under the SENCO receiving additional SEN support then the lack of IEP would be a big issue for me.

 

[k4th]

I once picked dd up from nursery and she had a huge graze on her chin. When I asked what happened the nursery staff in the room said "I don't know". I was furious! Turned out (the next day) that the worker who had seen it wasn't there when I picked up & the paperwork had been lost - fortunately it was just a fall and graze, but I did make a point that if she had also bumped her head then we'd taken her home with no after care info. (I watched her like a hawk all night in case she had bumped her head as it happened... for no reason). Anyway - I felt much better having discussed it with them and it never happened again. I think if you have concerns about them noting injuries then they definitely need raising!

I'm not really sure about the IEP issue though. From your post I'm thinking that your concern is about his speech? Nothing else? Does he have a programme of work from a speech therapist to be following? Speech sound work is very specific and I wouldn't want anyone dabbling without a qualified professional setting a proper programme to follow. What if they teach it wrong? Or worse... make him hugely aware of it and raise his anxiety about speaking? Honestly - I would very much want the speech therapist advice before they did anything.

 

[MindUtopia]

I don't know anything about the speech issues or IEP, but the scratch wouldn't bother me. Mine comes home with bumps and scratches all the time. If there is an actual altercation that they see, like one child is aggressive and scratches or bites another, that should be something that is dealt with and we get an incident report. But not every scratch or bump is necessarily an incident in my opinion. Kids fall down and that's not really a big deal to me. If it was raised as a concern, as in he went and told someone what happened and that it hurt, then yes, I would expect it to be noted. But if he hadn't mentioned it and they didn't see it happen and he wasn't obviously in pain or bleeding, no I wouldn't expect anyone to do anything and I wouldn't even want to see any incident report about that. I'd be signing one every day if that was the case. I think if he was distressed about it, yes, they should have attended to it and told you about it. If he wasn't and hadn't even mentioned it until you asked, I wouldn't consider it a big deal and I wouldn't make a complaint about that.

 

[wtbmummy]

It was a VERY big scratch by his eye where another child had literally clawed his face.
It is still there now!!!

I spoke to the manager on Monday upon dropping ds off. We had a good chat and she told me she would see what she can do. When I picked him up she had found a new keyworker and just wanted the go ahead. Ds already knows his new keyworker and she came with us to his speech assesment today so she is a lot more pro active than his old keyworker was.

I was concerned about ds changing to a new group but he has friends all over the place none of which were in his group anyway and he seems to really like this new keyworker (he has never mentioned his old one by name but already is the new one)

So as hard as it was I think we have made the right choice for ds. Ds told me about this boy "pinching" his face and was very clear. I was told on the monday someone saw what was happening however didnt witness the scratch itself and ds didnt cry (he admitted he hit the boy back after he was scratched so guess he felt he had dealt with it in his own way)
As i say it was a very large deep scratch and was obvious of that when i picked him up and its still there now.

So yeah he has a new very pro active keyworker who i feel suits ds and his personality better. Hes there for another year yet so it is very important he has someone who is right for him

 

[k4th]

Wtbmummy - lovely update! Really pleased you addressed it and feel happy with his new key worker. It's so important to feel you have the right people looking after your lo

How did the speech assessment go? Hope you got some advice and/or the programme of work that you wanted for him.

 

[Eleanor ace]

It's great that the nursery are being proactive about your concerns, it sounds like the new key worker will be a much better fit for your LO

 

[george83]

The scratch thing would bother me but not enough to put in a complaint. I'd mention it and say that I was bothered by the key worker not noticing the scratches as it makes it seem like your DS isn't getting much attention.
With regards to the IEP, has he been accessing SEN services or is he still waiting? If he hasn't been receiving any official extra support then I guess the IEP won't be in place although obviously once you're on the referral and assessment path it must be. If you're DS is already under the SENCO receiving additional SEN support then the lack of IEP would be a big issue for me.

I agree with all this. Scratches happen and things get taken out of context ds2 scratched ds1 across his head at the weekend and it looks awful but it was an accident when they were playing. Also my ds2 didn't speak until he was nearly 3 and we had no support from anybody with regards to helping develop this as every service is so stretched so I'd be grateful you even got refered for an assessment at all

 

[New Mrs W]

I might be misunderstanding this but are you saying he should have an IEP for a lisp?? Or are there other, more serious, speech problems that he suffers from??