Special needs assistant

Deelberne

Hi,

My daughter has a condition called tuberous sclerosis complex, at the moment she’s only mildly affected by it. She’s 2 years and 3 months old. We’ve had her in a crèche 2 days a week but get the feeling they don’t have the time or resources to give her the one to one attention that she needs. She has learning difficulties, speech and language difficulties and has displayed some autistic tendancies, we’re told it’s too early to assess her.

My question is this – how would I get a special needs assistant for 2 days a week . My sister in law is a childminder and would have Laoise 2 days a week if she had an SNA.
I’ve kinda had suspicions that Laoise wasn’t coming on well in the crèche, I’m not criticising them, they probably haven’t the time to give her the one to one attention that she needs. They say she doesn’t interact with the other kids and pretty much wanders around doing her own thing all day.

I kinda have visions of her wandering around all day and nobody paying her any attention apart from feeding time etc. Kinda heartbreaking to think of her being left like that.
What kind of money would it cost for an SNA 2 days a week and would we be entitled to any financial assistance with it. Just to add my wife and i are separated, not sure if that would make a difference to our entitlements.

Any advice would be great –just trying to make sure my little princess gets all the help she needs.

Thanks for reading.
Jim

E.T.

Hi Jim, most of the people who post on this board are primary teachers like myself, and unfortunately I don't have any experience with SNAs in creches. You might be better off posting on a site like rollercoaster.ie or any other that's aimed more towards pre-school or younger children (I know this forum says pre-school too but most of the questions are about primary school ages). Hopefully you'll get some answers here, but just in case you don't, there are loads of other sites where you can post.

Lady_North

Try over on the educationposts.ie too. They have a message board especially for sna.

LovesTeaching

Contact the HSE re Special Needs Assistant. I know they have in the past provided SNA for children with Special Education Needs. Not sure if they will provide one in a creche but have done in pre school settings before. Follow up on the Autism diagnosis, children can be diagnosed as early as 2 or 3. Early intervention would be a serious advantage. Good luck and keep pushing for services for your daughter, its the parents who ask the most, get the most.

unklerosco

If you still need help with this drop me a pm and I'll put you in touch with my better half. She runs a montessori and has a number of special needs children in her classes and I think 3-4 SNAs at the moment. She'll be able to give you a load of advice as to whats best to do..