JDD wrote: » I do think there's probably no downside to this. I just can't shake the feeling that the creche do this on a regular basis in order to get more teaching resources. I read on the AIMS website that only 1 in 100 ECCE children will need an additional person in the room type support, and yet the creche manager has told me that they have had AIMS support teachers in all three of her previous (same chain) creches.
neris wrote: » If the creche are decent and are into the children and their development they will be doing this for the benefit and care of the child along with the parents and not for an extra resource which if they got is limited aswell. The fact that you are in agreement and are aware of his situation is a help, from experience alot of parents either turn a blind or dont want to see that their child has issues in the creche or ecce class and this puts the child back with learning or behavioral issues when they get to primary school.
fits wrote: » Are they looking for level 7? Or level 4? Also you could visit a private SLT and get their advice. Edit again. I’ve just read your original post again and from what you’ve put in there I’d recommend applying for it. The earlier you get help the better. If it’s not needed you won’t do any harm at all.
Hi, I was just wondering how the OP got on with your little boy in the crèche.
I am having a similar experience with my little fella. He missed his first year of ECCE due to Covid, we just didn't want to take the risk, as my parents would have had to collect him.
Anyway, he has only just recently settled into a crèche environment, having never been in a childcare facility before, so this was a big step. We staggered the hours and days before his official start, and he has surprised us all by really enjoying it and happy to go every morning. The crèche owner called just 3 days after to say she has observed him and has concerns. The phone conversation was very alarming. Talking of him not getting anything out of the year, as the rest are preparing for school and he isn't. She said he is the easiest child to mind but she would be doing him a disservice if she didn't mention anything, which is fair enough. When I asked for examples, she said he has a tendency to stare into space when confronted with playing with the others and feels he has speech delay. She mentioned private assessment, and was wondering if I didn't send him last year because I shared her same concerns. I felt very much railroaded into approving AIM support there and then as early intervention was critical. I asked could she write down her concerns and she refused to do so.
Now I will say this, the child doesn't have the verbal dexterity of some of his peers and certainly his sister at that age. But he forms full sentences, can answer a question and is able to recite his colours and numbers. He is a little shy in new environments alright ( who isnt ), especially one with loads of kids he hasn't met before, but I have seen him play well with kids his age on a one to one basis, whilst he hasn't had much practice of that over the last 19 months. I've spent the weekend googling some of the markers for autism and ASD and really, apart from some verbal complexities, he wouldn't fit the profile from me or my husbands perspective. He has passed all his development milestones previously and is overall a very warm, bright young fella.
I'm hoping the AIM won't do him any harm, but I have read articles that mention the wrong intervention may actually derail his normal language development and if this follows him into school, the teachers attitude to him might be coloured by this experience.
Concerns also that he hasn't actually been given an accurate diagnosis and the only thing marking him out is his speech. Because of Covid, I cant enter the crèche , so I have no idea of what his day looks like and how reacts with the other kids there.
Just look at yours and oPs reaction here. How do you think it feels for someone working with your child to pick up the phone and make that call? It really isn’t easy and often gets a hostile reaction.
that said she could justify it better and it’s awfully early in the year. Give it a few weeks. But do listen to them if they have concerns.
yes, I understand that. I’m very much trying to be open and not hostile. I couldn’t assess any child after 3 days in a new setting.
I thanked her for her honesty, but it’s good to question this view as it leads us down a road. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on conformity within these settings.
Delete post
Hi Gladerunner
We're about a year down the track now since my original post, and some things have crystallised for us that may help you in deciding what to do with your little boy.
Firstly, I would say that three days is not nearly enough to assess whether a child is settling in to creche well and is interacting with other children in normal behavioural way. So I would think that, while it's fine that the creche manager raised it now, you should really wait another month or two before deciding to apply of AIMS support. We said to our creche in October last year that we weren't ready to take that step and that we would look at it again in January. They were fine with that, and we did actually apply for the support in January.
We've had a lot of interaction with our creche now, and I will say this. I no longer think that they were pushing us towards AIMS solely to get an extra staff support that they would not need to pay for. I say this from discussions I have had since with the creche manager, and also because while my son eventually got Level 7 support approval, the creche have been unable to recruit someone for the very limited hours that Level 7 support actually provides. The Level 4 support that they have been getting since last April mostly consists of zoom meetings with an AIMS support officer, that has been giving them helpful suggestions on how to get my son to join in on group activities, including trying some new foods (though he still doesn't eat one of the two hot meals every day) and other language development assistance. They've been highly impressed by the support and suggestions given by the AIMS support officer, and my son does seem a lot happier in creche.
My husband also had the same concerns as you, in that if we applied for AIMS now, that information would be passed to his primary school and the teachers might treat him differently than how they might if he wasn't "in the system", as it were. I asked the AIMS person that contacted me and she said that they don't pass any information on to primary schools (they wouldn't be allowed even if they wanted to under GDPR) and so it was totally up to us if we wanted to inform the school that he had support during his ECCE year.
On the flip side, if it turns out that our son needs the extra help of a SNA when he start junior infants, it will get approved for him a lot faster if he's already been approved for AIMS, then say if we were applying for the first time. I would prefer not to be in that situation where he is floundering from September to Christmas and it affects his view of school. I just want him to be happy and anything that helps that is fine with me.
Our son definitely has language development issues, which have become more apparent now that he's four and half. He does speak in full sentences, and will answer simple questions such as "do you want toast", but he doesn't have the language development to say, tell you what happened in creche that day. We are taking him to private speech therapy and that is helping. I am hoping by next year he will have caught up enough that he'll be able to get on okay during yard time and in the classroom. Your son may be a lot more advanced than mine.
All in all I would say apply for the AIMS support if your creche thinks it would be something that would help him. And even if he doesn't need it, it won't do him any harm. But you might want to wait for another month to really get a sense of whether the gaps between him and his creche peers are really there, or whether it is just settling in nerves.
Schools can no longer apply for SNA support. They are allocated a set number of SNA hours, no matter how great the need in the individual school.This is discriminating against those schools that accept every child , without question or the veiled hints from particular schools that the child would "do better" in another school.
@JDD Thank you so much for your kind and detailed reply. Our boy seems very similar in terms of language. Can talk all day, has loads of words and full sentences, but has a very hard time telling us about his day. Now, he comes home wrecked, so quizzing him is not fair either. Once or twice he might say slide or green bike to indicate what he used that day, but very limited for a child his age.
I suppose in hindsight, I was just a little floored that his speech & language was automatically linked to a marker for autism, which was mentioned on the phone. It may well be a feature of autism, but even in the last few days we have been sent videos of him interacting with the group and playing with trucks with another little boy. So its very early days. I was grateful for the input but without property assessment, I can't be sure he wont catch up naturally. I was just afraid that the AIMS support would pull him from the group and actually defeat the purpose of a group setting, but this doesnt appear to be the case. We have since signed all the forms and look forward to some one elses opinion.
Its very hard for parents, as I wouldnt change the child for the world. He always makes strides at home, never regresses and is a much improved child even from 6 months ago. But in saying that, its hard for me to apply critical thinking, Im totally biased.
I know your post was a few yrs ago and you may never see this comment, but im very curious to know how your son is getting on now? Did he start primary school, is he speaking, has his development come on to where it should be?
Im intrested because my son, aged 4, sounds so similar to him. He is currently in his first year of ECCE and AIMs have awarded him level 7 support. He has a bad speech delay but otherwise ok, although the play school have queried if "something is there" with him, they say he isnt social and walks on his tippe toes but I honestly dont see that, I see a boy who has a speech delay and plays with his sister and walks normal.
Its so frustrating, I wish I know he was ok and will just develop in his own time. I feel like when I talk to the play school they are giving me pity and must thibk im in denial.
I should mention I work with adults with Autism and intellectual disabilities for 13 years, and dont see Autism in my son.
Any update you, or anyone who has a similar experience would be great. Thank you
Hi Leryan
I just wanted to reply to your post - hopefully Gladerunner is still around also.
It's very difficult when you don't know what might be holding your child back, and whether it's just within a normal spectrum of development or whether it is something that needs more help.
My son - who I've talked about above - has since been diagnosed with autism. I'm not sure whether, twenty or thirty years ago, he would have been diagnosed. I think he would have just been the weird kid in class. At four years old, my son didn't walk on tippy toes, didn't flap his hands, made good eye contact, loved hugs and tickles, and played well with his sisters. The only warning signs were his level of communication (never chats, never tells you what happened that day, only communicated his needs), his reluctance to join group activities, and his strong difficulty in moving from one preferred task to a non-preferred one (e.g. leaving playground, getting dressed, switching off the tv etc.).
He was diagnosed with Level 1 autism, which means he needs some assistance, but not a high level amount. I think people who may have been diagnosed thirty years ago (and therefore the adults that you worked with) would be diagnosed with Level 2 or Level 3 autism. They may display some of the more "classic" symptoms of autism, which may be why your child seems so different.
Your son may well just have a communication delay. But I will give this advice. I would apply for the Assessment of Need with your local public health nurse now, just because the creche have raised a "maybe there's something else". Waiting lists are long. The assessment is meant to be done in six months but most children are waiting 18 months. If your child catches up in the meantime, you can just take him off the list. The Assessment of Need assesses him for everything - autism, ADHD, communication delay, sensory issues, the whole spectrum. At least then you will know what kind of therapy he needs - if anything at all. Under the public system, after a diagnosis, he will go back on the waiting list for therapy, which again can take years before you get to the top of the list. So the earlier you apply, the better.
Another major advantage of getting a diagnosis is that there are creches that specialize in early intervention. That means they are small rooms, sometimes with a speech therapist and occupational therapist on site, and they help children socialize, develop their language etc. You can only get a place with a diagnosis. I have heard such good reviews for these creches - how children who were exhausted and overwhelmed and totally silent coming home from a standard creche - transformed into much happier children who come on in leaps and bounds and move on to mainstream school with less issues. Even six months or a year in such a creche can help.
Lastly, I would say not to fear a diagnosis. I was so the same as you, I just hoped if I held out and didn't panic, he would catch up and all my fears would be unfounded. In hindsight I should have started the whole process as soon as the creche raised a flag. If he caught up then great, but if I had got an earlier diagnosis who knows what progress he could have made? It's a real regret. And there wasn't really much to fear - he's a smart happy kid. He just thinks and learns differently to most other children, and I had to teach myself how he thinks to try and meet him halfway. With the right therapies, he should lead a relatively independent life and should be able to hold down a good job.
Hi JDD
Thank you for your reply, its so nice to hear from someone who has gone through this.
I actually do have him on the assessment of needs list, almost 2 yrs now, it was recommended to me by the community medical doctor as a precaution, a just incase measure. And because I work with disability services I know how important early intervention is and how negatively it effects children and adults if their parents are in denial. So I left him on the list for assessment hopeful that by the time it comes around it would be fine.
I also got her referred to child psychiatry services on the public system.. they said he just has a speech delay but the public health nurse who done his most recent developmental check up said to get him re referred because that was done in telephone consultation with me and they never actually saw him.
His main areas of concern are speech and language, socialising and maybe some toe walking.
No other issues, not with transition, food textures, behaviours/tantrums, routines, loves when his cousins or his sisters friends call to the house to play.
I suppose if im honest im petrified of an Autism diagnosis based on my job. I see mental health creep in as adults with autism, I see regression, I see massive violent behaviour, I see siblings greatly affected, I see parents break up, families fall apart. I feel if he gets a diagnosis then thats my life.
LerRyan, I read your post and felt I had to reply. As you know, autism covers a wide range of abilities and needs. A diagnosis won't change what your lovely little boy is. If he is identified as autistic , the sooner he can get the help the identification brings. Wishing you both all the best.
Hi all
My little boy is 2.5 and is also speech delayed. Can I ask if you noticed any deficits in pretend play?
My little boy has words but poor understanding, doesn't play with other kids, not great eye contact
I cry every night over it to be honest. I'm sick with worry.
Hi,
My little boy didnt engage in pretend play until he was 3, to be honest it was from age 3 onwards he began to "catch up" with other kids. Except for speech and language and social skills. These are still work in progress/behind.
I completely understand how you feel. No point me saying dont worry. Your entitled to worry your his mother.
