AIMS pre school support

I should say that he can talk. Our usual conversation would go something like this:
Him: Banana!
Me: Do you want a banana?
Him: Yes pwease
Me: Okay, but you have to ask for it properly. Say "I want a banana please".
Him: I wana banana pwease

He'll say most things that you ask him to say, but he won't remember the next time to say the full sentence. He has loads of nouns, just doesn't seem inclined (or doesn't have the ability) to put them into a sentence with verbs, and wouldn't know about tenses or anything. He understands simple instructions, like switch on the light or put it on the table, but wouldn't quite get "put your cup on the table and then switch on the light".

So I get that he's pretty far behind, but it's not like he's not talking at all.

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.

Well, that's mostly my point of view too. For my 3 year old, I don't really see a downside to applying for the extra help. My personal view is just that he's a late talker, that he will catch up, and there's a small chance that he needs this extra intervention so that he really does catch up before he starts school. So if we would have caught up of his own accord, then so what if there's an AIMs teacher there. It won't harm him.

It's hard to know whether the creche are decent or not. The creche manager and staff are lovely, but the regional manager has pushed this AIM application in every conversation we have had, and when discussing filling out the application form, she basically said to make out that my son's situation is worse than it is, because otherwise we wouldn't get the approval.

The creche manager also mentioned that she had worked in two other of the chain's creches in other parts of Dublin, and that they had had AIM support teachers there. The AIM website said that only 1% of ECCE children will need Level 7 support, and if you think there's usually on 12-16 kids in an ECCE class it does seem that the chain has had more of their fair share of children who need the highest level of support.

My husband is really quite against applying for the support. He doesn't see as much of an issue with our son's communication abilities as I do, though he does understand that our son is a bit behind. Then again, I can tend towards hypochondria, seeing issues where there aren't any. And in nearly all the cases in the past where I've wanted to take one of the kids to the doctor or get something checked out, my husband has been right that the issue just sorted itself out over the course of time.

My husband completely believes that the creche are trying to make us apply for this so that they can get a government paid extra resource. Like most creche's we pay a small fortune per month, and the creche only raised their fees in October. So he's loath to play the system just so that ultimately we help out the creche. He's gone as far to say that the AIMs assessment will probably be over the phone, because of Covid, and the creche will just tell the AIMs assessor what they need to hear. Therefore we could be taking a scarce AIMs resource from another child who truly needs it. It doesn't help that the application form has "disability" all over it, talking about giving access to children in wheelchairs and those with diagnosed intellectual disabilities, when in fact you don't need any kind of formal diagnosis to apply for this support.

So the upshot of all this is that we are going to ask to meet the creche manager next week, so that she can clearly set out what this AIMs resource would do, and what exact benefit would it be for our child, as opposed it it just being an extra resource for the creche. I feel sorry for them already, as I know my husband is going to be belligerent and defensive, so they're going to have to sell it to him.

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 fits - what is a private SLT? Where would I find one?

They are looking for Level 7. They say that the extra resource will help with the ECCE teacher being able to give my son more 1-1 time, or for both the teacher and the AIM support to do the group activities in smaller groups.

Having reread my original post myself, I realised that I have reflected what might have been the situation in September, when this issue was originally raised with me by the creche. Since then they have said that he has occasionally taken part in group activities and his communication has improved, but not at the rate that they would like to see. It's the lack of consistency that they are concerned about - that one day he would be in great form, communicating and taking part, and then the next two days would want to be completely left alone.

I should say that he plays well with his older sisters at home, but doesn't quite get the idea of taking turns yet.

I have seen improvement over the past two months, and especially since he has had the teeth out. But I also know is isn't such spectacular improvement that he is in anyway caught up. But it's also hard to completely disregard my husband's argument that he is just developing slower, and we shouldn't pigeon hole him as "disabled". That bloody application form has a lot to answer for.

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.

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.