Epilepsy

[Guest]

Looking for some general advice / wondering if anyone has had similar situation...

 

we have a child entering our 2 year olds room after easter (8 children, 2 staff) who has regular fits (almost daily) staff are naturally anxious about this.

 

advice on first aid course (staff member is updating at mo) is that other children should be taken out of the room - giving rise to obvious ratio issues .

 

is a child with such a medical need entitled to any extra funding to facilitate extra staffing or is this something we simply have to plan to deal with?

 

any advice on what needs to be considered when writing a care/action plan for this event?

[Sue R]

My first reaction is that this sounds like it could qualify for an ISSG grant - will check it out tomorrow, in the meantime, your local Early Years team should be able to advise you.

 

Sue

[Guest Biker]

We had a child who had diabetes but none of usual symptoms warning of hypo attack so needed very close attention.They were given a statement to ensure 1-1 staffing.As Sue says

your local early years team should be able to advise you.

Biker.

[Susan]

What sort of seizures is this child having? Is there any warning?

[Guest]

we have a child with epilepsy at our setting, we contacted the childs health visitor she came in and did sytaff training with all staff and made up a plan of action for him in case he had an attack at the pre-school. This also had a copy for us to give to the ambulance if needed.

[Guest]

We had a child with a severe life threatening food allergy and funding was made available to support the nursery in the form of an extra staff member, as an extra pair of eyes, this also helped reassure the parents to feel everything possible was being done to include their child.

[HappyMaz]

I've never heard of other children needing to be evacuated when a child was having a fit (although obviously you'd need to give the child having the fit some privacy and move the children away to another part of the room to minimise their distress etc).

 

Given the child has an existing, well understood medical condition, I'd be inclined to ask for the health visitor to come and speak to you about the child's needs so that you can do a proper needs analysis, and then apply for funding as appropriate. There may also be implications for administering medicine and this would need to be clearly understood, too.

 

Good luck - it does sound as if this child might need some extra support.

 

Maz

[Beau]

If the child's fits are regular then I would think that its important that this is explained to the other children but not made a big deal of. If they are all herded out every time the child fits then this may well cause more distress as it then becomes something frightening and hidden.

 

I agree with the others, get the Health Visitor in to talk it through with the staff fully and give them an opportunity to air their concerns and worries. It may be that most of them are unfounded in this particular case.

[Guest]

Def check with your Early Years Team. We have an inclusion officer in our LA early years team who supports settings to apply for bursaries etc to cover staffing and equipment costs. She also supports the staff by organising specific training to support them to care for the child's individual needs effectively with the support of the health visitor & parents.

 

Hope you get some good advice and support

 

Paula x

[Beau]

Although designed for schools, you may find this useful.

[narnia]

just a small point, it's bad form to refer to seizures as 'fits'................and I'm as guilty as anyone for doing so, but I got my knuckles rapped severely by a friend who is epileptic when I asked what sets his 'fits' off............I have learned not to call them that again!

[Sue R]

I've checked; we apply for the 'Inclusive Service Support Grant' offered on a quarterly basis by our Early Years Team. There'll probably be something similar in your area. We get it for 1:1 staffing for a child with complex needs so need to account for the expenditure - time sheets etc, when we reapply and whenever else it's checked.

 

We also have to provide reports for and presence at Case Conferences, and we get lots of support from outside professionals.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

 

Very good point Narnia - is all too easy to use 'quick' terms when typing but important to remember correct terminology.

[Guest]

Lots of good advicee already, I'd just like to add to invite/include the parents ( who have particular expertise for their own child) to be part of any meeting/training with other professionals you may ask in to talk to you and staff. They can put a 'personal' context to any advice given.

 

Peggy