klc106 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hi All, Sorry for the long post! We have a little girl that attends our setting aged 3 (have asked for advice about her on her before) we were told she was partially deaf by she has now been fitted with grommets and the hospital have said there is no hearing loss (they did a brain scan). We have got great concerns over her overall development and our area senco is involved and mum is on board. The problem we have is that we are having to constantly watch this child in order to keep her safe. This week already she has drawn all over the floor and cushions, tried to get out the fire exit, painted her tongue and lips, climbed onto the table and set off the alarm in the disabled toilet. She squeals quite a lot and this upsets some of our other children but it seems to be her way of communicating as she has no language at all. She is also quite physical to other children. We have lots of visual clues in place and she copes well with our routine but its during free play that issues occur. She aslo likes to clear all the tables and tips everything onto the floor which makes the room messy and a hazard for tripping. There are only 2 of us and we only have 10 children, which is not many but we also have others with behavour/speech difficulties. We have been told we will not get funding to support this child as we only have 10 children. When we get down to her level and use signs and speech to tell her to 'stop' she will giggle at us and carry on. We have noticed some of the other children copying her and we do try to explain to them not to. There just never seems to be enough time to do activities with the other children as we are constantly on the go watching this child and dealing with others nappies etc. We do carry out spontaneous observations and plan for next steps. I just feel we are letting the other children down by not doing activities with them everyday. Any advice please?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 could she be on the autistic spectrum = we have a little autistic boy with us at the moment who has global developmental delay - he does some of the above although he does have good speech so dont get the squealing. he loves emptying tables by pushing everything off onto the floor and we find he becomes distressed when hungry/thirsty as at yet he is unable to say what he needs - we are working on that with photos of his snack box and cup which we are modelling for him to show him how to begin to recognise when he is hungry and then hopefully to do this independently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 hi klc 106..firstly you have my sympathy! there are a few things you can do i guess... practically i would go back to the senco and ask if there is any funding again...if not what support can they offer, can you access funding from another source? In order to help this little one access the curriculum she will need 1-1 support. It is not appropriate (IMO) to have a ratio of 1-9 so therefore you need more help. Be specific to the senco ...what are the problems/dangers/issues/ etc etc ....do not try to be nice tell them what you are dealing with ! as to the child's care i would make sure your facial expressions are very clear happy sad or cross etc ensure she gets the message (and tell parents too!!) you need to become a really good actress! if the behaviour is innaproriate then deal with it she needs clear rules and boundries and the other children need to know that too but dont forget that positive praise is what you want to be doing as much as poss....lots of clapping hands and being over enthusiastic! like a previous post here tonight don't put too much out, a box of toys on the table is an invitation to sweep them away! so put 20 stickle bricks out and put the box under the table if this is too much then 10 (the other children will either help themselves or be more creative!) and please dont worry about not doing activities...are the children happy and progressing...if yes give yourself a break you need to be concentrating on the 3 prime areas so just chatting while playing is exactly what they need 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 No funding doesn't seem fair. If you looked at your ratios with this little one having one to one you would be over ratio. Do you not have any other external funding routes for a one to one? What about trying to limit her free play time? It does sound like she needs a person to work with her all the time. Sorry can't be of any more help but i'm not in your area so can't even signpost you to a funding route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 We have a child who seems to have similar to your child- he can destroy a place within minutes - no matter how many time outs are done he will continually disrupts and destroys - how can we help him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Thank-You finleysmaid. The other children are very happy and progressing well and parents are pleased with their progress. I just hear other settings doing lots of lovely things but we just can't at the minute! I am looking to get a volunteer so that my deputy can do 1:1 with this child but it's proving difficult. We have no spare money to employ someone else either. I am having a meeting with this little girls parents on monday to fo an IEP and gain permission to go to the SEN teacher who will offer us support (hopefully!) but we have been told we would definatley not get funding due to our low numbers. Thanks all :1b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 try things like parish councils/local trusts/local town council etc etc remember if you don't ask you don't get! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 We have a child who seems to have similar to your child- he can destroy a place within minutes - no matter how many time outs are done he will continually disrupts and destroys - how can we help him? perhaps stop time outs if they are not working...they may just be making the situation worst. The question to ask is why is he doing this....is it for attention/playetc i guess you might need to do more obs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I don't think low numbers can be used a barrier! If support is needed it is needed and if one of you has to support the child continually then the other children are not having their ratios met properly.by the remaining staff member surely? My SENCO is brilliant. Log concerns immediately and explain the impact on the setting. I am sure there must be funding to access somewhere. Good luck x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 could she be on the autistic spectrum = we have a little autistic boy with us at the moment who has global developmental delay - he does some of the above although he does have good speech so dont get the squealing. he loves emptying tables by pushing everything off onto the floor and we find he becomes distressed when hungry/thirsty as at yet he is unable to say what he needs - we are working on that with photos of his snack box and cup which we are modelling for him to show him how to begin to recognise when he is hungry and then hopefully to do this independently. Sorry to be dense, but what is global developmental delay? I have heard it metioned on here but have no experience of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I don't think low numbers can be used a barrier! If support is needed it is needed and if one of you has to support the child continually then the other children are not having their ratios met properly.by the remaining staff member surely? Have to say that was my initial reaction too.....please do push for some help here...... Good luck klc106...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Sorry to be dense, but what is global developmental delay? I have heard it metioned on here but have no experience of it. A child may be described as having global developmental delay (GDD) if they have not reached two or more milestones in all areas of development... developmental delay is in some but not all areas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Well! Today was awful! We had our usual 10 children in but this little girl caused havoc. She escaped out of the front door whilst parents were coming in (luckily my deputy noticed), she stood on tables, set the alarm of in the disabled toilet, opened the fire exit, drawn all over her face and the floor with felt pen, snapped a peice of dolls house furniture, spat her lunch out all over the table and cleared all the tables and threw toys everywhere, the place looked a right mess by 11am! She also squealed for a lot of the session and laughed at us when we told her 'stop' firmly and using the makaton sign. That was all in addition to having our improvement advisor visiting and wanting to talk to be for over an hour, 2 children crying when mum left and several temper tantrums from our 2 children with behavioural issues. Our improvement advisor did comment on the behaviour of this little girl and said she does need 1:1 support but doesn't know how we can get funding if the senco said no. Other parents have also made comments about this little girl saying that there child is coming home saying they don't like her and it's too noisy. We have also noticed our quieter, less confident children becoming withdrawn when she is about and we are getting concerned about that as before the summer they were gaining lots of confidence and talking to eachother more. The whole atmosphere in the room is different when she is in. We got no observations done or anything today. I sent the referral to the SEN inclusion team at the beginning of october but recieved an email last week to say it had got lost so had to send another one yesterday. Myself and my deputy were very stressed by the end of the day and we feel we need some support as it's not fair on the children. I am thinking I should email my area senco? as we don't have an appointment booked for her to come out. Any advice anyone???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 The day you have described puts me in mind of a girl we had a couple of years ago, who eventually was diagnosed with AS D. Some days were a disaster, while others passed relatively easily by comparison. Her behaviour was often at its worst when mum arrived to pick her up. There were triggers to the hyped up type of behaviour with her, such as lots of movement in the room, so if we were doing music and movement etc., she had no sense of danger but rarely hurt herself, she too managed to escape out of the door at pick up time, running through all the adults' legs, she even managed we heard to escape at primary school in the first week and was found wandering around the school field. I was lucky, I had more staff than you do, there is no way we would have worked as you are on your ratios, at the very least I would have 3 - then if there is an incident you still have 2 adults looking after the children and are within ratio. Could you advertise for a volunteer to assist you with this child if you get no where with your local authority. We referred this little girl for diagnosis, which was really quite swift at the time it did mean that we could have extra funds to pay 1:1, although i never employed anyone extra as we had begun working so much better with her ourselves. Seems silly to think back now, but we did find she responded well to being "stroked" which really calmed her down especially if we were having a story with the whole group, and we used to use her little obsessions to aid her behaviour, so we would offer first this, then you can have the..... I can hazard a guess at what you are going through and you must keep on banging on with anyone who will listen until you get assistance for this child, make a nuisance of yourself. I am feeling cross that your improvement partner could see what was happening and continued to try and talk to you, no wonder your day was so bad. When we have a SIP, we get funding to cover an extra member of staff to release me for a couple of hours. You might be able to request her help via the telephone for a bit at a convenient time, while you are sorting yourself out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Thanks for your reply Panders. I was suprised at the improvement advisor too. I did keep getting up and dealing with incidents which I don't think pleased her but what else could I do? I have emailed my area senco, and included details of what happened today so hopefully she will be able to offer some support. We have advertised for volunteers but we are in the middle of nowhere and the buses etc. are useless so it has been unsuccessful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devondaisy Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 You really need more support! She sounds just like my little one who requires 1:1 for the whole session. Funding is a nightmare - we get 4 hours extra now, although she does 12 hours with us, we just have to fund the rest and are running at a massive loss this term. It's a very difficult situation, totally exhausting, and I really feel for you. Could the parents go to their health visitor for an assessment? This is what happened with us, and child now has a portage worker and paediatrician involved which is helpful. Are you committee run? Could one of the committee help out at the session she attends perhaps? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klc106 Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Thanks Devondaisy- good to know we are not the only ones! Unfortunatley we are not committee run and her parents think it's funny when we tell them the things she has been doing! it took months for me to convince them she needed speech therapy even though she can't say a single word! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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