Two year old check

[Panders]

We received virtually no 2 year H.V. checks with children entering pre-school last Sept, this year that has changed and the majority have had it done. My own granddaughters 2 year check consisted of one sentence, "has achieved all milestones".

 

2 year checks now that they are with us are here to stay and we just get on with them, we collect a lot of information one way or another it's just a matter of getting it all down on paper, we have a good format to use produced by Kent. We don't though, have umpteen children to carry 2 year checks out on, so for that I am thankful. This year we will be doing 4 and in January another 2.

[finleysmaid]

although i understand the just get on with it syndrome ...how are the government keeping an eye on these checks ...there must be some 'prrof' for them....what are they making us do it for???? our lea do not produce any formats for it...the hv's are not interested....how is this helping these children????

[Fredbear]

Well it's not is it, just another tick list as far as I'm concerned. Those practitioners that were already proactive in best outcomes for children were already identifying and referring when required, didn't need to be told to do it really, but hey ho.

I wonder whether this is going to be evaluated more for when a child reaches compulsory school age and has not been picked up on.

But there could also be lots of other factors too for this.

Child has never attended a setting.

HV check was never done.

Parents maybe in denial of child's possible additional need and any support at that time.

I agree the idea of linking provisions with Health Visitors for checks could be useful, but not enough HV's or time to make this happen here anyway.

[DebbieW]

I consider my setting to be quite lucky in this respect. Just recently HV checks are being done at the hall where the nursery runs from. I can then discuss our 2 year checks at the same time provided we are given notice.

[sunnyday]

I understood they were to be done as well as not instead of HV 2year check,

 

That's my understanding too mouse :1b

[nightingale1]

Correct me if I'm wrong but HV is still doing the health check before child turns 3 and we are supposed to do our 2 year old check,too. A copy of ours should be passed on to the HV so they can look at the overall development of child. Essentially there should be a slot on the form so HV can write own comment. I think there's a lot of improvement to do so the whole process works. Child might be seen by HV before his 2 year old check is done at setting or parents don't necessary tell us when they're seeing HV.

[finleysmaid]

sounds liike some counties are more joined up...we do our check Hv's do theirs....there is no co-ordibnation between the two and we do not use th same paperwork...so again ...what's the point??

[thumperrabbit]

Speech is also our main problem - but with no help available

The only other area that sometimes marks down the child is if they aren't toilet trained - but even if they aren't toilet trained by the time they've had their check they usually are by the time they leave us.

I agree total waste of time

[lynned55]

Complete waste of time here as well. We have (with parents permission) to send a copy to a 'central HV team' and what happens to them then I have no idea. I have never once had an acknowledgement that they have even been received. Yet to have a child come in with one. so as I said before total waste of time-

[Wildflowers]

To possibly add to the confusion of this thread - this is what we do, based on my understanding:

We inform the parents of two-year-olds that we will carry out a statutory developmental check at the end of the term before turning three, unless they inform us that they want it sooner, to bring to the health visitor's check.

We do the check when it suits us and leave it to the parents to organise the health visitor part of it, assuming that the health visitor would ask for the progress check when an appointment was booked, if they considered it being of any value to them.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Wildflowers

[parklands]

We were told by one of our parents, that when she handed the 2 year old progress check we had done with her at our setting to the HV she put it to one side saying " oh nurseries have there way of doing things and we have ours". she was totally disinterested in it. Sometimes wonder if we are wasting our time. x

[Cait]

One of our parents said she would get a 'proper one' from the HV

[sunnyday]

One of our parents said she would get a 'proper one' from the HV

How rude!

[Panders]

We were told by one of our parents, that when she handed the 2 year old progress check we had done with her at our setting to the HV she put it to one side saying " oh nurseries have there way of doing things and we have ours". she was totally disinterested in it. Sometimes wonder if we are wasting our time. x

 

well in one way she isn't wrong - we are reporting on and looking for different things to health visitors surely that's the point of the exercise. But to have said it in such a dismissive manner only goes to show she doesn't understand the system herself.

[lynned55]

I do think that the idea of having a two year progress check was started/decided on with the best of intentions. However like so much of our stuff it just wasn't thought through properly (all the why's and the wherefores and the who does). Again, like so much of our stuff it appears to be open to interpretation from LA to LA which is kinda silly when you think it's statutory.

Has anyone had an Ofsted where they have asked to see them or just asked about them? Just curious really ?

We've had one child in a year come to us that has one, he moved from a different borough. But it doesn't seem to matter whether they start at 2 yr 5 mths or at 3 years old- they dont have anything done by H/V's.

[Panders]

I do think that the idea of having a two year progress check was started/decided on with the best of intentions. However like so much of our stuff it just wasn't thought through properly (all the why's and the wherefores and the who does). Again, like so much of our stuff it appears to be open to interpretation from LA to LA which is kinda silly when you think it's statutory.

Has anyone had an Ofsted where they have asked to see them or just asked about them? Just curious really ?

We've had one child in a year come to us that has one, he moved from a different borough. But it doesn't seem to matter whether they start at 2 yr 5 mths or at 3 years old- they dont have anything done by H/V's.

 

I agree, it didn't get rolled out in our county by HV's until well after we were asked to start doing them - about a year's difference in my part of Kent alone.

[Guest]

I do think that the idea of having a two year progress check was started/decided on with the best of intentions. However like so much of our stuff it just wasn't thought through properly (all the why's and the wherefores and the who does). Again, like so much of our stuff it appears to be open to interpretation from LA to LA which is kinda silly when you think it's statutory.

Has anyone had an Ofsted where they have asked to see them or just asked about them? Just curious really ?

We've had one child in a year come to us that has one, he moved from a different borough. But it doesn't seem to matter whether they start at 2 yr 5 mths or at 3 years old- they dont have anything done by H/V's.

Ofsted came to inspect 3 weeks ago and looked at several 2 year checks. She liked the county format we were using and was pleased that we had got parents to sign to allow us to pass it onto other professionals. We also have a checklist that states when the check has been done, had parents signed, had it been passed onto the HV etc and she liked that we had this in place.

[finleysmaid]

i've started to sign the red books...have got fed up of trying to get the health visitors to work with me so thought if i started to write in 'their' books so that they might pay attention!!!!!!!

[Guest MaryEMac]

I am feeling confused. Our county produced a pack for assessment. A summary 1 for two years, looking at PSED, Communication and language and Physical Development. Not once have we been told that it has to be shared with health visitor. The only time I see a health visitor is at a TAC meeting if I'm lucky. We then do a summary 2 at the end of July before they go to school. Obviously we age and stage them every term.

Mary

[Panders]

We are only asked to encourage parents to share with the health visitor our findings -more particularly if we find a child has a potential problem then the t nhinking is we can work together or that all parties are kept informed

[lynned55]

This is exactly what I mean!! Not only do we have a prototype to be used but we are also required to (if parent agrees) then send the form on to a central HV team. Our parents only sign the form if they DONT agree to it being sent anywhere. However I have never had any acknowledgement even that the completed forms got there and we now have too many to send by recorded post.

If we are all doing what our LA'S advise/want- then how can Ofsted even comment on it?

[bluestar]

We have been randomly chosen (That's what the email said!) for moderation so are expecting a visit from someone to check we are doing them properly.

[klc106]

Us too! We have ours on Tuesday afternoon.

[Mouseketeer]

We are lucky in that we have regular visits from a nursery nurse attached to HV team! who drops in regularly, is absolutely brilliant! and comes in when we ask and feeds back on what's happening....we hand ours over to her! but they,ve usually had their 2 yr HV check by that time anyway so not sure they even get looked .

 

 

Sorry about ! Instead of commas not sure why

Edited January 24, 2014 by mouse63

[Cait]

We have some bother with a 3yr old child who has little speech, comprising mainly of just Mammy, coat, more, wee, yes, no type words. We have assessed see her as being 16-26 but the health visitor has signed her off as needing no more support and working at 60+ for speech!

What should we do, any suggestions?

[narnia]

ask for a speech and language assessment..............................here, we can arrange theses ourselves, without having to deal with the HV. We do need parent's permission, what do they think of their child's speech?

[finleysmaid]

with the parents permission, ring the health visitor!

[Panders]

We have some bother with a 3yr old child who has little speech, comprising mainly of just Mammy, coat, more, wee, yes, no type words. We have assessed see her as being 16-26 but the health visitor has signed her off as needing no more support and working at 60+ for speech!

What should we do, any suggestions?

Personally, I don't think HV's spend enough time with the little ones to assess like we do - they are obviously very qualified, but it's about the amount of time they have to spend, how much they ask mums if child won't co-operate.

Have the conversation with mum - see if she agrees with you against what we have to assess by - then go for a referral.

[sunnyday]

We have some bother with a 3yr old child who has little speech, comprising mainly of just Mammy, coat, more, wee, yes, no type words. We have assessed see her as being 16-26 but the health visitor has signed her off as needing no more support and working at 60+ for speech!

What should we do, any suggestions?

That's crazy - what does mum say?

[Cait]

Going to catch Mum next week, currently child is in hospital with asthma problems. She has had HV assessments regularly since adoption at 14 months, as both parents have additional needs, so has been getting assessed on a regular basis. In the summer term she was graded at 30 months with speech and we thought it was a bit optimistic, but as Mum was with her at the time, she is probably different. But this last one is just plain silly!