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Advice needed on deferring a place for adopted child with speech problems

2 replies

maindoors · 01/03/2013 20:23

Could do with some helpful advice from others who have had similar situation to us if possible...
Briefly...as dinner smells are wafting up the stairs...our recently adopted son, now 2.5 years old, with cleft lip and palate who has spent two years in an overseas orphanage is now doing really well although his speech is unintelligible (will need more surgery soon and subsequently speech therapy)and he is probably a little delayed, and could do with an extra amount of time at home regards attachment etc. We probably don't fully know his needs at this stage to be truthful. The real bummer is that his birthday is right at the end of August making him the youngest in the class on top of all that. Have been speaking to the likely primary and its pre-school to which he is due to go in September when he is just three and however many days. School is very understanding and have said that they will defer him to the following year. However, they also advise that without a Statement this cannot be "official" i.e. I presume it could be revoked if anything changed. And that at the secondary stage it is quite likely that we would come under pressure to jump him up a year.

I know that getting a Statement is a huge thing and initial thoughts from a few professionals are that he wouldn't get one...so I'm not sure that I have any options but to go with what the school has offered and fingers crossed for the future?

Any thoughts on on any of this would be much appreciated...

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fasparent · 01/03/2013 23:57

Do not think you will require a statement with his medical condition too aquire
referal too SaLT Team ( Speech and Language Therapist ) ask your school or pre school for a referal also a Referal too CAMHS via your GP or school would start this prosess soonest, they can put inplace altenative communication prosess and advice, whilst you await medical process also children at schools can buddy him along with stratergy's put in place. We have an Adopted Ds with CP and Communication problems, has other ways too help, sighning , cards, If school is mainstream there should be an out reach SaLT programme

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adoptmama · 24/03/2013 10:02

No advice on what you need to do for the statement but, as a fellow adoptive mum with a child with additional needs etc, I would say if your gut feeling is that he needs to be deferred then I would find the hoops and jump thru them because you do not want to be in the situation in the future of having him pushed up when it is not in his best interests. The school should also be able to advise you on what steps you need to take.

Having said that my DD1 also spent her early life in an orphanage, came home with terrible attachment problems etc but does well at school and we are (mostly) past the PI and attachment issues. Attachment is such a biggie for our children that the longer you can keep him at home and focus on that the better in many respects. However the fact that he has the speech/language issues alone wouldn?t necessarily be a reason to delay his entry to school as being exposed to lots of English could well stimulate his language acquistion etc too. You should also try posting over on Adoption (in becoming a parent talk forum) as there is generally a lot of good support to be had there and a lot of people with experience of getting Statements for their children.

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