Skip to main content
Close Button
Donate
  • Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 89 subscribers
  • Views 897 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Nursery school

Nanny ASD
over 2 years ago

Hi,

My 4 year old grandson is due to start the assessment process for possible ASD in a few weeks time. We think it’s highly likely that he has Asperger’s. He is a very loving and intelligent little boy with keen interests in satellite dishes, tv aerials and electrical plugs. 
He has been attending a mainstream nursery school for the last 2 years and this had been going relatively well until the last few months.The nursery staff are currently struggling to cope with some of his behaviour. For example, he has a habit of tipping out all the boxes of puzzles and other toys all over the floor. He also finds it very difficult to sit still for longer than 30 seconds. We think he has sensory processing issues and is quite restricted in the foods he eats. The nursery staff have very little understanding about ASD and are trying to impose their own boundaries and complex reward systems which I feel are just making his anxiety worse. 
My daughter (his Mum) and I are due to have a meeting with the nursery staff next week to try and discuss how we can all work together to support my grandson in his last term at nursery. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can help them understand what might be helpful for him? Thanks 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to JuniperFromGallifrey

    Hi,

    Thanks so much for your reply. I think you may be right about possible adhd. Hopefully the assessment next month will give us more information.

    I will check with my daughter about her pregnancy likes and dislikes with foods. We are all trying to support my grandson in a gentle way with his eating so we don’t turn mealtimes into a battleground. I hadn’t thought about food allergies though, that’s a really good point. Maybe we should think about allergy testing to find out more about this.

    Thank you also for your suggestion about encouraging maths. He is so interested in electricity and also satellite dishes. His paternal grandad is an engineer. His maternal grandad is very skilled at making models and fixing anything around the house so it looks like our grandson has inherited those talents.

    The resources from ausome training look very helpful. I will make sure to pass this link on to my daughter and also the nursery staff. 

    I am very grateful  for your advice. Thanks so much for taking the time to get in touch. 

    Best wishes :)

  • over 2 years ago

    Do you have puzzles at home he can tip out? It might be good to buy some if not and allow him to tip them out and wait to see what he does with them. And by wait, I mean, it may be a few days - they're just puzzle pieces and (with no other small children or a dog) can be left where they land.

    Food can be tricky and it's important to not force feed. Children can have an innate sense of allergies long before they're detected. Another thought would be to see if mum recalls what food items she was suddenly repelled by or attracted to in pregnancy. 

    Nanny ASD said:
    The nursery staff have very little understanding about ASD and are trying to impose their own boundaries and complex reward systems which I feel are just making his anxiety worse. 

    I agree with you here as Autism is actually a different way of perceiving and understanding the world. We are rewarded by different things than our neuro-normative peers. If they don't understand these very specific differences in motives and drives, they will assume he can be disciplined the same and unfortunately that will just create confusion. For resources, these companies can be good: https://ausometraining.com/resources/ https://aucademy.co.uk 

    Is there a possibility he is ADHD? Also, I would get him working on maths as soon as possible with an interest in electricity. 

  • over 2 years ago in reply to Karin Mod

    Hi Karin,

    Thanks so much for your reply. I have looked at information you suggested and it seems really helpful so I will discuss with my daughter and the nursery staff.

    Best wishes 

    Nanny ASD

  • over 2 years ago

    Hello Nanny ASD,

    It's great that you are looking for information about how to support your grandson. The NAS website has many pages with information about what causes distressed behaviour. Please check out this link: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour

    I hope this helps.

    All the best,

    Karin Mod