Hints and Tips for Nursery Staff - Age 4

Following my discussion with the nursery teacher, I compiled the following list to help the nursery staff get to know T1's ways whilst we awaited input from the Educational Psychologist:

·         Group play - Has a tendency to wander off if over-encouraged to join in with group play – if he joins the group you could say ‘hi ________’ to acknowledge him rather than asking something of him, unless you have to obviously

·         Hyper-arousal - If other children are being noisy or distressed, this can sometimes make T1 hyper-aroused to the point that it can become difficult to calm him down again or he can become distressed –– at home we encourage him to have some ‘chill-out’ time when he has become so aroused that he starts to become distressed (not having a tantrum – this is dealt with in a behavioural way with consequences, time out etc.) – perhaps there could be a place in the nursery that he could go to have ‘chill out’ time if required – this may also be useful when he is getting ‘cross’ such as when he is struggling to share etc.

·         Sensory – he doesn’t like light touch especially on his head so he may struggle with physical contact with others and can sometimes be boisterous with it so that the touch doesn’t feel too uncomfortable for him – he is especially sensitive around his neck and ears to the point that he can drop to the floor if someone touches him there  – T1 is a fussy eater and struggles to try new things

·         Motor skills – T1 is slightly behind on gaining motor skills such as attempting to pedal a bike, co-ordination and balance – he can be fidgety and take longer to do things such as dressing and tends to give up easily

·         Fixed thinking – T1 can be difficult to reason with – he can be quite fixed in his thinking and it may take some effort to help him understand your point of view – it is helpful to keep explanations as simple as possible and let him know exactly the way it is

·         Interests – he goes through phases of intense interest in objects/toys and could play with them constantly if left to his own devices – he can be gently encouraged to try other things

·         Coping with change – T1 can find change and change in routine difficult to cope with – we usually make an effort to pre-warn him that things are about to change or when play-time is going to finish and what will be happening next

·         Communication – it is useful to say his name at the start of the sentence when you are addressing him as he may not acknowledge you otherwise

·         Imaginary friends – T1 has three imaginary friends at the moment:  Evie, Jojo and Tintin – we don’t collude or elaborate with stories regarding these friends but when he tells us stories about them then we just nod and smile and say ‘ok’ – if he gets disciplined then he can sometimes go on a rant about these friends although this has been less so recently

 This information really seemed to help the nursery staff to get to know T1 better.