I've blogged and tweeted about the oddness of our boys nursery school demanding to come round and have a jolly good snoop at our house before he started last Friday. It did however give wifey a chance to reinforce the fact he has oral dyspraxia and is currently having speech therapy for it. It's not bad enough that he's been statemented but it's bad enough that communication is sometimes an issue. If you've not heard of dyspraxia, there is a good description of it here.
We were upset enough when he was struggling a bit to explain something to us a while back and told us in frustration that his words were rubbish- something one of his friends at pre-school had told him but now we've got to the bottom of why he didn't want to go to nursery on Tuesday to the point of screaming, crying and hitting his mummy, I'm more than upset. I'm upset and I'm bloody furious.
The boy spent most of the Christmas holidays wanting to wear his new school uniform in the knowledge that he was starting big boy school in the new year. When the day came around finally, last Friday, he was up and dressed at 7.20 in the morning, eager to get out of the door.
He was a little more reluctant on Monday but Tuesday saw an entirely different boy. He was beside himself, sobbing uncontrollably, hitting his mummy, dragging his feet, like the worst days of pre-school magnified a hundredfold. He didn't tell us anything was wrong, so we just assumed he didn't want to go and dragged him along.
And then last night we found out that his teachers, the teachers who had been round to our house and sat their while wifey explained to them about his dyspraxia, made him give a talk to the class at the start of his very first full week at nursery. I don't understand, I simply do not understand how something as plain moronic as that could happen. He's so shy about his words, he wouldn't tell us what had happened because he's ashamed he can't speak properly and even though they were told 3 working days previously he had this problem, his teachers made him talk to his class.
Yes they can apologise but it doesn't undo what's been done, the poor fella was obviously in stark terror at the prospect of having to do the same thing on Tuesday, and we forced him to go. Trust needs to be regained with the boy and it's not even our fault.
I am so annoyed on your behalf, I can't believe they would do that to him.
ReplyDeleteI'm absolutely dumbfounded! Your poor boy - no wonder he was beside himself. It seems as if the staff involve perhaps understand his speech difficulties but clearly haven't an inkling about how this affects him emotionally etc (as it would anyone!).
ReplyDeleteI'm livid on his (and your behalf). I hope some understanding can be reached/hammered in so that avoidable upsets like this don't happened again.
I am so sorry for this and hope S will get over this soon....;))) @Kahanka
ReplyDeleteThis post almost made me cry , just the thought of your poor boy going through that . What the heck was up with the teacher ? Why would any teacher make a child do that ?
ReplyDeleteMy eldest suffers from her own speech issues (she is now 5.5) and still does not really talk in front of others outside the house . If teachers were to try and force her to talk in front of people it could set her back years , so i know just how damaging something like that could be.
Will the school do something about this?
I wish I had comforting words for you in relation to your son's horrific experience but I don't. My son (now 11) has severe dyspraxia (he didn't talk til he was 4 and a half) and has had some truly unbelievable treatment in schools - starting with something very similar to what your son was subjected to. The hidden handicap that is dyspraxia (in all its forms) is much misunderstood and ignored in many areas.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where you live, but can heartily recommend you look into the services offered by Megan Baker House in Leominster. The staff there are knowledgeable, understanding and helpful. My son has attended a number of block placements there and, as the regime focuses on achievements, has benefited greatly. The earlier your son gets targeted and positive assistance, the better.
Good luck - you know your son the best and don't let anyone else tell you different.
MG
Unbelievable. Why on earth would they do that? It must be so frustrating. I hope that you can speak to the school and drum some sense into them.
ReplyDeleteMy son doesn't have dyspraxia but he is painfully shy when in the spotlight and hates being made to speak in public.
That's just shocking, how could they? Poor boy. I hope they learn from this and that your little one has no lasting damage.
ReplyDelete