Attending a nursery - My child has a developmental delay in one or two areas

Most children who have some delay experience it in just one or perhaps two areas of development, while other parts of their development are what we would expect from a child of their age.

Your child may not yet be talking, but they may show a good understanding of what is being said and be making great progress in other areas, such as self-help and physical skills. For these children, they may need targeted support in the area where there is some delay.

The nursery SENCo and staff will follow the Graduated Approach. 

This means they will make reasonable adjustments to enable your child to access education and will look at ways to help them make progress.

If your child is not making progress, or progress is very slow despite the support in place, the nursery may then refer to outside agencies. 

It is the responsibility of the nursery SENCo to make some of these referrals — for example, to Speech and Language Therapy or Occupational Therapy. There are specific criteria that must be met for each outside agency before the nursery SENCo can refer a child.

Some services will only accept referrals from a medical professional, usually your GP.

Physical delay

If your child has a significant physical delay, the nursery SENCo cannot refer to the Physiotherapy Service. You will need to talk to your GP or your health visitor to ask if your child needs a referral to physiotherapy.

Further information

• Solihull Children’s Community Therapies
• Connected Care Network
• Emotional wellbeing and mental health services

More information is available on the parent toolkit