ABSTRACT
When children come into Nursery or Primary 1/Foundation Stage, staff are often perplexed by finding that there is ‘something’ about the child that worries them, something they feel is not quite right, something that is causing the child difficulty. The child’s parents may or may not be aware that something is amiss and of course, to complicate matters further, the difficulties may be context specific, i.e. they may not occur at home. Generally this eases concern, e.g. if the child speaks clearly at home but won’t speak at school. This condition, possibly (s)elective mutism, would need a different strategy, i.e. to raise self-esteem and levels of confidence, rather than having a therapy to promote articulation or comprehension. Or the parents may suspect there is a problem but not know how to share their concerns, or with no other child to compare progress, they may hope they are mistaken and that difficulties will go away. Some will dispute that any difficulty is present and some will not appear to care. This
is one reason why building positive relationships with parents is so important, for then concerns and strategies can be shared and form the basis of a positive, caring relationship.
