The house of pure silence

Baby Tara*, born during lockdown, didn’t laugh or cry, not even for a feed or change. Her mum Katie* described their home as ‘the house of pure silence’.

But Stepping Stones, a new Spurgeons service linked to Birmingham Forward Steps (BFS), enables Katie and other parents of young children with emerging special educational needs (SEN) to get reassuring early support tailored to their individual situations.

Perminder Bains (Spurgeon’s Children’s Services Lead for SEND across BFS) says, ‘Tara’s issues would normally have been picked up by children’s development checks, but Covid had disrupted these. Nor were children getting socialising opportunities so, when normality returned, many were behind on reaching their age-related developmental milestones. Some caught up, but we had to refer others to our Little Talkers groups to help with speech and language.’

‘In Tara’s case, it then became clear she needed additional support. It can take months to get onto established pathways for support and sometimes years to get an official SEN diagnosis. Meantime, these parents, and children need help.

‘Spurgeon’s Stepping Stones sessions, regular small groups for parents and young children with SEN were set up to meet this need. Some might have needs that are still emerging, others might already have had a diagnosis.

We help parents develop strategies and plans to support their children and document the child’s development ready to brief nursery and health professionals. We help these parents and children with the big challenge of making the transition from home to other settings with people they don’t know – ultimately that’s to nursery and later specialist support. We want to make that as smooth and stress-free as possible for parent and child.

Wendy Salter, Early Years SENCo** for Stepping Stones, says, ‘With Tara, we started by transitioning her to the Stepping Stones. Her mum and the worker from her Little Talkers group brought her to a sensory room at one of our Centres where they read to her. Surrounded by familiar faces, Tara felt safe and comfortable. Then I came in so she could get used to me too, which paved the way for them to come to our Stepping Stones groups.

‘Later we were able to transition Tara to a nursery part time. But then she started regressing. We suggested Katie find out from nursery staff when Tara was at her happiest, and it was during the quiet times. It was a large nursery and it turned out that Tara was sensitive to the noise. Now she’s at a smaller, quieter nursery and is thriving.’

Then came the biggest challenge – the family needed to go to a family wedding overseas; would Tara cope? Wendy says, ‘Tara loves being in a ballpit, so at my suggestion, Katie bought an inflatable pool and balls and took them on the trip as Extra Baggage. It worked fantastically well – it gave Tara a calming space when she needed it, and the family had a wonderful time!’  

Perminder says, ‘As well as advice and support, we’re also documenting Tara’s development steps, her needs and her parents’ wishes. In due course, these can be used to brief nurseries and health visitors, so Katie won’t constantly have to repeat herself or try and get to grips with complex terminology to ensure her daughter gets the help she needs.

‘When I met Katie recently, she was in tears of joy at Tara’s progress! She is walking by herself now and her body language is so much more positive. She’s making sounds and individual words – she can even say Wendy’s name!’